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Previous studies reporting the response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination in alloHSCT recipients used serological and/or cellular assays, but no study has evaluated vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies. We prospectively studied 28 alloHSCT recipients who received two BNT162b2 doses. Two patients groups were defined according to time from alloHSCT and immunosuppressive treatment, and had different baseline immunologic status. Study end-point was the evaluation of humoral and cellular responses one month after the second vaccine. All patients seroconverted. Anti-S IgG levels and neutralizing antibodies percentages were not significantly different between both groups. Using IFNγ ELISpot assay, five patients showed a strong increase, without correlation with the humoral response. Using flow cytometry lymphocyte proliferation assay, 14 patients exhibited responding T cells, without difference between both groups or correlation with anti-S IgG levels. A few low serological responders had a detectable CD4 + T cell proliferative response. This finding should be confirmed in a larger cohort.

Advances in HIV therapy came from understanding its replication. Further progress toward “functional cure” - no therapy needed as found in Elite Controllers (EC) - may come from insights in pathogenesis and avoidance by EC. Here we show that all immune cells from HIV infected persons are impaired in non-EC, but not in EC. Since HIV infects few cell types, these results suggest an additional mediator of pathogenesis. We identify that mediator as elevated pathogenic IFNα, controlled by EC likely by their preserved potent NK-cells and later by other killer cells. Since the earliest days of infection predict outcome genetic or chance events must be key to EC, and since we found no unique immune parameter at the onset, we suggest a chance infection with a lower HIV inoculum. These results offer an additional approach toward functional cure: a judicious targeting of IFNα for all non-EC patients

Like EC, we find that ART-treated patients control serum IFNα concentration and show few immune cell alterations enabling a healthy but fragile medical status. However, treatment interruption leads to elevated IFNα reflecting virus production indicating that like EC, ART does not achieve a virological cure. The immune system becomes overwhelmed by multiple immune cell abnormalities as found in untreated patients. These are chiefly mediated by elevated IFNα inducing signaling checkpoints abnormalities, including PD1, in cytotoxic immune cells. Importantly, during acute infection, elevated IFNα correlated with HIV load, and we found that IFNα enhances CCR5, the HIV coreceptor in CD4+ T-cells, impairing its antiviral response and accounting for the pathogenic vicious cycle: HIV → IFNα ↗ → infected CD4+ T-cells ↗ →HIV ↗. This study opens immunotherapeutic perspectives showing the need to control IFNα in order to convert ART patients into EC.

Dupilumab is a therapeutic antibody targeting IL-4 and IL-13 receptor subunit alpha used for the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) patients. Cases of psoriasis-like reactions induced under dupilumab treatment (DI-Pso) for AD were recently reported. To understand the pathogenesis of DI-Pso, we performed gene expression profiling studies on skin biopsies of DI-Pso (n=7) compared with plaque psoriasis (PSO), AD and healthy controls (HC) (n=4 each). Differential gene expression was performed using enrichment and gene ontology analysis. Gene expression was validated by qPCR and protein levels assessed by immunohistochemistry. Transcriptomic and protein analysis of DI-Pso compared with HC, PSO and AD skins revealed an activation of Th17/IL-23 pathways associated with a significant expression of IL-36, surrogate marker of pustular psoriasis (PP). By contrast, Th2 representative genes' expression were strongly decreased in DI-Pso across comparison. Matching analysis with public data of PP skin corroborated that DI-Pso and PP upstream regulators overlap, greater than with PSO. Furthermore, DI-Pso showed strongly decreased expression of many barrier skin genes compared with HC, PSO and AD. Our data indicate that pathogenesis of DI-Pso relied on a shift of skin immune responses from a Th2 to an IL-36 and Th17 polarization and on intensified skin barrier alterations.

Biallelic pathogenic variants in the SLC34A3 gene, encoding for the NPT2c cotransporter, cause Hereditary Hypophosphatemic Rickets with Hypercalciuria (HHRH). However, the associated phenotype is highly variable. In addition, mice deleted for Slc34a3 exhibit a different phenotype compared to humans, without urinary phosphate leakage. The mechanisms by which SLC34A3 variants disrupt phosphate/calcium metabolism are un-completely understood. In this study we explored these mechanisms in vitro using SLC34A3 variants identified in patients with urinary phosphate leakage. We analyzed the consequences of these variants on NPT2c function and the link with the phenotype of the patients. We studied 20 patients with recurrent nephrolithiasis and low serum phosphate concentration harboring variants in the SLC34A3 gene. Half of the patients carried homozygous or composite heterozygous variants. Three patients had in addition variants in SLC34A1 and SLC9A3R1 genes. All these patients benefited from a precise analysis of their phenotype. We generated 13 of these mutants by site-directed mutagenesis. Then we carried out transient transfections of these mutants in HEK cells and measured their phosphate uptake capacity under different conditions. Among the 20 patients included, 3 had not only mutations in NPT2c but also in NPT2a or NHERF1 genes. Phosphate uptake was decreased in 8 NPT2c mutants studied and normal for 5. Four variants were initially categorized as variants of uncertain significance. Expression of the corresponding mutants showed that one did not modify phosphate transport, two reduced it moderately and one abolished it. Co-transfection of the NPT2c mutants with the wild-type plasmid of NPT2c or NPT2a did not reveal dominant negative effect of the mutants on NPT2c-mediated phosphate transport. A detailed analysis of patient phenotypes did not find a link between the severity of the disorder and the level of phosphate transport impairment. NPT2c mutations classified as ACMG3 identified in patients with renal phosphate leak should be characterized by in vitro study to check if they alter NPT2c-mediated phosphate transport since phosphate uptake capacity may not be affected. In addition, research for mutations in NHERF1 and NPT2a genes should always be associated to NPT2c sequencing.

International audience; TSG-6 is a soluble protein secreted in the extracellular matrix by various cell types in response to inflammatory stimuli. TSG-6 interacts with extracellular matrix molecules, particularly hyaluronan (HA), and promotes cutaneous wound closure in mice. Between epidermal cells, the discrete extracellular matrix contains HA and a tiny amount of TSG-6. However, challenges imposed to keratinocytes in reconstructed human epidermis revealed strong induction of TSG-6 expression, after exposure to T helper type 2 cytokines to recapitulate the atopic dermatitis phenotype or after fungal infection that causes secretion of cytokines and antimicrobial peptides. After both types of challenge, enhanced release of TSG-6 happens simultaneously with increased HA production. TSG-6 deficiency in N/TERT keratinocytes was created by inactivating TNFAIP6 using CRISPR/Cas9. Some TSG-6–/– keratinocytes analyzed through scratch assays tend to migrate more slowly but produce reconstructed human epidermis that exhibits normal morphology and differentiation. Few significant alterations were noticed by transcriptomic analysis. Nevertheless, reduced HA content in TSG-6–/– reconstructed human epidermis was observed, along with enhanced HA release into the culture medium, and this phenotype was even more pronounced after the challenging conditions. Reintroduction of cells producing TSG-6 in reconstructed human epidermis reduced HA leakage. Our results show a role for TSG-6 in sequestering HA between epidermal cells in response to inflammation.

Metastases are the main cause of cancer-induced deaths worldwide. To block tissue invasion, development of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as therapeutic carriers, appears as an exciting challenge. To this aim, we took advantage of the anti-invasive function of NFAT3 transcription factor we identified previously in breast cancer and addressed the opportunity to transfer this inhibitory function by EVs. We show here that EVs produced by poorly invasive NFAT3-expressing breast cancer cell lines are competent to block in vitro invasion of aggressive cancer cells from different origins and, in cooperation with macrophages, inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. Moreover, this inhibitory effect can be improved by overexpression of NFAT3 in the EVs-producing cells. These results were extended in a mouse breast cancer model, with clear impact of inhibitory EVs on tumor growth and metastases spreading. This work identifies EVs produced by NFAT3-expressing breast cancer cells as an anti-tumoral tool to tackle cancer development and metastases dissemination.

The bone derived hormone fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) and its coreceptor Klotho represent a novel endocrine axis regulating mineral metabolism in health and disease. FGF23-Klotho signalling inhibits renal phosphate reabsorption and activation of vitamin D, and reduces secretion of parathyroid hormone. Serum levels of FGF23 rise in chronic kidney disease (CKD). In contrast, tissue expression of Klotho decreases in parallel with CKD progression and reaches low or undetectable levels in end stage renal disease. Numerous studies identify elevated FGF23 as a predictor of adverse clinical outcome. In particular, elevated FGF23 has recently been associated with greater risks of major cardiovascular events and mortality. However, there have been very few studies that have attempted to address the direct effects of FGF23 on myocardium. Moreover whether Klotho is involved in FGF23 – mediated actions on cardiomyocytes is still unclear. In this context, we investigate the role of FGF23 and Klotho in adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVMs). Using video-edge-detection, epifluorescent microscopy and an Ionoptix® system, performed in isolated cardiomyocytes subjected to FGF23 or Klotho alone, or in association, we showed that FGF23 increases cell size and cell shortening in ARVMs, and induces arrhythmia in the presence of Isoprenaline. In addition Klotho prevents FGF23 effects on adult cardiomyocytes. Indeed, ARVMs subjected to Klotho showed marked protection from FGF23-induced hypertrophic responses and from FGF23- induced arrhythmias in the presence of Isoprenaline. Altogether these preliminary data provide a direct evidence of the role FGF23 in adult cardiomyocytes and suggest that Klotho may have a beneficial effect in preventing adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with or without CKD.