Human papilloma virus‐16‐specific CD8+ T‐cell expansions characterize different clinical forms of lichen planus and not lichen sclerosus et atrophicus

Manuelle Viguier (1) , Corine Pérals (2) , Béatrice Poirier (3) , Maxime Battistella (4) , François Aubin (5) , Hervé Bachelez (6, 7) , Jean‐luc Prétet (8) , Tarik Gheit (9) , Massimo Tommasino (9, 10) , Antoine Touzé (11) , Marie‐lise Gougeon (3) , Nicolas Fazilleau (2)

1 IRMAIC - Immuno-Régulation dans les Maladies Auto-Immunes Inflammatoires et le Cancer - EA 7509
2 Infinity - Institut Toulousain des Maladies Infectieuses et Inflammatoires
3 IP - Institut Pasteur [Paris]
4 Service d'anatomo-pathologie [Paris]
5 CHRU Besançon - Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Besançon
6 Equipe Inserm U1163 - Genetic skin diseases : from disease mechanism to therapies
7 Service de Dermatologie [AP-HP Hôpital Saint-Louis]
8 CNRP - Centre National de Référence des Papillomavirus
9 CIRC - IARC - Centre International de Recherche contre le Cancer - International Agency for Research on Cancer
10 IRCCS Ist Tumori Giovanni Paolo II, Bari, Italy
11 UMR ISP - Infectiologie et Santé Publique

Lichen planus (LP) is a cutaneomucosal chronic inflammatory disease characterized by a CD8 + cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) infiltrate. In erosive oral LP, we found HPV16specific activated CTL in lesions, supporting a pathogenic contribution of HPV16. Here, we investigated whether a similar scenario occurs in other clinical forms of LP and in lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA), another chronic disease also affecting the mucosa and/or the skin. Blood CTL from LP and LSA patients expressed significant higher levels of granzyme B, perforin and CD107a proteins than healthy donors. Expansions of TCRVß3 + CTL, with presence of TCR clonotypes identical to those previously detected in erosive oral LP, were found both in blood and mucosal/skin lesions of LP, and not of LSA patients. These expansions were enriched with HPV16-specific CD8 + T-cells as shown by their recognition of the E7 11-20 immunodominant epitope. In LSA patients, the peripheral repertoire of CTL was oligoclonal for TCRVß6 + CTL. Finally, although patients with LP and LSA have developed antibodies against HPV16

Mots clés: T-cell; T-cell receptor; cytotoxic T lymphocytes; human papilloma virus; lichen planus

Domaines: Dermatologie

Manuelle Viguier, Corine Pérals, Béatrice Poirier, Maxime Battistella, François Aubin, et al.. Human papilloma virus‐16‐specific CD8+ T‐cell expansions characterize different clinical forms of lichen planus and not lichen sclerosus et atrophicus. Experimental Dermatology, 2023, 32 (6), pp.859-868. ⟨10.1111/exd.14788⟩. ⟨hal-04075439⟩