|
|
||||||||
Department of Microbiology and Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, Health Sciences Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
production. However, while influenza peptide/MHC elicited both
perforin- and Fas ligand (FasL)/Fas (CD95L/CD95)-mediated cytolytic
mechanisms, SEB was unable to trigger perforin-mediated cytolysis or
serine esterase release. Examination of intracellular Ca2+
mobilization events revealed that the ability to trigger intracellular
Ca2+ flux was not comparable between influenza peptide and
SEB. SEB stimulated only a small rise in levels of intracellular
Ca2+, at times indistinguishable from background. These
findings indicate that the short-term cytolytic potential of
superantigen-activated CD8+ CTL clones appears to be
restricted to FasL/Fas (CD95L/CD95) mediated
cytolysis. | Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The dissimilarities between peptide Ag and superantigen, epitomized by the physical differences in TCR engagement, led us to speculate whether influenza peptide and superantigen might also elicit differential activation events and/or effector functions. While the majority of work has focused on CD4+ T cells, both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells are known to be superantigen reactive (10). Superantigen-induced proliferation and secretion of inflammatory cytokines is characteristic of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vivo and in vitro and is integral to superantigen pathology (5, 11). CD8+ T cells, or cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL),3 are, as their name implies, primarily concerned with the lysis of infected target cells. Short-term cytolysis for CD8+ T cells is conducted via the perforin granule or the recently discovered FasL/Fas (CD95L/CD95) mechanisms (12, 13, 14). The perforin mechanism, believed to account for two-thirds of CTL cytolysis in vivo (15), involves preformed cytolytic granules that release perforin, which inserts into the target cell membrane, and granzymes (16, 17), which activate target cell caspases leading to target cell apoptosis. Perforin is considered to be the primary mechanism of short-term cytolysis directed against virus-infected or tumorigenic cells. FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis depends upon the induction of FasL expression on T cells after activation and the presence of Fas, a member of the TNFR family, on the target cells (17, 18, 19, 20). Upon ligation with FasL, Fas sends a signal through its death domain that results in the activation of caspases, which leads to target cell apoptosis (21). FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis is thought to be a mechanism for down-regulation of immune responses (15, 22), although recent evidence has raised the possibility of a greater role for FasL/Fas in viral immunity (23). Both mechanisms of cytolysis can be elicited in CD8+ T cells by peptide Ag/MHC. The recent delineation of short-term cytolysis into perforin granule exocytosis and FasL/Fas induction prompted us to examine whether superantigen could elicit both mechanisms of cytolysis.
Using influenza-specific CD8+ murine CTL clones, we
compared the ability of influenza peptide Ag and the bacterial
superantigen staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB) to induce proliferation
and CTL effector functions, namely IFN-
secretion and cytolysis. We
report here that SEB stimulation of the TCR is qualitatively distinct
from influenza peptide Ag in that it selectively induces only a subset
of CD8+ CTL effector functions.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
CD8+ CTL clones were maintained as previously described (24). Briefly, all clones were stimulated weekly with A/JAP/57-irradiated infected syngeneic splenocytes from BALB/c mice in the presence of 20 U/ml recombinant human IL-2 (Chiron Pharmaceuticals, Emeryville, CA), 10% FCS, 2 mM Gln, and 50 mM ß-mercaptoethanol in Iscoves complete media (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD). CTL were used on days 47 after stimulation and were washed before use in all assays. LB15.13 Fas+ (H-2bxd) (25), L1210 Fas- (14) and Fas+ (13) (H-2d), and A20.2J Fas+ (Iad) and A20.FO Fas- (an anti-Fas-resistant variant of A20.2J, both kindly provided by Dr. M. Sitkovsky, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD) were used as target and APCs and maintained in culture in RPMI 1640 (Life Technologies), supplemented with 10% FCS, 2 mM Gln, 1% NEAA, and 0.5% sodium pyruvate.
Proliferation
Proliferation assays were performed as described previously (26). Briefly, 106 irradiated splenocytes per well were plated with 2 x 104 CTLs per well in a 96-well plate. Irradiated splenocytes were infected with A/JAP/57 influenza virus or incubated with SEB. Plates were incubated for 66 h at 37°C in a CO2 incubator. At 66 h, [3H]TdR was added to the wells and allowed to incorporate for 56 h. The assay was then harvested using a Tomtec Mach II Harvester (Wallac, Gaithersburg, MD) and counted using a 1205 Betaplate scintillation counter (Wallac). All experiments were performed in quadruplicate, with error bars representing the SD of quadruplicate samples.
IFN-
production
Assays were performed in 96-well microtiter plates using 5
x 104 T cells and 104 LB15.13 target cells and
were mock treated or sensitized with influenza peptides HA204212 (CTL
11-1) at 0.01 µg/ml final, HA529537 (CTL 14-7) or NP147155 (CTL
14-13), both at 0.1 µg/ml final, or SEB at 10 µg/ml final. Cells
were stimulated at 37°C for 56 h, at which time supernatants were
harvested and IFN-
levels determined using a standard IFN-
ELISA
(PharMingen, San Diego, CA) as described (27). Error bars represent the
SD of quadruplicate samples.
Flow cytometry
Flow cytometric analyses were performed as described previously
(28). CTLs were separated from splenocytes and dead cells by
Isopaque-Ficoll gradient, and 57 x 105 cells/well
were added to a microtiter plate in media containing 12.5% FCS.
Cells were stimulated with 10 µg/ml SEB or influenza peptide,
HA204212 (CTL 11-1) at 0.01 µg/ml final, HA529537 (CTL 14-7) or
NP147155 (CTL 14-13) both at 0.1 µg/ml final, (29) presented by
LB15.13 APCs, and stained on ice at 1:100 with either anti-CD3
(145.2C11), anti-CD25
(PC61), anti-Vß Abs (all directly
conjugated, except for anti-CD25
, which was biotinylated; SA-PE
was used as a secondary), or anti-FasL (MFL3) (29) (PharMingen).
The anti-FasL Ab was used with a goat F(ab')2
anti-hamster FITC-conjugated secondary (Southern Biotechnology
Associates, Birmingham, AL). Cells were analyzed on a FACScan (Becton
Dickinson, Mountain View, CA).
Calcium mobilization studies
CTL clones were separated from splenocytes on an Isopaque-Ficoll gradient on the third day after in vitro stimulation. CTL were resuspended at 106 cells/ml and were incubated with 1 µM (final) Indo-1/AM and 1 µl Pluronic F-127 20% w/v per 106 cells (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) for 1 h at 37°C in a 5% CO2 incubator. Free dye was removed by washing CTL three times in sterile filtered buffered saline solution. After the first wash, L1210 or LB15.13 APCs were added at an E:T of 1:1. CTL were stimulated at 30 s with 0.01 µg/ml HA204212 (11-1), 0.10 µg/ml NP147155 (14-7), or HA529537 (14-13), or 10 µg/ml SEB. Intracellular calcium was measured quantitatively on an SLM 8000 spectrofluorometer (SLM Aminco, Urbana, IL) as described previously (30). Excitation was at a wavelength of 340 nm, and fluorescence intensity was measured at 398 and 480 nm with the instrument in the "T" format. Data are representative of at least three individual experiments.
Cytotoxicity
The JAM test, as described by Matzinger (31), was employed to assay perforin- and FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis. Target cells were incubated overnight with [3H]TdR at 37°C. Targets were washed two times, mock treated or sensitized with influenza peptides HA204212 (CTL 11-1) at 0.01 µg/ml final, HA529537 (CTL 14-7), or NP147155 (CTL 14-13) both at 0.1 µg/ml final, (32), staphylococcal enterotoxin B (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) or highly purified SEB (Toxin Technology, Sarasota, FL) at 10 µg/ml final. Emetine at 5 µg/ml (Sigma) and cyclosporin A (Sigma) at 5 µg/ml were added to CTL for 30 min before plating at 37°C in a CO2 incubator. Anti-FasL mAb MFL3 (29) (PharMingen) was used at 10 µg/ml and was incubated with CTLs for 30 min at room temperature. Targets were plated at 104 cells/well. CTL clones were added at an E:T of 5:1, spun for 2 min at 400 rpm, and incubated at 37°C in a CO2 incubator. After 5 to 6 h, assays were harvested using a Tomtec Mach II Harvester (Wallac) and counted using a 1205 Betaplate scintillation counter (Wallac). All experiments were performed in quadruplicate. Percent specific lysis was calculated as follows: % DNA loss = 100 x [(label retained without CTL cpm) - (label retained with CTL cpm)]/(label retained without CTL cpm). Label retained without CTL was never less than 90% of target cpm at time = 0. Error bars in the figures represent the SD of quadruplicate samples. Data are representative of at least six individual experiments.
Serine esterase release assay
A total of 105 LB15.13 or A20.2J target cells was plated along with 5 x 105 CTL in 96-well plates along with either influenza peptide HA204212 (CTL 11-1) at 0.01 µg/ml final, HA529537 (CTL 14-7), or NP147155 (CTL 14-13), both at 0.1 µg/ml final (29), or 10 µg/ml SEB. Control wells contained CTL alone in 0.1% (final) Triton X-100 detergent or media and target cells alone in detergent. Plates were spun for 2 min at 400 rpm before incubating at 37°C in a CO2 incubator. At 5 h, plates were spun at 4°C for 5 min at 1500 rpm, and 100 ml of supernatant was collected. Granzyme A activity was determined as described (28, 33). After 30 min, absorbance values at 405 nm were determined by reading on a Dynatech Laboratories ELISA reader (Chantilly, VA). All experiments were performed in quadruplicate. Percent serine esterase release was calculated as follows: % serine esterase release = 100 x [(experimental release) - (spontaneous release)]/[(total release) - (spontaneous release)]. Error bars in the figures represent the SD of quadruplicate samples.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
production, and IL-2R
expression in reactive CD8+ CTL
clonesTo compare influenza virus peptide Ag and SEB stimulation of CD8+ (CTL) effector function, three CD8+ influenza-specific CTL, 11-1, 14-13, and 14-7, (24) were utilized. As mentioned earlier, superantigen-reactive T cells are defined by TCR Vß usage. Flow cytometric analysis of the reactive clones demonstrated that the Vß usage of both 11-1 and 14-13 was consonant with an SEB-compatible TCR, Vß8 (data not shown). The third clone, 14-7, was not positive by flow cytometric analysis for any of the known SEB-reactive Vß elements (Vß3, 7, 8.18.3, 11, and 17) (5) and thus served as a negative control for SEB activation as well as for any nonspecific contaminating mitogens that might be present in the SEB stock.
Since proliferation of reactive T cells is a hallmark of SEB
activation in vivo, we examined the concentration of SEB necessary to
induce proliferative levels roughly equivalent to those induced by
influenza-infected splenocytes. Fig. 1
shows a comparison of the proliferation stimulated by either influenza
virus-infected irradiated splenocytes or various concentrations of SEB
presented on irradiated syngeneic splenocytes. CTL clones 11-1 and
14-13 proliferated strongly in response to both influenza virus peptide
Ag and SEB (Fig. 1
, A and B), with 10 µg/ml SEB
giving a level of proliferation consistently comparable to influenza
peptide Ag. There did appear to be a high dose inhibition of
proliferation by SEB as seen with CTL 11-1 (Fig. 1
A) and
with CTL 14-13 (data not shown) at doses greater than 100 µg/ml.
|
(11). For this reason, we compared induction of IFN-
production by viral peptide and SEB (Fig. 2
production as influenza peptide Ag.
|
subunit of the IL-2R is very well correlated with
activation since it serves to allow progression of T cells into cell
cycle, representative of a late stage of activation (37). We therefore
examined cell surface expression of the IL-2R
as an indicator of
influenza peptide and SEB activation of the clones (Fig. 3
were used to
examine activation of clones by either stimulus. The reactive clones
were induced to up-regulate IL-2R
in response to both viral peptide
Ag and SEB in an equivalent manner. Again, this supports previous data
(Figs. 1
|
and up-regulating IL-2R
(Figs. 1
response to SEB. This supports flow cytometry data that found Vß
element usage by 14-7 did not match any of those known to be
SEB-reactive and therefore was not stimulated by SEB. Inability of SEB to trigger perforin-mediated cytolysis or activate serine esterase release
Because cytolytic activity is arguably the most important of all
CD8+ CTL effector functions, and since proliferation and
IFN-
production appeared to be similar between influenza peptide and
SEB, we examined whether cytolysis induced by influenza peptide and SEB
would be equivalent as well. To examine the ability of SEB to elicit
perforin-mediated cytolysis, we assayed for cytolytic effector function
with the JAM test (31). The JAM test allows for quantitative analysis
of cytolysis by the loss of intact [3H]TdR-labeled target
cell DNA, indicative of the DNA fragmentation seen in both perforin-
and FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis (31, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43). As shown in Fig. 4
, influenza peptide Ag was able to stimulate all three clones to lyse
class I+ L1210 Fas- (Fig. 4
A) and class I and
II+ A20.FO (Fig. 4
B) target cells. SEB, however,
was unable to stimulate any of the clones to lyse either class
I+, or class I and II+ target cells within the
56 h of the assay (Fig. 4
, A and B).
51Chromium release assays with Fas- targets,
either class I+ or class I and II+, confirmed
the results of Fig. 4
in that SEB was unable to cause cytolysis of
Fas- target cells (data not shown). Dose response assays
(data not shown) indicate that the ability to trigger cytolysis was not
a function of the concentration of SEB, since there was no cytolysis
above background for doses of 0.01 to 1000 µg/ml SEB for either
target cell.
|
production were
equally activated via influenza peptide and SEB, the ability to cause
perforin-mediated cytolysis and serine esterase release was disparate.
|
The intracellular Ca2+ mobilization event initiated by
TCR stimulus occurs within seconds of T cell-target cell engagement
(44, 45). It is one of the earliest T cell signaling events and is an
important second messenger for many of the pathways leading to CTL
effector function, including proliferation (46), induction of cytokine
genes (47), and perforin-mediated cytolysis (30, 48). Our lab has
recently reported on a CD8+ T cell variant that was unable
to mediate perforin-mediated cytolysis as a result of the failure to
mobilize intracellular Ca2+ (28). Since SEB was unable to
trigger perforin cytolysis, we decided to examine whether the SEB
signal transduced through the TCR would result in a diminished
Ca2+ profile, as compared with influenza peptide, which was
able to trigger perforin cytolysis. When influenza peptide, at the same
concentrations as in previous figures, was used to stimulate clones
(Fig. 6
, checked line), all three
responded with an increase in intracellular Ca2+ well above
background (grey line), which constituted a significant portion of the
maximal Ca2+ response represented by addition of 100 µM
ionomycin at 370 s. SEB (solid line), however, was not able to
induce a similar Ca2+ profile in any of the clones.
Although 11-1 (Fig. 6
A) did have a Ca2+ response
marginally above background, the response of 14-13 (Fig. 6
B)
was indistinguishable from background and was roughly equivalent to the
response from 14-7 (Fig. 6
C), the nonreactive clone, to SEB.
These data indicate that, although SEB is able to trigger proliferation
and IFN-
production in reactive clones, it is impaired in its
ability to elicit a Ca2+ mobilization event, which may be
indicative of differences in the signal transduced following influenza
peptide or SEB stimulation.
|
Because the signaling events for perforin- and FasL-mediated
cytolysis are very different in their requirement for Ca2+
(28, 49) and the loss of or failure to signal one pathway does not
appear to impair the other (28), we explored the possibility that SEB
could induce the FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis of Fas+ target
cells (Fig. 7
). Dose response curves
using SEB revealed that SEB was able to induce cytolysis of several
different Fas+ target cells well above background for
concentrations as low as 0.01 µg/ml SEB (data not shown).
SEB-stimulated cytolysis was as much as 70% higher on Fas+
than Fas- target cells, implying that FasL/Fas was the
chief mediator of the SEB-cytolysis observed. Flow cytometric data
(Fig. 8
) corroborated FasL as the
mechanism of SEB-induced cytolysis since both the SEB reactive clones
were induced to express FasL upon stimulation.
|
|
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Despite the fact that peptide and superantigen are spatially and
functionally distinct in the immunologic consequences of activation in
vivo, our data point to several similarities in induction in vitro.
Proliferative events induced by influenza-infected APC and SEB (Fig. 1
)
were notably similar on a per-cell basis. In vivo, a given viral
peptide would be able to activate only a small subset of the total T
cell population, less than 1% (5). Superantigens, on the other hand,
are specific for the TCR Vß element, which has limited polymorphism,
such that a single superantigen has the potential to activate as much
as 2030% of murine T cells (5, 54). The results seen with IFN-
production (Fig. 2
) were similar to proliferation data in that SEB was
not superior to influenza peptide on a per-cell basis. Our finding
that, given equal numbers of reactive clones, SEB has no greater
ability to induce proliferation or IFN-
production reinforces the
idea that superantigen-related pathology in vivo is a consequence of
the sheer number of T cells activated and not a "super" ability to
activate a subset of cells.
On the other hand, the signals transduced by influenza peptide and SEB
through the TCR, however, were not equal in ability to induce
perforin-mediated cytolysis (Fig. 4
). Dose response assays showed that
this response was not dose dependent since SEB concentrations as high
as 1000 µg/ml were unable to cause CTL lysis of Fas-
targets (data not shown). Our lab has recently reported a correlation
between calcium response and cytolysis, in which low levels of
sustained calcium mobilization are able to induce FasL/Fas-mediated
cytolysis, while a more "classical" Ca2+ mobilization
is required for perforin cytolysis (49). Our findings with SEB, with
its induction of a diminutive yet sustained Ca2+ response
(Fig. 6
), would support the notion that an absent or very diminished
Ca2+ response correlates with the inability to elicit
perforin-mediated cytolysis. The Ca2+ requirement for
perforin-mediated cytolysis has been well established in that it is
important in the movement of the cytolytic granules to the interface
between the CTL and target cell (30). This implies that the signal for
perforin cytolysis may involve activation of cytoskeletal elements to
allow such movement. SEB, therefore, may be unable to induce
reorientation of the cytoskeletal machinery necessary to cause perforin
granule exocytosis.
Interestingly, although Ca2+ has been implicated in the
induction of IFN-
through activation of NF-AT (47, 55), SEB was able
to cause IFN-
secretion in the absence of substantial
Ca2+ mobilization. Similarly, the requirement for NF-AT in
FasL induction has been reported (56), and two NF-AT-responsive
elements have been found in the FasL promoter. Again, the fact that SEB
was able to induce FasL suggests that the small yet sustained
Ca2+ flux induced was enough to allow NF-AT import to the
nucleus and cause transcription of both FasL and IFN-
. This is
supported by other reports that have shown that superantigens, and SEB
in particular, do cause NF-AT translocation (57, 58). These data point
to the hypothesis that the quality of the Ca2+ response may
be just as important to the signal transduced as the quantity, a
finding that is also being examined for B cells (59, 60).
The ability of SEB to selectively induce FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis is interesting in light of the fact that FasL/Fas is believed to be the primary mechanism of immunoregulation in vivo (15) and the mechanism by which superantigen reactive T cells are deleted in vivo (61, 62, 63). MRL-lpr/lpr mice have also been shown to be largely resistant to SEB-induced clonal deletion (34). The findings presented here would support the idea that one of the mechanisms of superantigen-related pathology may be lysis of Fas+ cells, whether they be APCs or other T cells. A large number of autoimmune diseases recently hypothesized to be the result of a superantigen activation of T and B cells (1, 2, 3, 64) could also be the result of SEB-induced bystander lysis, which has been shown to be characteristic of FasL/Fas-mediated cytolysis (65, 66). We would therefore propose that, in addition to cytokine-induced pathology, a potential mechanism of superantigen pathology may be FasL/Fas-mediated bystander cytolysis of tissue that constitutively expresses Fas, such as the gut, lungs, liver, and heart (67). The connection between SEB-induced cytolysis and the high Fas expression in these sites may help shed light on superantigen-related food poisoning and autoimmune diseases such as Kawasakis disease (2).
Taken together, our data support the idea of a TCR receptor capable of transducing a variety of signals based on the ligand that it engages. This is an intriguing idea for the modulation of the immune response in infection and situations like autoimmune disease or transplant rejection, since it would suggest that a ligand could be engineered to provide or suppress a given immune response. Recent crystal structure analysis of the TCR-pMHC complex (68), along with our data from SEB and peptide activation of T cells, 1) supports the notion that the site of ligand interaction with the TCR may be as important to the signal transduced as the nature of the ligand, 2) warrants further investigation, and 3) may provide a great deal of insight into the nature of T cell activation and the role of the ligand in modulating its response.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Vivian Lam Braciale at the current address: University of Texas Medical Branch, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX 77555-1070. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: CTL, cytolytic T lymphocyte; FasL, Fas ligand; CsA, Cyclosporin A; Emet, emetine; SEB, staphylococcus enterotoxin B; HA, hemagglutinin; NP, nucleoprotein. ![]()
Received for publication April 30, 1998. Accepted for publication July 7, 1998.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
. J. Coligan, and A. Kruisbeek, and D. Marguiles, and E. Shevach, and W. Strober, eds. In Current Protocols in Immunology Vol. 1: John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, chapter 6.
. J. Immunol. 157:1758.[Abstract]
B and NF-AT with the interferon-
promoter. J. Biol. Chem. 272:30412.
chain constant region connecting peptide domain controls antigen responsiveness. Immunity 5:437.[Medline]
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
T. Ueno, H. Tomiyama, M. Fujiwara, S. Oka, and M. Takiguchi Functionally Impaired HIV-Specific CD8 T Cells Show High Affinity TCR-Ligand Interactions J. Immunol., November 1, 2004; 173(9): 5451 - 5457. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Myers, C. Takahashi, R. S. Mittler, R. J. Rossi, and A. T. Vella Effector CD8 T cells possess suppressor function after 4-1BB and Toll-like receptor triggering PNAS, April 29, 2003; 100(9): 5348 - 5353. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Z. Tau, S. N. Cowan, J. Weisburg, N. S. Braunstein, and P. B. Rothman2 Regulation of IFN-{gamma} Signaling Is Essential for the Cytotoxic Activity of CD8+ T Cells J. Immunol., November 15, 2001; 167(10): 5574 - 5582. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. L. Fuller, K. S. Ravichandran, and V. L. Braciale Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase-Dependent and -Independent Cytolytic Effector Functions J. Immunol., June 1, 1999; 162(11): 6337 - 6340. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |