Generation of Norovirus-Specific T Cells From Human Donors With Extensive Cross-Reactivity to Variant Sequences: Implications for Immunotherapy

Abstract

Abstract Background Chronic norovirus infection in immunocompromised patients can be severe, and presently there is no effective treatment. Adoptive transfer of virus-specific T cells has proven to be safe and effective for the treatment of many viral infections, and this could represent a novel treatment approach for chronic norovirus infection. Hence, we sought to generate human norovirus-specific T cells (NSTs) that can recognize different viral sequences. Methods Norovirus-specific T cells were generated from peripheral blood of healthy donors by stimulation with overlapping peptide libraries spanning the entire coding sequence of the norovirus genome. Results We successfully generated T cells targeting multiple norovirus antigens with a mean 4.2 ± 0.5-fold expansion after 10 days. Norovirus-specific T cells comprised both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells that expressed markers for central memory and effector memory phenotype with minimal expression of coinhibitory molecules, and they were polyfunctional based on cytokine production. We identified novel CD4- and CD8-restricted immunodominant epitopes within NS6 and VP1 antigens. Furthermore, NSTs showed a high degree of cross-reactivity to multiple variant epitopes from clinical isolates. Conclusions Our findings identify immunodominant human norovirus T-cell epitopes and demonstrate that it is feasible to generate potent NSTs from third-party donors for use in antiviral immunotherapy.