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373 Identification of potential targets for immunotherapy in a cynomolgus macaque model of Ebola virus disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2023

Timothy Wanninger
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Omar A. Saldarriaga
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Daniel E. Millian
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Jason E. Comer
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Kamil Khanipov
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
George Golovko
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Slobodan Paessler
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
Heather L. Stevenson
Affiliation:
University of Texas Medical Branch
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Abstract

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OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Ebola virus infection causes severe disease and liver injury in humans. Macrophages contribute to inflammatory signaling and are prevalent in the liver. We assessed the activation status, including therapeutic target expression, of hepatic macrophages. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We compared formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver tissue from terminal Ebola virus-infected and uninfected control cynomolgus macaques, a gold-standard model for human disease. We characterized region-specific protein and whole transcriptome expression in these tissues using GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiling. Macrophage (CD68+) and leukocyte (CD45+) accumulation in liver tissue was quantified by immunofluorescence image analysis using digital pathology software. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Macrophage-specific (CD68+) regions in the liver of Ebola virus-infected macaques demonstrated a shift towards an inflammatory gene expression profile, as compared to those from healthy control tissue. These regions showed differential expression of monocyte/macrophage differentiation, antigen presentation, and T cell activation gene sets, which were associated with decreased MHC-II allele expression. Moreover, macrophage-specific regions in the infected macaques showed enriched expression of genes or proteins associated with known immunomodulatory therapeutics, including S100A9, IDO1, and CTLA-4. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These data demonstrate that hepatic macrophages express an inflammatory phenotype, that their ability to present antigens to the adaptive immune system may be impaired, and that they express therapeutically targetable markers for immunomodulation of these cells during Ebola virus infection.

Type
Precision Medicine/Health
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. The Association for Clinical and Translational Science