Interferon-α promotes neo-antigen formation andpreferential HLA-B-restricted antigen presentation in pancreatic β-cells

Abstract

Interferon (IFN)- is the earliest cytokine signature observed in individuals at risk for type 1 diabetes (T1D), but its effect on the repertoire of HLA Class I (HLA-I)-bound peptides presented by pancreatic {beta}-cells is unknown. Using immunopeptidomics, we characterized the peptide/HLA-I presentation in in-vitro resting and IFN--exposed {beta}-cells. IFN- increased HLA-I expression and peptide presentation, including neo-sequences derived from alternative mRNA splicing, post-translational modifications - notably glutathionylation - and protein cis-splicing. This antigenic landscape relied on processing by both the constitutive and immune proteasome. The resting {beta}-cell immunopeptidome was dominated by HLA-A-restricted ligands. However, IFN- only marginally upregulated HLA-A and largely favored HLA-B, translating into a major increase in HLA-B-restricted peptides and into an increased activation of HLA-B-restricted vs. HLA-A-restricted CD8+ T-cells. A preferential HLA-B hyper-expression was also observed in the islets of T1D vs. non-diabetic donors, and we identified islet-infiltrating CD8+ T-cells from T1D donors reactive to HLA-B-restricted granule peptides. Thus, the inflammatory milieu of insulitis may skew the autoimmune response toward epitopes presented by HLA-B, hence recruiting a distinct T-cell repertoire that may be relevant to T1D pathogenesis.