Specific CD4+ T cell phenotypes associate with bacterial control in people who 'resist' infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract

A subset of individuals exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) that we refer to as 'resisters' (RSTR) show evidence of IFN-γ^- T cell responses to Mtb-specific antigens despite serially negative results on clinical testing. Here we found that Mtb-specific T cells in RSTR were clonally expanded, confirming the priming of adaptive immune responses following Mtb exposure. RSTR CD4⁺ T cells showed enrichment of T_H17 and regulatory T cell-like functional programs compared to Mtb-specific T cells from individuals with latent Mtb infection. Using public datasets, we showed that these T_H17 cell-like functional programs were associated with lack of progression to active tuberculosis among South African adolescents with latent Mtb infection and with bacterial control in nonhuman primates. Our findings suggested that RSTR may successfully control Mtb following exposure and immune priming and established a set of T cell biomarkers to facilitate further study of this clinical phenotype.