Th Cells Promote CTL Survival and Memory via Acquired pMHC-I and Endogenous IL-2 and CD40L Signaling and by Modulating Apoptosis-Controlling Pathways

Involvement of CD4⁺ helper T (Th) cells is crucial for CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immunity. However, CD4⁺ Th’s signals that govern CTL survival and functional memory are still not completely understood. In this study, we assessed the role of CD4⁺ Th cells with acquired antigen-presenting machineries in determining CTL fates. We utilized an adoptive co-transfer into CD4⁺ T cell-sufficient or -deficient mice of OTI CTLs and OTII Th cells or Th cells with various gene deficiencies pre-stimulated in vitro by ovalbumin (OVA)-pulsed dendritic cell (DCova). CTL survival was kinetically assessed in these mice using FITC-anti-CD8 and PE-H-2K^b/OVA_257-264 tetramer staining by flow cytometry. We show that by acting via endogenous CD40L and IL-2, and acquired peptide-MHC-I (pMHC-I) complex signaling, CD4⁺ Th cells enhance survival of transferred effector CTLs and their differentiation into the functional memory CTLs capable of protecting against highly-metastasizing tumor challenge. Moreover, RT-PCR, flow cytometry and Western blot analysis demonstrate that increased survival of CD4⁺ Th cell-helped CTLs is matched with enhanced Akt1/NF-κB activation, down-regulation of TRAIL, and altered expression profiles with up-regulation of prosurvival (Bcl-2) and down-regulation of proapoptotic (Bcl-10, Casp-3, Casp-4, Casp-7) molecules. Taken together, our results reveal a previously unexplored mechanistic role for CD4⁺ Th cells in programming CTL survival and memory recall responses. This knowledge could also aid in the development of efficient adoptive CTL cancer therapy.