In this study, we demonstrate that killer cell lectin-like receptor subfamily G member 1 (KLRG1), a transmembrane protein preferentially expressed on T cells, is highly expressed on CD56 ؉ NK cells, which are significantly reduced in their numbers and functions in the peripheral blood of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection compared to subjects without infection. KLRG1 expression is also upregulated on healthy NK cells exposed to Huh-7 hepatocytes infected with HCV in vitro. Importantly, the expression levels of KLRG1 are inversely associated with the capacity of NK cells to proliferate and to produce gamma interferon (IFN-␥) but positively associated with apoptosis of NK cells in response to inflammatory cytokine stimulation. KLRG1؉ NK cells, including CD56 bright and CD56 dim subsets, exhibit impaired cell activation and IFN-␥ production but increased apoptosis compared to KLRG1؊ NK cells, particularly in HCV-infected individuals. Importantly, blockade of KLRG1 signaling significantly recovered the impaired IFN-␥ production by NK cells from HCV-infected subjects. Blockade of KLRG1 also enhanced the impaired phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473) in NK cells from HCV-infected subjects. Taken together, these results indicate that KLRG1 negatively regulates NK cell numbers and functions via the Akt pathway, thus providing a novel marker and therapeutic target for HCV infection.

No abstract

Co-infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is quite common, leading to an increase in morbidity and mortality. As such, HBV vaccination is recommended in HCV-infected individuals. HBV vaccine responses in HCV-infected individuals, however, are often blunted when compared to uninfected populations. The mechanism for this failure of vaccine response in HCV-infected subjects remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the expression and function of an inhibitory receptor, killer cell lectin-like receptor subfamily G member 1 (KLRG1), in regulation of CD4+ T cells and HBV vaccine responses during HCV infection. We demonstrated that KLRG1 was over-expressed on CD4+ T cells from HCV-infected, HBV vaccine non-responders (HBV-NR) compared to those responders (HBV-R). The capacity of CD4+ T cell to proliferate and secrete IL-2 cytokine was inversely associated with the level of KLRG1 expression. Importantly, blocking KLRG1 signaling resulted in a significant improvement of CD4+ T cell proliferation and IL-2 production in HCV-infected, HBV-NR in response to T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. Moreover, blockade of KLRG1 increased the phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473) and decreased the expression of cell cycle inhibitors p16ink4a and p27kip1, which subsequently enhanced CDK 2 and cyclin E expressions. These results suggest that the KLRG1 pathway impairs CD4+ T cell responses to neo-antigen and induces a state of immune senescence in individuals with HCV infection, raising the possibility that blocking this negative signaling pathway might improve HBV vaccine responses in the setting of chronic viral infection.