Pathologic T-cell response in ischaemic failing hearts elucidated by T-cell receptor sequencing and phenotypic characterization

A persistent cardiac T-cell response initiated by myocardial infarction is linked to subsequent adverse ventricular remodelling and progression of heart failure. No data exist on T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire changes in combination with phenotypic characterization of T cells in ischaemic failing human hearts.

Analysis of TCR repertoire with high-throughput sequencing revealed that compared with T cells in control hearts, those in ischaemic failing hearts showed a clonally expanded TCR repertoire but similar usage patterns of TRBV-J rearrangements and V gene segments; compared with T cells in peripheral blood, those in ischaemic failing hearts exhibited a restricted and clonally expanded TCR repertoire and different usage patterns of TRBV-J rearrangements and V gene segments, suggesting the occurrence of tissue-specific T-cell expansion in ischaemic failing hearts. Consistently, TCR clonotype sharing was prominent in ischaemic failing hearts, especially in hearts of patients who shared human leucocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Furthermore, ischaemia heart failure (IHF) heart-associated clonotypes were more frequent in peripheral blood of IHF patients than in that of controls. Heart-infiltrating T cells displayed memory- and effector-like characteristics. Th1 cells were the predominant phenotype among CD4  ⁺ T cells; CD8  ⁺ T cells were equally as abundant as CD4  ⁺ T cells and produced high levels of interferon-γ, granzyme B, and perforin.

We provide novel evidence for a tissue-specific T-cell response predominated by Th1 cells and cytotoxic CD8  ⁺ T cells in ischaemic failing human hearts that may contribute to the progression of heart failure.