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Cutting Edge |
14-J
281 NKT Cells Naturally Regulate Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in Nonobese Diabetic Mice1






* Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 546, Hôpital Pitié-Salpetriere, and
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 25, Hôpital Necker, and Unité 561, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Paris, France;
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 563, Hôpital Purpan, Toulouse, France;
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232; and
¶ Brain Research Institute, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| Abstract |
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14-J
281 transgenic nonobese diabetic mice, which are
enriched in CD1d-restricted NKT cells, are protected from EAE. The
protection is associated with a striking inhibition of Ag-specific
IFN-
production in the spleen, implying modulation of the
encephalitogenic Th1 response. This modulation is independent of IL-4
because IL-4-deficient V
14-J
281 mice are still protected against
EAE and independent of NKT cell-driven Th1 to Th2 deviation,
because no increased autoantigen-specific Th2 response was
observed in immunized V
14-J
281 transgenic mice. Our findings
indicate that enrichment and/or stimulation of CD1d-dependent NKT cells
may be used as a novel strategy to treat CNS
autoimmunity. | Introduction |
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TCR,
V
14-J
281/V
8.2, -7, and -2 in mice and
V
24-J
Q/V
11 in humans (2). The association of NKT cells with autoimmunity was originally suggested by selectively reduced numbers of NKT cells in mice and patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (3, 4, 5, 6). More detailed studies correlated the spontaneous development of autoimmune diabetes in nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice to qualitative defects in their NKT cell population (4, 7, 8). Moreover, spontaneous autoimmune diabetes could be prevented by the overexpression, in vivo activation, or adoptive transfer of NKT cells, suggesting a regulatory function of NKT cells in organ-specific autoimmunity (7, 9, 10).
Indirect evidence suggests that NKT cells may also perform a regulatory
role in CNS autoimmunity. In humans, quantitative deficiencies in NKT
cells have been observed in MS (11). Similarly, NKT cell
dysfunctions have been observed in mouse strains susceptible to EAE
(4, 12). Passive EAE can be prevented in TCR knockout mice
by the adoptive transfer of
DX5+TCR
+ T cells
(13). Moreover, active EAE can be controlled either by the
prototypical NKT cell agonist
-galactosylceramide (
-GalCer) or by
administration of an
-GalCer analog that enhances IL-4 production of
NKT cells (14, 15). Although these studies demonstrate the
potential of NKT cells to control EAE, it is unclear whether
V
14-J
281 NKT cells are natural regulators of EAE. Our present
data strongly argue that NKT cells naturally inhibit CNS autoimmunity
and prevent the accumulation of autoreactive T cells in the spleen
and CNS.
| Materials and Methods |
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V
14-J
281 (9) and V
8 (A. Lehuen,
unpublished observation) transgenic (Tg) NOD mice were generated by
microinjecting a TCR
-chain V
14-J
281 or a V
8-J
37
construct into fertilized NOD eggs. TCR C
-/-
NOD and V
14-J
281 Tg C
-/- NOD were
described previously (9). V
14-J
281
IL-4-/- NOD mice and V
8 Tg
C
-/- NOD were obtained by two backcrosses
onto IL-4-/- NOD and
C
-/- NOD, respectively (16).
CD1d-deficient mice were backcrossed at least seven times onto the NOD
strain (17). Mice were housed under specific pathogen-free
conditions.
Eight- to 12-wk-old male mice were immunized s.c. with 100 µg of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)3555 peptide (MEVGWYRSPFSRVVHLYRNGK; Mimotopes, Clayton Victoria, Australia) emulsified in CFA (Difco, Detroit, MI) and supplemented with 5 mg/ml Mycobacterium tuberculosis (strain H37RA; Difco). Pertussis toxin (List Biological Laboratories, Campbell, CA) was injected i.v. at day 0 (200 ng) and day 2 (400 ng) postimmunization. Clinical scores were recorded daily.
Histological analysis
Animals were anesthetized and perfused with 2% paraformaldehyde in PBS. Tissues were embedded in paraffin, and tissue sections were stained with H&E or Luxol fast blue.
T cell purification, cell transfer, proliferation assays, and ELISA
For negative selection of T cells (8085% pure) by MACS,
single-cell suspensions were incubated with F4/80 mAb (Caltag
Laboratories, Burlingame, CA) and B220 mAb (BD PharMingen, San Diego,
CA), followed by microbeads (Miltenyi Biotech, Bergisch
Gladbach, Germany) coated with anti-rat IgG mAb. For cell transfer
50 x 106 purified T cells were injected
i.v. 48 h preimmunization. Splenic single-cell suspensions
(107 cells/ml) or cocultures of draining lymph
node (LN)-derived purified T cells (7.5 x
105/ml) and irradiated syngeneic splenocytes
(37.5 x 105/ml) were stimulated with
anti-CD3 mAb (BD PharMingen),
-GalCer (a generous gift from
Kirin Brewery, Gunma, Japan), or MOG3555.
Proliferation was assessed after 48 h by incorporation of
[3H]thymidine (1 µCi/well). Cytokines were
detected by ELISA after 24 and 48 h (9).
Statistical analysis
Proliferation and cytokine production were compared using the unpaired Student t test, whereas EAE day of onset, cumulative severity, and maximal severity were compared using the log rank test, Mann-Whitney U test, and relative to an identified distribution (RIDIT) analysis (18), respectively.
| Results and Discussion |
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14-J
281 NKT cells regulate EAE
To address whether a regulatory function of CD1d-dependent NKT
cells is naturally exploited to curb the encephalitogenic process in
NOD mice, we undertook two simultaneous approaches. First, using
V
14-J
281 Tg mice, we evaluated whether an increase in the number
of NKT cells could reduce the severity of EAE. Second, we tested
whether CD1d-deficient mice, which lack V
14-J
281 NKT cells
(17), develop an exacerbated EAE.
NOD mice develop, 11 days (on average) after immunization with
MOG3555, a relapsing-remitting EAE resulting in
limb paralysis (Fig. 1
A and
Table I
). In stark contrast, the EAE
observed in V
14-J
281 Tg NOD mice is significantly delayed and
milder (Fig. 1
A and Table I
). This difference in clinical
severity is corroborated by the histological analysis, as a clear
inflammatory infiltrate is observed in the CNS of NOD mice (Fig. 1
, C and E), while only a minimal, but definite,
infiltrate is noted in the V
14-J
281 Tg NOD mice (Fig. 1
, D and G). Moreover, perivascular demyelination is
observed only in the CNS of non-Tg mice, but not V
14-J
281 Tg mice
(Fig. 1
F). These observations were reaffirmed by experiments
in which 50 x 106 purified T cells from
normal NOD were transferred into T cell-deficient
C
-/- NOD, V
8 Tg
C
-/- NOD lacking NKT cells, and
V
14-J
281 Tg C
-/- NOD enriched in NKT
cells (Fig. 2
A). Following MOG
immunization 48 h posttransfer, the severity of EAE was
indistinguishable in the two control groups
(C
-/- and V
8 Tg
C
-/- recipients) but was significantly
reduced in V
14-J
281 Tg C
-/-
recipients. Taken together, these data indicate that a quantitative
enhancement of NKT cells conveys protection against EAE.
|
|
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Overexpression of NKT cells does not prevent efficient priming of
MOG-specific T cells in V
14-J
281 Tg animals
The introduction of a rearranged TCR transgene in V
14-J
281
Tg mice may have resulted in limited T cell repertoire diversity due to
the preferential expression of the rearranged V
14-J
281 transgene,
resulting in reduced Ag priming. Although this has carefully been
excluded by previous studies (9, 20), we confirmed that
both the intensity and the quality (MOG-specific T cell proliferation
and IFN-
production, IL-4 being undetectable) of the autoreactive T
cell response induced in the draining LN upon MOG immunization was
comparable in V
14-J
281 Tg and non-Tg NOD mice (Fig. 1
, H and I). These data in combination with the
adoptive transfer experiments (Fig. 2
A) indicate that the
striking inhibition of actively induced EAE observed in the
V
14-J
281 Tg mice is not due to an infringement of the
MOG-specific T cell repertoire but rather due to the immune regulation
mediated by the enriched NKT cell population.
IL-4 is not required for the regulatory function of V
14-J
281
NKT cells in EAE
To address the mechanism by which NKT cells control EAE we focused
on the ability of NKT cells to explosively release IL-4 and IFN-
upon TCR ligation. By analogy to conventional T cells, the cytokine
profile of NKT cells can be polarized, with those NKT cells polarized
to produce IL-4 being suggested to control autoimmune diabetes and EAE
(7, 10, 14, 15, 20, 21).
To address the role of IL-4 in our model we crossed V
14-J
281 Tg
and non-Tg littermates with IL-4-deficient NOD mice. The disruption of
IL-4 expression by itself did not significantly affect EAE severity
(Fig. 2
, B and C). Importantly, as shown in Fig. 2
C, the protection mediated by the overexpression of NKT
cells is preserved in mice lacking functional IL-4 expression. These
data indicate that the efficacy of NKT cells to regulate EAE is not
affected by the lack of IL-4. Moreover, no evidence of a MOG-specific
Th2 bias was obtained when assessing the MOG-specific IL-4
release in splenocyte cultures (Fig. 3
C) and the MOG-specific serum
IgG isotypes of immunized V
14-J
281 Tg mice (data not shown).
Consequently, our data reveal that the natural regulatory function of
NKT cells in EAE is independent of IL-4 and an autoantigen-specific Th2
switch; this in contrast to the control of EAE induced by exogenous NKT
cell activation (14, 15).
|
14-J
281 NKT cells inhibit the encephalitogenic
autoantigen-specific IFN-
response
Because activated encephalitogenic T cells migrate from the LN to
the spleen before their infiltration into the CNS, we contrasted the
MOG-specific T cell response in the LN with that of the spleen to
address whether the MOG-specific T cell population is exposed to NKT
cell-mediated regulation. As compared with wild-type NOD, splenic
cultures of CD1d-deficient NOD mice exhibited an unaltered IL-4 and
IFN-
response following MOG3555 stimulation,
confirming that the impaired NKT cell population in NOD mice does not
alter the generation of encephalitogenic T cells (Figs. 1
B
and 3, B and D). Strikingly, stimulation of T
cells with MOG3555 resulted in a significantly
reduced production of IFN-
in spleen cultures from V
14-J
281 Tg
mice, compared with those of non-Tg littermates (Fig. 3
A).
As no such reduction in the autoantigen-specific IFN-
response was
observed in the draining LN (Fig. 1
H), these data indicate
that the autoreactive T cell response is exposed to NKT cell-mediated
regulation once they have migrated away from the draining LN, where the
relative number of NKT cells is low (20). Indeed,
splenocytes from MOG-immunized V
14-J
281 Tg mice, but not from
non-Tg littermates, produced large amounts of IFN-
and IL-4 in
response to
-GalCer (Fig. 3
, A and C),
confirming the overrepresentation of functional CD1d-dependent NKT
cells in the spleen.
Having excluded the induction of an autoantigen-specific Th2 bias,
alternative mechanisms able to account for a reduced MOG-induced
IFN-
response in the spleen could include an altered migratory
behavior of autoreactive T cells, or exposure to NKT cell-produced
immunoregulatory cytokines other than IL-4. Indeed, NKT cell-produced
IL-10, IL-13, and TGF-
have been implicated in the down-regulation
of tumor surveillance, the prevention of autoimmunity, and the
preservation of immune privilege in the eye (2, 22). In
addition, as activated T cells up-regulate CD1d (23), a
direct cytotoxic NKT cell response might be induced against activated
autoreactive T cells, as has been reported for thymocytes
(24).
It is interesting to note that the regulatory function of NKT cells can be enhanced by their ability to recruit cell populations with the capacity to control autoimmune/inflammatory reactions. Indeed, NKT cells rapidly activate components of the innate immune response, including NK cells, which in turn are able to regulate EAE (2, 25). Alternatively, NKT cells might stimulate the generation of Ag-specific regulatory T cell populations able to suppress autoimmune processes (22).
Whether the regulatory function of NKT cells is used locally in the CNS during episodes of inflammation remains to be defined. However, NKT cells are not only detectable in the CNS of MS patients (11); they might be triggered in situ as the expression of CD1d is up-regulated on murine glial cells during CNS inflammation (26).
In conclusion, this study shows that V
14-J
281 NKT cells naturally
regulate EAE in NOD mice. Preliminary results suggest that this
property also applies to other mouse strains, as EAE severity is
moderately reduced in V
14-J
281 Tg C57BL/6 mice (our
unpublished observation). Although the precise regulatory
mechanisms of V
14-J
281 NKT cells remain to be defined, our data
indicate that they include preventing the accumulation of
autoreactive T cells in the spleen. This study further
strengthens the concept of developing pharmacological stimuli for
CD1d-dependent NKT cells as a novel strategy to treat CNS autoimmunity
(15, 27, 28).
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
-GalCer, Dr. Jean-Paul
Charlet for help with statistical analyses, and Philippe Delis and
Isabelle Cissé for animal care. | Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Roland S. Liblau, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Unité 546, 105 Boulevard de lHôpital, Paris 75013, France. E-mail address: 106063.1005{at}compuserve.com ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: EAE, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis;
-GalCer,
-galactosylceramide; LN, lymph node; MOG, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein; MS, multiple sclerosis; NOD, nonobese diabetic; Tg, transgenic. ![]()
Received for publication October 23, 2001. Accepted for publication April 15, 2002.
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281 transgenic nonobese diabetic mice is associated with a Th2 shift circumscribed regionally to the islets and functionally to islet autoantigen. J. Immunol. 166:3749.
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