Engineered expression of the TLR5 ligand flagellin enhances paramyxovirus activation of human dendritic cell function

The paramyxovirus simian virus 5 (SV5) is a poor activator of human dendritic cell (DC) maturation pathways in vitro, and infected DC do not upregulate cell surface costimulatory proteins or secretion of immunomodulatory cytokines. We evaluated the hypothesis that activation of SV5-infected DC would be enhanced by engineering SV5 to express a Toll-like-receptor (TLR) ligand. To test this hypothesis, a novel virus was engineered such that the gene encoding an intracellular form of the TLR5 ligand flagellin was expressed from the genome of wild-type (WT) SV5 (SV5-flagellin). Cells infected in vitro with the flagellin-expressing virus released low levels of biologically active flagellin, which was capable of stimulating TLR5 signaling. Infection of human peripheral blood mononuclear cell-derived immature DC with SV5-flagellin resulted in enhanced levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-12 compared to infection with DC with the parental virus, WT SV5. In contrast to cytokine induction, the flagellin-expressing virus did not appreciably increase DC surface expression of the costimulatory molecule CD80 or CD86 above the level seen with WT SV5 alone. In mixed-culture assays, DC infected with the flagellin-expressing virus were more effective at activating gamma interferon secretion from both CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ allogeneic T cells than DC infected with WT SV5. Our results with SV5-directed intracellular expression of flagellin may be applicable to other vectors or pathogenic viruses where overcoming impairment of DC activation could contribute to the development of safer and more effective vaccines.