Human T-bet governs innate and innate-like adaptive IFN-γ immunity against mycobacteria

Abstract

Inborn errors of human IFN-{gamma} immunity underlie mycobacterial disease. We report a patient with mycobacterial disease due to an inherited deficiency of the transcription factor T-bet. This deficiency abolishes the expression of T-bet target genes, including IFNG, by altering chromatin accessibility and DNA methylation in CD4+ T cells. The patient has profoundly diminished counts of mycobacterial-reactive circulating NK, invariant NKT (iNKT), mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT), and V{delta}2+ {gamma}{delta} T lymphocytes, and of non-mycobacterial-reactive classic TH1 lymphocytes, the remainders of which also produce abnormally low amounts of IFN-{gamma}. Other IFN-{gamma}-producing lymphocyte subsets however develop normally, but with low levels of IFN-{gamma} production, with exception of V{delta}2- {gamma}{delta} T lymphocytes, which produce normal amounts of IFN-{gamma} in response to non-mycobacterial stimulation, and non-classic TH1 (TH1*) lymphocytes, which produce IFN-{gamma} normally in response to mycobacterial antigens. Human T-bet deficiency thus underlies mycobacterial disease by preventing the development of, and IFN-{gamma} production by, innate (NK) and innate-like adaptive lymphocytes (iNKT, MAIT, and V{delta}2+ {gamma}{delta} T cells), with mycobacterial-specific, IFN-{gamma}-producing, purely adaptive {beta} TH1* cells unable to compensate for this deficit.