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Autophagy enhances the efficacy of BCG vaccine by increasing peptide presentation in mouse dendritic cells

Nature Medicine volume 15, pages 267–276 (2009)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 July 2010

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Abstract

The variable efficacy of Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccination against tuberculosis has prompted efforts to improve the vaccine. In this study, we used autophagy to enhance vaccine efficacy against tuberculosis in a mouse model. We examined the effect of autophagy on the processing of the immunodominant mycobacterial antigen Ag85B by antigen presenting cells (APCs), macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). We found that rapamycin-induced autophagy enhanced Ag85B presentation by APCs infected with wild-type Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, H37Rv-derived ΔfbpA attenuated candidate vaccine or BCG. Furthermore, rapamycin enhanced localization of mycobacteria with autophagosomes and lysosomes. Rapamycin-enhanced antigen presentation was attenuated when autophagy was suppressed by 3-methyladenine or by small interfering RNA against beclin-1. Notably, mice immunized with rapamycin-treated DCs infected with either ΔfbpA or BCG showed enhanced T helper type 1–mediated protection when challenged with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Finally, overexpression of Ag85B in BCG induced autophagy in APCs and enhanced immunogenicity in mice, suggesting that vaccine efficacy can be enhanced by augmenting autophagy-mediated antigen presentation.

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Figure 1: Rapamycin enhances processing and presentation of mycobacterial antigen 85B (Ag85B) in macrophages.
Figure 2: Rapamycin enhances colocalization of mycobacteria with autophagosomes.
Figure 3: Rapamycin-induced autophagy leads to colocalization of mycobacteria with lysosomes and enrichment of antigen-processing components.
Figure 4: Rapamycin enhances the ability of dendritic cells to prime T cells for Ag85B.
Figure 5: Pretreatment of mycobacteria-infected DCs with rapamycin enhances TH1 responses in mice and increases vaccine efficacy.
Figure 6: BCG vaccine overexpressing antigen 85B enhances in vivo protection against Mtb when compared to wild-type BCG.

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Change history

  • 07 July 2010

     In the version of this article initially published online, Figure 1b was a copy of Figure 4b, and Figure 3d did not show all the correct bands. Both figures have been corrected for the PDF and HTML versions of this article. The legends and interpretation of the data remain the same.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by US National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant AI49534 (C.J.) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute grant HL080205 (N.T.E.). We are grateful to L.Y. Armitige (University of Texas Health Sciences Center–Houston) for the fbpA and fbpB mutant strains, K. Rock (University of Massachusetts–Worcester) for the BMA.A3 cell line and C. Harding and H. Boom (Case Western Reserve University) for BB7 T cells. Recombinant ESAT-6 was kindly provided by A. Arora (Central Drug Research Institute, India), and TD17 mAb was a gift from K. Huygen (Pasteur Institute). Mycobacterial vector pMV206 was kindly provided by W. Jacobs (Albert Einstein Medical College).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Health Sciences Center (UTHSC), 6431, Fannin, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Chinnaswamy Jagannath, Devin R Lindsey & Robert L Hunter Jr

  2. Regional Academic Health Center and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UTHSC-San Antonio, Edinburg, 78541, Texas, USA

    Subramanian Dhandayuthapani

  3. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Yi Xu & N Tony Eissa

Authors
  1. Chinnaswamy Jagannath
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  4. Yi Xu
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Contributions

C.J. designed and performed the experiments with the technical assistance of D.R.L. S.D. prepared the overexpression strains of M. smegmatis and BCG. X.Y. and N.T.E. designed and produced RFP-LC3. C.J. and N.T.E. interpreted the data and wrote the manuscript. R.L.H. edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chinnaswamy Jagannath.

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Jagannath, C., Lindsey, D., Dhandayuthapani, S. et al. Autophagy enhances the efficacy of BCG vaccine by increasing peptide presentation in mouse dendritic cells. Nat Med 15, 267–276 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.1928

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