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*
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Kimmel Cancer Center, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA 19107;
Department of Molecular Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267; and
Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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-activated cells and function
to present peptides that have been derived from exogenous Ags to
CD4+ Th cells (1, 2, 3, 4). The
- and ß-chains of class II
molecules coassemble in the endoplasmic reticulum and directly
associate with an additional protein that has been termed invariant
chain (Ii)3 (5). One Ii
trimer assembles with three class II
ß heterodimers to form a
nonameric complex (6) that travels from the endoplasmic reticulum to
the Golgi apparatus. A sorting signal found within the amino-terminal
cytoplasmic domain of Ii (7, 8) targets nonameric complexes to
vesicular compartments within the endocytic pathway (7, 9, 10, 11), with a
fraction traveling to these compartments indirectly via the plasma
membrane (12). Ii is proteolytically digested within the endocytic
pathway (13, 14), leaving the class II-associated Ii peptide (CLIP)
associated with the groove of MHC class II molecules (15, 16, 17). Although
CLIP has a sequence at its N terminus that facilitates its removal from
class II at endosomal pH (18), the efficient removal of CLIP from many
class II alleles requires the participation of HLA-DM (termed H2-DM in
the mouse). This heterodimer accumulates in late endosomal compartments
(19, 20), in which it is believed to mediate the catalytic exchange of
CLIP for antigenic peptides (21, 22, 23). Recent evidence has assigned two
additional roles to HLA-DM. The first role is as an editor,
facilitating the exchange of peptides with a low affinity and low
stability for a given class II allele with high affinity and high
stability peptides (22, 24). The second role is as a chaperone molecule
for class II molecules. DM coprecipitates with Ii-associated and empty
class II molecules, preserving the peptide-binding capacity of the
latter in lysosomal compartments (25, 26). Peptide loading correlates
with the dissociation of class II from DM and with transit to the
plasma membrane, where class II/peptide complexes trigger
CD4+ T lymphocytes with the appropriate receptor
specificity. The extent to which individual organelles contribute to the processing and class II binding of epitopes derived from host or foreign proteins remains controversial. Two different approaches, immunoelectron microscopy and subcellular fractionation, have been used to address this issue. Early immunoelectron microscopy studies by Guagliardi et al. (11) demonstrated the colocalization of MHC class II molecules, Ii, and exogenous Ag in early endosomes, suggesting that these compartments are the sites for class II processing and presentation. The involvement of early endocytic vesicles in class II peptide binding was supported by subcellular fractionation studies in which class II-containing vesicles termed CIIV(27), and lysozyme-loading compartments (28) were identified and characterized as early processing compartments that were distinct from early endosomes. In contrast to these results, similar studies identified newly synthesized class II molecules in a prelysosomal compartment, termed MIIC, in which the absence of Ii is compatible with MIIC as a site of peptide loading (29). Subcellular fractionation studies have also described the existence of a prelysosomal compartment that is involved in peptide loading (30, 31, 32, 33). Differences in the descriptions of the class II peptide-loading compartment(s) may be attributed to the use of different cell lines or to differences in the resolution of the various protocols employed. Alternatively, these data suggest that class II peptide binding is supported in multiple endocytic compartments. Accumulating evidence indicates that this possibility is likely the case (34, 35, 36, 37). As has been suggested previously (34, 35, 37), such an arrangement would be advantageous, since each compartment within the endocytic pathway would provide a unique environment to accommodate the processing of a wide variety of class II-restricted epitopes. Some epitopes may be revealed in early endosomes and destroyed before reaching later compartments, whereas others may require the more active proteolytic environment of late endosomes and lysosomes for release. Furthermore, the properties of the epitope itself, such as the sequence of acidic residues, may determine the site of optimal binding (38).
At least some of the heterogeneity in peptide loading may be due to the
involvement of two distinct populations of class II molecules (35, 37);
these populations are definitively established by the mutation of
internalization signals within the cytosolic tails of the class II
-
and ß-chains (35, 37). Cells transfected with these mutant class II
molecules are unable to present a peptide sequence derived from
hemagglutinin (HA) while still maintaining the presentation of a
peptide sequence derived from the matrix protein of an influenza virus
(37). These results suggest that antigenic fragments that are made
accessible in early endosomal compartments can be loaded at these sites
onto mature, recycling, class II molecules following the removal of
CLIP or previously bound peptides (37). A requirement for class II
internalization has been inversely correlated with a requirement for Ii
expression, which is consistent with the notion that class II molecules
do not require Ii for cycling to early endocytic compartments. In
contrast, newly synthesized class II molecules require the expression
of Ii for delivery to late endosomal compartments where Ag is
aggressively processed (35, 37). This dichotomy has recently been
extended to the expression of DM. Epitopes that load onto recycling
class II molecules can do so in the absence of DM, whereas epitopes
that load onto nascent class II molecules require functional DM
(36, 39, 40). Whether a DM-like molecule facilitates the loading of
recycling class II molecules is not known.
The processing requirements and class II populations involved in the presentation of individual epitopes may be dictated to a large degree by the structural context of these epitopes. Of particular interest and utility are class II epitopes derived from viral proteins that undergo programmed conformational changes following delivery to the early endosome. One such protein is the HA molecule of the influenza virus. HA is a trimeric glycoprotein that is responsible for the attachment of the virus to host cell surfaces via association with terminal sialic acid residues (41). Following receptor-mediated endocytosis, HA undergoes specific structural changes in response to acidification; these changes initiate fusion between viral and host cell membranes, resulting in the delivery of the viral genome to the host cell cytosol (41). Studies on protease sensitivity and reactivity with peptide-specific Abs suggest that the structural changes are profound, with considerable unfolding of some regions of the molecule (42, 43, 44). These observations have been substantiated by recent crystallographic data showing major rearrangements of an HA fragment following acidification (45). Thus, acid-induced structural changes in HA have the potential to expose antigenic epitopes in early endocytic vesicles in which class II molecules may be capable of capturing and presenting such epitopes to CD4+ T lymphocytes.
The studies reported here focus upon two well-defined, I-Ed-restricted, class II epitopes within the HA molecule of the A/Puerto Rico/8/34 influenza virus (PR8). Reactivity against site 1 (S1) has been mapped to the region of amino acids (aa) 107119, and reactivity against site 3 (S3) maps to the region of aa 302313 (46). Previously reported experiments have suggested different processing requirements for the presentation of these two epitopes. First, a kinetic analysis demonstrated that the presentation of S3 precedes that of S1 (47). Second, treating APCs with the protease inhibitor leupeptin enhances the presentation of S3 while significantly decreasing the presentation of S1 (47). Finally, S3 but not S1 is presented on prefixed cells pulsed with an acid-modified form of HA (48). Altogether, these results suggest that the S3 epitope is efficiently processed for class II binding in an early endocytic compartment, relying on the programmed structural changes that HA undergoes following endocytosis. In contrast, the availability of S1 is not impacted by this early conformational change, but instead requires the proteolytic environment of late endocytic compartments for processing. We present here experiments that directly test and substantiate this model.
| Materials and Methods |
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Female BALB/c mice (H-2d, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD) of 6 wk of age or older were maintained in the Laboratory Animal Facility at Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, PA).
Peptides
A synthetic peptide for HA S1, encompassing aa 107119 (SVSSFERFEIFPK), was purchased from Research Genetics (Huntsville, AL). The synthetic peptide for HA S3, encompassing aa 302313 (CPKYVRSAKLRM), was generated by the Kimmel Cancer Center Peptide Facility (Philadelphia, PA).
Abs and staining reagents
HB65 (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA) is a mouse mAb that is specific for the nucleoprotein of influenza A viruses. Y810C2 (Sa11) and H28-E23 (Sb9) are mouse mAbs that are specific for either the monomeric (or acid-modified) or both the monomeric and trimeric forms of HA, respectively (49). CM11.2 is a mouse mAb that is specific for HA S1. 1D4B (Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA) is a rat mAb that is specific for the lysosomal resident protein, lysosomal-associated membrane protein-1 (LAMP-1). MAS-753b (Accurate Chemical, Westbury, NY) is a rat mAb that is specific for the murine transferrin receptor, CD71. Secondary fluorescein-labeled horse anti-mouse Ig (IgG), biotinylated rabbit anti-rat Ig (IgG), and Texas Red-labeled avidin D were purchased from Vector Laboratories (Burlingame, CA).
Cell lines
The parent H-2d-positive B cell lymphoma cell line
A20.2J (A20) was originally described by Asofsky and coworkers (50).
The use of this cell line, which was kindly provided by Dr. V.
Engelhard (University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA), in
CD4+-mediated cytolysis was established by Williams and
Engelhard (51). The A20 class II processing and presentation mutant
(A20 3A5) has been described previously (52). The A20 3A5 cell line was
determined to be defective in the H2-DM
-chain and was reconstituted
by stable transfection with the wild-type murine DM
-chain cDNA (A20
3A5 R) in pcDNA1/neo (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) as described
elsewhere.4 All three B cell lymphoma cell lines were
maintained in vitro in RPMI 1640 (Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh,
PA) supplemented with 5% FBS (Sigma, St. Louis, MO), 0.05 mM 2-ME
(Sigma), and Ser X-tend (5% FBS equivalent, Irvine Scientific, Santa
Ana, CA).
The CD4+ cytotoxic T cell clone that was specific for HA S1
(vir 1.2) was generated as described previously (53). The HA S3 clone
(5.1.1R20) (Th20) was generated in a manner similar to the other S3
clones described previously (54). At the beginning of each passage, the
T cell clones (12 x 105/ml) were maintained by a
biweekly stimulation with irradiated (2200 rads), PR8-pulsed
(
100200 HA units (HAU) per 106 cells), BALB/c spleen
cells (2 x 106/ml). The irradiated spleen cells were
infected with PR8 for 1 h at room temperature in Iscoves
modified Dulbeccos medium (IMDM) (Fisher Scientific) supplemented
with 0.05% BSA fraction V (Sigma) and gentamycin (0.01 mg/ml, Sigma).
The cells were washed, adjusted to the desired concentration, and
incubated at 37°C/9% CO2 in a total of 5 ml of culture
medium consisting of IMDM supplemented with 5% FBS, 0.05 mM 2-ME, and
gentamycin (0.01 mg/ml). On day 5 following restimulation, 1 x
105/ml T cell clones were maintained in culture medium
supplemented with 25 U/ml human rIL-2 (National Cancer Institute). The
clones were passaged every 2 to 3 days in IL-2-supplemented culture
medium and were used on day 3 after each passage.
L-Kd cells, which are L929 cells transfected with H2-Kd (55), were maintained in DMEM (Fisher Scientific) supplemented with 5% FBS.
Viruses
The influenza viruses PR8 (H1N1) and A/England/333/80 (ENGL) (H1N1) and the antigenically distinct PR8 mutant virus (Rv6) (H1N1) (49, 56) were grown in the allantoic cavity of 10-day-old embryonated hen eggs. Viruses were concentrated by differential sedimentation (60,000 x g) or were purified in some cases by banding in sucrose density gradients. The virus concentrations were determined by the hemagglutination of human E. Titers are expressed as HAU, with 8.75 ng of protein being equivalent to 1 HAU of virus.
Virus with uncleaved HA was generated by inoculating chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) with 5000 HAU of PR8 in PBS containing 0.1% BSA (balanced salt solution (BSS)/BSA, Sigma) for 48 h at 37°C. The virus was purified by differential sedimentation and its titer determined as described above. The presence of uncleaved virus was confirmed by running the samples on SDS-polyacrylamide gels under reducing conditions followed by Western blot analyses using the HA-specific mAb H28-E23.
Cross-linked PR8 was generated by incubating purified virus for 15 h at room temperature in either 10 mg/ml of dimethyl adipimidate (DMA) (Pierce, Rockford, IL) in 0.1 M HEPES (Sigma) cross-linking buffer or in cross-linking buffer alone as a control. The cross-linking reaction was stopped by the addition of a fivefold volume of IMDM supplemented with 0.05% BSA fraction V and gentamycin (0.01 mg/ml).
Inactivation of influenza viruses
Virus was inactivated by exposure to short wave (254 nm) UV light (1800 µJ; Stratalinker 1800, Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). L cell fibroblasts pulsed with UV-inactivated influenza virus showed no evidence of de novo viral protein synthesis when tested for the production of nucleoprotein using the HB65 mAb. UV inactivation did not alter the integrity of the HA protein as determined by a hemagglutination assay.
Viral Ags
HA was isolated by treating purified PR8 with bromelain as described by Brand and Skehel (57). HA purified in this manner is termed bromelain-cleaved HA (BHA) and consists of the soluble ectodomain of HA.
Reduced and alkylated HA was generated by incubating 150 µg of BHA in a final volume of 2 ml of 0.2 M Tris-HCl (pH 8.5) containing 6 M guanidine HCl (Sigma) and 10 mM DTT (Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis, IN) at 37°C for 2 h. The mixture was cooled on ice for 10 min, and 200 µl of 0.2 M 2-iodoacetamide (Eastman Kodak, Rochester, NY) in 0.2 M Tris-HCl (pH 8.5) containing 6 M guanidine HCl was added and incubated on ice for 30 min. Protein concentrations were determined with the Bio-Rad dye reagent (Hercules, CA).
Staining
A total of 4 x 104 L-Kd cells were
seeded onto coverslips in 24-well plates and incubated overnight at
37°C/9% CO2. The coverslips were washed twice with
ice-cold PBS and incubated with 200 µl (
200400 HAU in BSS/BSA)
of ice-cold UV-treated PR8 for 20 min in the presence of 1 mM
2,3-dehydro-2-deoxy-N-acetyl neuraminic acid (DDAN) (Sigma).
The plates were incubated at 37°C/9% CO2 and were washed
twice at each time point with ice-cold PBS before fixation with 3%
paraformaldehyde (Tousimis, Rockville, MD) for 15 min at room
temperature. Between each of the remaining steps, the coverslips were
washed three times with PBS/azide. Autofluorescence was quenched with
50 mM NH4Cl (Sigma) for 15 min before permeabilization with
0.1% Triton X-100 (Fisher Scientific) for 2 min at room temperature.
CM11.2, Y810C2, 1D4B, or a combination of these reagents were used
as primary Abs and were incubated with the cells at 4°C for at least
2 h. A fluorescein-labeled horse anti-mouse Ig (IgG) mAb and a
biotinylated rabbit anti-rat Ig (IgG) mAb were used as secondary
Abs followed by the addition of Texas Red avidin D. Both sets of
reagents were incubated with the cells for at least 2 h at 4°C.
Background staining was determined following incubation with the
secondary reagents. All images were viewed at the Kimmel Cancer
Institute Confocal Facility.
Cytotoxicity assay
Target cells (2 x 107/ml) were coincubated with dilutions of the influenza virus in BSS/BSA for 1 h at 37°C. RPMI 1640 (5 ml) supplemented with 5% FBS, 0.05 mM 2-ME, and 0.01 mg/ml gentamycin (assay medium) was added to each target, and the cells were incubated for an additional 4 h. Each target was labeled using 100 µCi/106 cells of Na51CrO4 (Amersham, Arlington Heights, IL) in assay medium for 1 to 2 h at 37°C. After two washes in PBS, 104 radiolabeled targets in assay medium were added to each well of a 96-well round-bottom plate. Effector T cells were added to obtain the E:T ratios indicated for each experiment in a total volume of 200 µl. Peptide, BHA, or reduced and alkylated HA were added during the overnight incubation with the CD4+ T cells. After 12 to 14 h of incubation at 37°C/6%CO2, 100 µl of supernatant was harvested and counted using a gamma detector (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden). The percentage of specific lysis was calculated as 100 x ([experimental cpm - spontaneous cpm]/[total cpm - spontaneous cpm]).
| Results |
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We speculated that if S3 is processed in an early endocytic compartment, its presentation might be independent of H2-DM expression, as has been shown for other class II alleles (36, 39, 40). In contrast, the presentation of S1 was predicted to depend upon H2-DM expression if processing of this epitope occurs late in the endocytic pathway. To test this possibility, we compared the presentation of HA S1 and S3 epitopes in both A20 B cells and A20 B cells that had been rendered deficient in the murine HLA-DM equivalent, H2-DM (52).4
Wild-type or H2-DM deficient A20 B cells were pulsed with
UV-inactivated influenza virus and tested as targets for cytolytic
CD4+ T cells specific for S1 or S3 in a 51Cr
release assay. As with most class II epitopes derived from exogenous
Ags, the presentation of S1 was dependent upon H2-DM expression. In A20
cells, the presentation of S1 is quite high, whereas only background
levels of killing were seen with the A20 3A5 mutant cell line (Fig. 1
). In contrast to S1, the presentation
of S3 was not dependent upon H2-DM expression; CD4+ T cell
recognition of this epitope was maintained and, in fact, enhanced in
the mutant cell line (Fig. 1
). To confirm the specificity of the
CD4+ cytotoxic T cell responses, we tested two additional
UV-inactivated influenza viruses expressing point mutations in either
S1 (Rv6) or S3 (ENGL) (Fig. 1
). Rv6 was recognized by the S3-specific
but not the S1-specific CD4+ cytotoxic T cell clone, while
the reverse was true for the ENGL strain of influenza virus. We
speculated that the enhanced killing of the A20 3A5 mutant cell line by
the S3-specific clone was due to the availability of a greater number
of peptide-receptive class II molecules in the early endosomal
compartments, which is consistent with the low affinity of
I-Ed for CLIP and the role of DM in CLIP removal and
peptide editing (24, 58). To test the relative availability of
peptide-receptive class II molecules in the A20 and A20 3A5 cell lines,
we generated dose-response curves using the synthetic peptide versions
of S1 and S3. The curves showed an increase in presentation efficiency
by the mutant cell line of at least 10-fold as compared with the A20
cell line (Fig. 2
) despite surface class
II levels being essentially equivalent (Ref. 52 and data not shown).
|
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-chain cDNA. As seen in Figure 1
-chain (A20 3A5 R). The presentation of S3 was also
maintained in the reconstituted cell line (Fig. 1Availability of S1 occurs late in the endocytic pathway
The H2-DM dependence of S1 presentation along with the earlier evidence described above suggests that S1 becomes available for binding to I-Ed only late in the endocytic pathway. To test this directly, we used confocal immunomicroscopy to trace the appearance of S1 following the endocytosis of UV-inactivated PR8. We employed a mAb (CM11.2) that had been developed against a synthetic version of the epitope with the key feature, as demonstrated below, that it does not react with HA in its native context.
We employed L cell fibroblasts for this analysis, because the A20 cell
line proved to be a poor candidate for these studies due to its small
size and relatively high nucleus to cytoplasm ratio. PR8 was adsorbed
to the cell surface at 0°C in the presence of DDAN, a neuraminidase
inhibitor that enhances viral uptake (59). The temperature was then
shifted to 37°C for various periods of time before fixation. Using
confocal immunomicroscopy, we determined that the S1 epitope becomes
available for binding by CM11.2 between 30 and 60 min following viral
uptake (Fig. 3
). The CM11.2 signal at
60 min was punctate, with the majority representing a perinuclear
staining pattern. The intensity of the staining began to decrease by
120 min and was significantly reduced by 240 min.
|
S3 is available in early endocytic compartments, and its appearance precedes that of S1
Although a mAb that is specific for S3 is not available, it has
been previously reported that acid-treatment alone is sufficient to
render S3, but not S1, presentable by prefixed APCs (48). The Y810C2
mAb recognizes a determinant on the globular domain of HA that becomes
exposed following acidification (60). Therefore, the appearance of the
Y810C2 epitope correlates with S3 availability for class II binding.
Similar confocal studies revealed that staining with Y810C2 is
observed in peripheral vesicles at 5 to 10 min after viral uptake (Fig. 4
). At these early time points, the
Y810C2 signal does not colocalize to any appreciable degree with
LAMP-1 (Fig. 4
and data not shown). These observations suggest that S3
is available for class II binding in an early endocytic vesicle, well
in advance of S1. The acid-modified version of HA is capable of
penetrating into late endocytic compartments, as the perinuclear
staining pattern that develops at 30 min persists until the 60-min time
point (Fig. 4
). The overlap between Y810C2 and LAMP-1 staining at the
later time points demonstrates the presence of acid-modified HA in the
late endosomal/lysosomal compartments but in no way implies the
presence of intact S3, since Y810C2 reactivity does not map to the
hinge region where S3 resides. As with S1, the signal for Y810C2
declined significantly by 120 min (Fig. 5
).
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The results presented thus far suggest that S3 is presented by H2-DM-deficient cells due to its availability for class II binding shortly after the acidification of HA in early endocytic vesicles. Conversely, the location of S1 within a portion of HA that is not processed until the late endocytic/lysosomal compartments may underlie its lack of presentation by the H2-DM mutants. To address this and also eliminate the possibility that S1 presentation is intrinsically H2-DM-dependent, we compared the presentation of S1 and S3 that had been derived from either a native or denatured form of HA.
Native HA molecules were isolated from the core proteins of influenza
viral particles following the incubation of purified virus with
bromelain (57). Although lacking the transmembrane region of HA, BHA
maintains its trimeric structure and undergoes conformational changes
in response to acidification similar to those of full-length HA (43).
The presentation of S1 and S3 derived from BHA mirrored that seen with
whole UV-inactivated virus (Fig. 5
). Both epitopes were presented by
the parental A20 cell line, whereas only S3 was presented by the H2-DM
mutant cell line.
BHA was then converted to denatured monomeric subunits by reduction and
alkylation as described in Materials and Methods. In
the A20 cell line, both S1 and S3 are presented from the reduced and
alkylated form of this Ag (Fig. 5
). Note that the stimulation of the S3
clone is quite high when the epitope is provided as part of denatured
HA. The same is true for synthetic peptide (Fig. 2
), suggesting that
the processing pathway for the presentation of S3 from native protein
is relatively inefficient. Notably, when HA is "preprocessed" by
denaturation, S1 becomes presentable by the A20 3A5 mutant cell line
(Fig. 5
). Whether S1 that is derived from this preprocessed form of HA
combines primarily with internal or surface-bound class II is not
known. However, earlier experiments demonstrated that this epitope is
presented on prefixed cells following the denaturation of HA (61),
suggesting that at least some S1 combines with class II molecules at
the cell surface.
Sufficient constraint of HA structural changes significantly reduces S3 presentation in H2-DM mutant cell line
We predicted that if S3 presentation relied on the structural
changes in HA following acid-modification, its presentation could be
forced into H2-DM dependence by constraining the HA molecule. The full
maturation and function of HA requires cleavage by cell-associated,
trypsin-like activity of the nascent HA0 polypeptide chain to a
50-kDa HA1 peptide and a
20-kDa HA2 peptide containing the fusion
domain (62, 63). This event occurs shortly after biosynthesis and
before viral assembly. Of note, uncleaved HA has receptor-binding
activity and can undergo limited structural changes upon acidification,
although the fusion peptide is not free for insertion into host cell
membranes (19). Uncleaved HA was generated in CEFs, which are deficient
in trypsin-like activity. Western blot analysis indicated that the vast
majority (>90%) of HA in the CEF-grown virus is in the uncleaved
state, with essentially complete conversion to HA1 and HA2 following
trypsin treatment (Fig. 6
A,
inset). Dilutions of these UV-inactivated virus preparations were
tested. The presentation of these two forms by the A20 or A20 3A5
mutant cell line to the S1-specific clone was essentially identical
(Fig. 6
A). Similarly, S3 presentation was unchanged in both
the normal and H2-DM-deficient cell lines (Fig. 6
A). These
data suggest that the acid-modified changes that accompany the
uncleaved form of PR8 are sufficient to permit S3 presentation in the
A20 3A5 mutant cell line.
|
| Discussion |
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The positioning of S1 and S3 with respect to the structure of HA before
and after acidification is consistent with their distinct processing
requirements. Superimposition of the A/PR/8/34 sequence onto the
crystallographic structure of HA derived from A/HK/68 (64) shows that
S1 is part of the globular domain of the molecule, proximal to the
receptor binding pocket (Fig. 7
). The
structure of this domain is not substantially altered following
acidification (65), providing a basis for our observation that the
presentation of S1 is equivalent when derived from either an untreated
or a cross-linked source of Ag (Fig. 6
). The cross-linking results and
the H2-DM-independent presentation of S1 following the reduction and
alkylation of HA indicate that the location of S1 processing is
dictated by its structural context rather than by its own sequence or
the sequences immediately flanking it.
|
We have yet to determine whether S3 is presented by mature recycling class II molecules or by nascent class II molecules that have trafficked to early endocytic vesicles. The former option is favored by the limited proteolysis of Ii in early endocytic vesicles and the involvement of recycling class II molecules in the presentation of other class II-restricted epitopes (35, 37). The latter possibility is consistent with several reports demonstrating the trafficking of nascent class II to the plasma membrane and to early endosomes (12, 20, 27, 34). Experiments in our laboratory using brefeldin A and emetine to assess the role of recycling class II molecules in the presentation of S1 and S3 have been inconclusive. The deletion of internalization signals in the cytosolic domains of the I-Ed molecule may better address this issue (35, 37).
It remains to be seen how frequently the early endosomal pathway is
used for the processing and presentation of class II epitopes. We
suspect that, at least for the presentation of S3, this pathway is
relatively inefficient. Stimulation of the S3-specific clone is quite
high when the epitope is provided as part of denatured HA (Fig. 5
) or
by synthetic peptide (Fig 2
). However, when HA is provided in native
form, presentation is relatively modest compared with that of S1 (Fig. 1
). The inability of most high-affinity peptides to be removed from
class II molecules in the compartment in which S3 is made available may
contribute to its inefficient presentation by H2-DM-expressing cells.
Alternatively, if S3 binds to class II in the context of full-length
HA, as has been recently demonstrated for a partially denatured
fragment of hen egg lysozyme (40), then these complexes may be unstable
at the cell surface. Preliminary results in our laboratory support this
possibility, in that full-length HA can be coimmunoprecipitated with
I-Ed class II molecules at 10 min following viral uptake.
The majority of these complexes are not detectable by 60 min,
suggesting that the association between full-length HA and
I-Ed occurs in early endocytic vesicles, and that HA is
proteolyzed or dissociates from I-Ed (K.A.C-B., B.
Dudenhoeffer, and L.C.E., unpublished observations). We speculate that
S3 mediates this interaction. The possibility of other I-Ed
binding regions being exposed following acidification has not yet been
tested, although all other I-Ed-restricted epitopes
identified thus far have been localized to the globular domain (66). As
with the H2-DM-independent presentation of S1 following the
denaturation of HA, the cross-linking results indicate that the
structural context of S3 influences its processing. A recent report has
suggested that the presence of acidic residues within a given epitope
biases toward loading in a late (low pH) compartment (38). Of note, S1
contains two acidic residues (both glutamic acid), while S3 contains
none. Acid content may prove to be an important determinant of peptide
loading but is likely to be superseded by structural context.
It is possible that some presentation of S3 as part of untreated virus
is H2-DM-dependent. The fact that leupeptin treatment greatly enhances
S3 presentation suggests that the epitope is labile and might not reach
nascent class II molecules for binding (47). However, the
H2-DM-dependent presentation of S3 derived from cross-linked virus
indicates that S3 is capable of surviving in a later compartment. The
mAb used to determine the appearance of S3, Y810C2, maps to the
globular domain (60) and therefore confirms the integrity in
LAMP-1-positive vesicles of the globular domain, in which S1 resides,
but not the hinge region, in which S3 resides (Fig. 4
). We are
currently developing the tools needed to trace S3 directly.
As the autocatalytic removal of CLIP from I-Ed is likely
given the presentation of S3 in the absence of H2-DM, why is S1 not
presented by the H2-DM mutants? DM has been shown to play a role in
peptide editing by exchanging low-affinity and low-stability peptides
with high-affinity and high-stability peptides (22, 24). It is unlikely
that this function explains the H2-DM dependence of S1, as we have no
reason to believe that S1 would compete poorly with other epitopes in
the late compartment, particularly since the supply of epitopes in
these compartments appears to be limited (26, 67). In support of this
notion, S1 competes with other epitopes and is efficiently presented by
a denatured form of HA in the H2-DM mutants (Fig. 5
). The role of DM as
a chaperone provides a more compelling explanation. In the absence of
DM, empty class II molecules aggregate in an acidic environment and
lose their peptide-binding capacity (25, 26). The relative abundance of
DM in late endosomal and lysosomal compartments suggests that the
absence of this molecule would have the greatest effect on epitopes
generated late in the endocytic pathway (26, 68). Thus, one possibility
is that S1 is made available in H2-DM-negative cells only after most
receptive class II molecules have been incapacitated. Unlike S1, S3
presentation is maintained in H2-DM mutants, as aggregation is unlikely
to occur in the pH environment of early endosomes.
Recently, Ma and Blum reported that DM-dependent presentation could be overcome by changing the mode of entry to receptor-mediated endocytosis via transferrin receptor or surface Ig (69). Their observation is in contrast to our findings, since S1 presentation is DM-dependent despite the fact that receptor-mediated endocytosis is the normal mode of entry for the influenza virus (70). This discrepancy could be due to differences in the cell types used. A more intriguing possibility is that the intracellular routes taken by the Ags following internalization are different and, consequently, so are the sites of processing and loading.
In addition to influenza, a number of other viruses in the orthomyxo, toga, flavi, rhabdo, bunya, and arena families have proteins that undergo acid-induced structural changes following endocytosis. As has been suggested previously (4), this group of proteins may provide one of the more compelling reasons for the existence of early endosomal loading of antigenic fragments. The open-ended nature of the class II binding groove suggests that unfolding is an important component of Ag processing (71). This may be particularly true in the early endosome, in which processing appears to involve unfolding more than proteolysis.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Laurence C. Eisenlohr, Thomas Jefferson University, BLSB Room 726, 233 South 10th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107-5541. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: Ii, invariant chain; CLIP, class II-associated invariant chain peptide; HA, hemagglutinin; S1, site 1; S3, site 3; LAMP-1, lysosomal-associated membrane protein-1; HAU, hemagglutinating units; IMDM, Iscoves modified Dulbeccos medium; CEF, chicken embryo fibroblast; BSS, balanced salt solution; DMA, dimethyl adipimidate; BHA, bromelain-cleaved HA; DDAN, dehydro-2-deoxy-N-acetyl neuraminic acid. ![]()
4 H. I. Russell, I. A. York, K. L. Rock, and J. J. Monaco. Altered expression of H2-DM alpha in two class II antigen processing-defective H2d mouse cell lines. Submitted for publication. ![]()
Received for publication February 18, 1998. Accepted for publication March 20, 1998.
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ß dimers and facilitates peptide loading. Cell 82:155.[Medline]
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