Tetraspanin-3 regulates protective immunity against Eimeria tenella infection following immunization with dendritic cell-derived exosomes.

The effects of immunization with dendritic cell (DC) exosomes, which had been incubated with a tetraspanin-3 (Tspan-3) blocking antibody (Ab) or with an isotype-matched non-immune IgG, were studied using an experimental model of Eimeria tenella avian coccidiosis. Purified exosomes from cecal tonsil and splenic DCs expressed Tspan-3 protein. Chickens injected with exosomes incubated with the control IgG and derived from cecal tonsil DCs preloaded in vitro with E. tenella Ag had Ag-immunostaining cells in the ceca, but not the spleen. Conversely, Ag-containing cells were found only in the spleen, but not the ceca, of chickens given IgG treated splenic DC exosomes. Interestingly, chickens that received exosomes incubated with Tspan-3 Ab had Ag-containing cells observed in both lymphoid organs following administration of exosomes from either DC population. After injection of exosomes non-incubated with Tspan-3 Ab, greater numbers of cells secreting interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-16, interferon-γ, and E. tenella-reactive Abs were observed in the cecal tonsils of chickens immunized with cecal DC exosomes compared with the spleen. By contrast, more cytokine-and Ab-producing cells were present in the spleen of chickens given splenic DC exosomes compared with the ceca. Incubation with Tspan-3 Ab gave similar numbers of cytokine- and Ab-producing cells in the cecal tonsils and spleen regardless of the source of exosomes. Immunization with E. tenella Ag-loaded cecal tonsil DC exosomes increased in vivo resistance against subsequent E. tenella infection. Increased protection against infection following cecal DC exosome immunization was partially blocked by incubation of exosomes with Tspan-3 Ab. These results suggest that Tspan-3 is involved in the tissue distribution, as well as cytokine and Ab production, following DC exosome administration, and that Tspan-3 contributes to in vivo protection against experimental E. tenella challenge infection following exosomal immunization.