Summary CD4 T cells are critical for protective immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the cause of tuberculosis (TB). Yet, to-date, TB vaccine candidates that boost antigen-specific CD4 T cells have conferred little or no protection. Here we examined CD4 T cell responses to two leading TB vaccine antigens, ESAT-6 and Ag85B, in Mtb infected-mice and in vaccinated humans with and without underlying Mtb infection. In both species, Mtb infection drove ESAT-6-specific T cells to be more differentiated than Ag85B-specific T cells. The ability of each T cell population to control Mtb in the lungs of mice was restricted for opposite reasons; Ag85B-specific T cells were limited by reduced antigen expression during persistent infection, whereas ESAT-6-specific T cells became functionally exhausted due to chronic antigenic stimulation. Our findings suggest that different vaccination strategies will be required to optimize protection mediated by T cells recognizing antigens expressed at distinct stages of Mtb infection.

Summary MVA85A is a new tuberculosis vaccine aimed at enhancing immunity induced by BCG. We investigated the safety and immunogenicity of MVA85A in healthy adolescents and children from a tuberculosis endemic region, who received BCG at birth. Twelve adolescents and 24 children were vaccinated and followed up for 12 or 6 months, respectively. Adverse events were documented and vaccine-induced immune responses assessed by IFN-γ ELISpot and intracellular cytokine staining. The vaccine was well tolerated and there were no vaccine-related serious adverse events. MVA85A induced potent and durable T cell responses. Multiple CD4+ T cell subsets, based on expression of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2, IL-17 and GM-CSF, were induced. Polyfunctional CD4+ T cells co-expressing IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2 dominated the response in both age groups. A novel CD4+ cell subset co-expressing these three Th1 cytokines and IL-17 was induced in adolescents, while a novel CD4+ T cell subset co-expressing Th1 cytokines and GM-CSF was induced in children. Antigen-specific CD8+ T cells were not detected. We conclude that in adolescents and children MVA85A safely induces the type of immunity thought to be important in protection against tuberculosis. This includes induction of novel Th1 cell populations which have not been previously described in humans.

One third of the global population is estimated to be latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). We performed a phase 1 randomized, controlled trial of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) before re-vaccination with Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in healthy, tuberculin skin test positive (≥15mm induration), HIV-negative, South African adults. We hypothesised that pre-clearance of latent bacilli with IPT modulates BCG immunogenicity following re-vaccination. Frequencies and co-expression of IFNγ, TNFα, IL-2, IL-17, and/or IL-22 in CD4, and IFNγ-expressing CD8, γδ T, CD3+CD56+ NKT-like and NK cells in response to BCG were measured using whole blood intracellular cytokine staining and flow cytometry. We analyzed 72 participants who were BCG re-vaccinated after IPT (n=33) or without prior IPT (n=39). IPT had little effect on frequencies or cytokine co-expression patterns of M.tb- or BCG-specific responses. Re-vaccination transiently boosted BCG-specific Th1 cytokine-expressing CD4, CD8 and γδ T cells. Despite high frequencies of IFNγ-expressing BCG-reactive CD3+CD56+ NKT-like, CD3−CD56dim and CD3−CD56hi NK cells at baseline, BCG re-vaccination boosted these responses, which remained elevated up to one year after re-vaccination. Such BCG-reactive memory NK cells were induced by BCG vaccination in infants, while in vitro IFN-γ expression by NK cells upon BCG stimulation was dependent on IL-12 and IL-18. Our data suggest that isoniazid pre-clearance of M.tb bacilli has little effect on the magnitude, persistence or functional attributes of lymphocyte responses boosted by BCG re-vaccination. Our study highlights surprising durability of BCG-boosted memory NKT-like and NK cells expressing anti-mycobacterial effector molecules, which may be novel targets for TB vaccines.