Enhanced Frequency but Preserved Th1/Tc1 Responses of Rhinovirus-Specific T Cells in COPD

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Viral infections, particularly by rhinoviruses (RVs), represent major triggers of acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the role of RV-specific T cell responses in COPD remains poorly characterized. Here, we investigated T cell recall responses to conserved RV-specific T cell epitopes in COPD patients and age-matched healthy controls using activation-induced marker and intracellular cytokine staining assays. The frequency of RV-specific CD4+ T cells was increased in COPD patients compared with healthy participants. RV-specific CD8+ T cells also tended to be increased in COPD participants, although the differences did not reach statistical significance. Functional T cell responses to RV-specific epitopes were biased toward IFN-γ and TNF-α production in COPD and healthy participants, with no significant differences between groups. Accordingly, there is a degree of functional dissociation between enhanced RV-specific CD4+ T cell recognition and cytokine responses in COPD. A modest inverse correlation, yet not statistically significant (p = 0.066), was observed between IFN-γ-producing CD4+ T cells and disease severity, as assessed by FEV1. Collectively, our findings suggest that T cell responses to conserved RV-specific epitopes are unlikely to be major drivers of COPD immunopathology, supporting their potential relevance for epitope-vaccine development in COPD.