Pulmonary immunization with a recombinant influenza A virus vaccine induces lung-resident CD4⁺ memory T cells that are associated with protection against tuberculosis

Abstract

The lung is the primary site of infection with the major human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Effective vaccines against M. tuberculosis must stimulate memory T cells to provide early protection in the lung. Recently, tissue-resident memory T cells (T_RM) were found to be phenotypically and transcriptional distinct from circulating memory T cells. Here, we identified M. tuberculosis-specific CD4⁺ T cells induced by recombinant influenza A viruses (rIAV) vaccines expressing M. tuberculosis peptides that persisted in the lung parenchyma with the phenotypic and transcriptional characteristics of T_RMs. To determine if these rIAV-induced CD4⁺ T_RM were protective independent of circulating memory T cells, mice previously immunized with the rIAV vaccine were treated with the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulator, FTY720, prior to and during the first 17 days of M. tuberculosis challenge. This markedly reduced circulating T cells, but had no effect on the frequency of M. tuberculosis-specific CD4⁺ T_RMs in the lung parenchyma or their cytokine response to infection. Importantly, mice immunized with the rIAV vaccine were protected against M. tuberculosis infection even when circulating T cells were profoundly depleted by the treatment. Therefore, pulmonary immunization with the rIAV vaccine stimulates lung-resident CD4⁺ memory T cells that are associated with early protection against tuberculosis infection.