Lung-resident CD3−NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ Cells Play an Important Role in Bacillus Calmette–Guérin Vaccine–Induced Protective Immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Abstract

Tissue-resident immune cells play important roles in local tissue homeostasis and infection control. There is no information on the functional role of lung-resident CD3−NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ cells in intranasal Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG)–vaccinated and/or Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)–infected mice. Therefore, we phenotypically and functionally characterized these cells in mice vaccinated intranasally with BCG. We found that intranasal BCG vaccination increased CD3−NK1.1+ cells with a tissue-resident phenotype (CD69+CD103+) in the lungs during the first 7 d after BCG vaccination. Three months post-BCG vaccination, Mtb infection induced the expansion of CD3−NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ (lung-resident) cells in the lung. Adoptive transfer of lung-resident CD3−NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ cells from the lungs of BCG-vaccinated mice to Mtb-infected naive mice resulted in a lower bacterial burden and reduced inflammation in the lungs. Our findings demonstrated that intranasal BCG vaccination induces the expansion of CD3−NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ (lung-resident) cells to provide protection against Mtb infection.