Influenza-specific lung-resident regulatory T cells suppress antiviral immunity while being dispensable for tissue repair

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Presentation Time: 02:15 PM - 03:30 PM
Poster Board Number: B134
Abstract ID: 4249

Presenting Author:
Ching-Fu Pan , PhD Candidate at Natl. Taiwan Univ. Col. of Med.

Abstract:

Tissue-resident Treg cells have recently been reported to suppress the response of tissue-resident T (Trm) cells and facilitate tissue repair. However, the heterogeneity of tissue-resident Treg cells population and low abundance of pathogen-specific Treg cells limit our understanding of the phenotype and function of influenza-specific tissue resident Treg cells during repeated influenza infection. Here, we characterized influenza-specific tissue resident memory Treg cells (rmTreg) that were stably maintained in the lungs of mice after influenza virus infection. Proteomic and transcriptional profiling revealed that rmTreg cells exhibit the gene signatures of both Trm and peripherally induced Treg (pTreg) cells. The expression levels of ST2 and amphiregulin in rmTreg cells were significantly lower than those in lung-resident ST2⁺ Treg cells during acute influenza infection. Through specific depletion of rmTreg cells, we demonstrated that rmTreg cells suppress the proliferation of the influenza-specific Trm cells and regulate antiviral immunity. In contrast, specific depletion of rmTreg cells had no impact on lung pathology. In conclusion, our study has revealed that rmTreg cells play an important role in suppressing the protective Trm cell response but are not essential for tissue repair during influenza virus infection. This suggests that vaccine strategies aimed at suppressing influenza-specific rmTreg cells can enhance antiviral immunity without exacerbating lung pathology.