#3211 INHIBITION OF TRAINED INNATE IMMUNITY BY MYELOID CD40-TRAF6 BLOCKADE PROMOTES ALLOGRAFT TOLERANCE
Authors: Jacobs Maaike , Maas Rianne , Jonkman Inge , Hilbrands Luuk , Netea Mihai , Mulder Willem , van Leent Mandy , Teunissen Abraham , Rother Nils , Duivenvoorden Raphael 
Published: June 2023

Background and Aims

Allograft rejection is largely mediated by adaptive immune cells. Although innate immune cells are also involved, their role is less clear. We hypothesize that suppression of innate immune responses, particularly trained innate immunity, can contribute to graft tolerance in transplantation. Trained immunity refers to the long-term epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming of innate immune cells, which potentiates responses to secondary stimuli. Here, we studied the effect of blocking CD40-TRAF6 signaling in myeloid cells on trained immunity induction using in vitro stimulations, ChIP-sequencing and metabolic analyses. We evaluated the effect of myeloid CD40-TRAF6 inhibition on T cell responses in mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLR) and the effect of CD40-TRAF6 inhibitor (TRAF6i) nanobiologic (NB) treatment on allograft rejection in a murine heterotopic heart transplantation model.

Method

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were stimulated for 24 h with heat-killed Candida albicans (HKCA), a well-described inducer of trained immunity, in presence or absence of TRAF6i, or RPMI medium (control) followed by 5 days of rest. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) production upon restimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was assessed using ELISA. We performed ChIP-sequencing and metabolic analyses with Seahorse assays at day 6. To investigate the effect of TRAF6i on T cell responses to allogeneic stimuli, we performed 7-day MLR with HKCA- or HKCA+TRAF6i trained monocytes and CellTrace Violet-labeled naïve T cells. Proliferation and FOXP3 expression of naïve T cells was measured by flow cytometry. The effect of TRAF6i-NB on graft survival was assessed by injection of myeloid-directed TRAF6i-NB 0, 2 and 5 days post-transplantation in C57BL/6J mice heterotopically transplanted with BALB/c hearts, that did or did not receive pre-operative CTLA4-Ig treatment.

Results

TRAF6i treatment inhibited IL-6 and TNF production upon LPS restimulation of HKCA-treated PBMCs in vitro (Fig. 1A). ChIP-sequencing analysis and Seahorse technology respectively revealed that the epigenetic changes (Fig. 1B) and metabolic alterations (Fig. 1C) underlying trained immunity were prevented by TRAF6i. Induction of trained immunity in monocytes reduced differentiation of naïve T cells to FOXP3+CD4+ T cells upon allogeneic stimulation, which was partially reversed by TRAF6i treatment of monocytes (Fig. 1D). Treatment with TRAF6i-NB, combined with CTLA4-Ig, induced &gt;100 days graft survival in 5 out of 6 C57BL/6J mice heterotopically transplanted with BALB/c hearts, while one graft was rejected at 99 days post-transplantation (Fig. 1E).

Conclusion

Inhibition of TRAF6 prevents trained immunity in monocytes at the functional, epigenetic and metabolic level. We show in vitro that inhibiting trained immunity has the effect of modulating T cell responses to allogeneic stimuli towards FOXP3+CD4+ T cell differentiation. Using a mouse heart transplant model, we show that the combination of TRAF6i and CTLA4-Ig treatment prevents allograft rejection in vivo. This study identifies CD40-TRAF6 signaling as a novel target to inhibit trained immunity and to promote allograft tolerance.