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The role of CD8 T lymphocytes in rickettsial infections

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Abstract

Arthropod-borne obligately intracellular bacteria pose a difficult challenge to the immune system. The genera Rickettsia, Orientia, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasma evolved mechanisms of immune evasion, and each interacts differently with the immune system. The roles of CD8 T cells include protective immunity and immunopathology. In Rickettsia infections, CD8 T cells are protective mediated in part by cytotoxicity toward infected cells. In contrast, TNF-α overproduction by CD8 T cells is pathogenic in lethal ehrlichiosis by induction of apoptosis/necrosis in hepatocytes. Yet, CD8 T cells, along with CD4 T cells and antibodies, also contribute to protective immunity in ehrlichial infections. In granulocytic anaplasmosis, CD8 T cells impact pathogen control modestly but could contribute to immunopathology by virtue of their dysfunction. While preliminary evidence indicates that CD8 T cells are important in protection against Orientia tsutsugamushi, mechanistic studies have been neglected. Valid animal models will enable experiments to elucidate protective and pathologic immune mechanisms. The public health need for vaccines against these agents of human disease, most clearly O. tsutsugamushi, and the veterinary diseases, canine monocytotropic ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia canis), heartwater (Ehrlichia ruminantium), and bovine anaplasmosis (A. marginale), requires detailed immunity and immunopathology investigations, including the roles of CD8 T lymphocytes.

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Acknowledgments

DHW was supported in part by grants R01 AI021242, R21 AI102304, and U54 AI057156 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. JSD support was provided in part by grants R01-AI044102 and R21-AI096062 from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Director, UTMB Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX, 77555-0609, USA

    David H. Walker

  2. Department of Pathology and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Health Sciences Facility-I, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Room 322D, 685 W Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    J. Stephen Dumler

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  1. David H. Walker
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  2. J. Stephen Dumler
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Correspondence to David H. Walker.

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This article is a contribution to the Special Issue on : CD8+ T-cell Responses against Non-Viral Pathogens - Guest Editors: Fidel Zavala and Imtiaz A. Khan

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Walker, D.H., Dumler, J.S. The role of CD8 T lymphocytes in rickettsial infections. Semin Immunopathol 37, 289–299 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-015-0480-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-015-0480-x

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