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-Inducible T Cell
Chemoattractant Is a Potent Stimulator of Normal Human Blood T Lymphocyte Transendothelial Migration: Differential Regulation by IFN-
and TNF-
1
,
,
Departments of
* Pediatrics,
Medicine,
Microbiology/Immunology, and Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| Abstract |
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-inducible T cell
chemoattractant (I-TAC), was chemotactic
for IL-2-activated human T lymphocytes, which express abundant CXCR3.
However, because most memory T lymphocytes are also CXCR3+,
the ability of I-TAC to promote the migration of normal human blood T
cells across HUVEC monolayers in Transwell chambers was examined. I-TAC
induced a marked (4- to 6-fold) increase in transendothelial migration
(TEM) of T cells across unstimulated HUVEC from 5.6 to 28% of input T
cells and was substantially more active than IFN-
-inducible
protein-10, another CXCR3 ligand. I-TAC significantly enhanced TEM of T
cells across TNF-
, but not across IFN-
or IFN-
plus
TNF-
-activated HUVEC. IFN-
or IFN-
plus TNF-
-activated
HUVEC produced substantial amounts of I-TAC, in contrast to
TNF-
-treated EC. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells
migrated in response to I-TAC to a similar extent, while memory T cells
migrated several fold better than naive T cells. Blockade of LFA-1
strongly inhibited I-TAC-induced T cell TEM across unstimulated HUVEC,
and
5060% of the TEM across cytokine-activated HUVEC. However,
blocking both LFA-1 and very late Ag-4 abolished I-TAC induced T cell
TEM. In vivo significant levels of I-TAC were detected in arthritic
synovial fluid. Thus, I-TAC is one of the most potent chemoattractants
of normal human blood CD4 and CD8 T cell TEM and is likely a major
mediator of blood memory T lymphocyte migration to
inflammation. | Introduction |
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50 human chemokines identified to date (4, 5, 6, 7), which,
based on the number and arrangement of the first two cysteine residues
in their structure, are subdivided into four groups, CXC (
), CC
(
), C (
), and CX3C (
). Chemokines
up-regulated at the site of inflammation by proinflammatory cytokines,
such as IFN-
and TNF-
, are thought to directly recruit
lymphocytes by interacting with their chemokine receptors
(4, 5, 6). CXC chemokines which have been shown to act
on T lymphocytes include IL-8, stromal cell-derived factor
(SDF-1),3 IFN-
-inducible
protein-10 (IP-10), monokine induced by IFN-
(Mig) and
IFN-
-inducible T cell
chemoattractant (I-TAC). Among these
chemokines, SDF-1 shows broad specificity for different subtypes of T
cells, while IP-10, Mig, and I-TAC are reported to be selectively
chemotactic for memory or IL-2-activated T cells (8, 9).
Hence, these latter three chemokines are thought to be important in the
process of T cell recruitment in inflammation.
CXCR3 is the only receptor on T cells for IP-10, Mig, and I-TAC, and
the binding affinity for I-TAC is reported to be much higher than for
IP-10 and Mig (9). Nevertheless, all three of these
chemokines are known ligands for CXCR3+
activated/memory T lymphocytes (8, 9, 10). I-TAC mRNA has
been found to be up-regulated in IFN-
-treated astrocytes,
monocytes (9), bronchial epithelial cells
(11), neutrophils (12), and keratinocytes
(13). In addition, I-TAC was recently shown to be
up-regulated in IFN-
-stimulated human endothelial cells (ECs),
suggesting a role for this chemokine in T lymphocyte recruitment to
sites of inflammation (14). The pathophysiological role
for I-TAC is not fully understood, although its expression by ECs in
atherosclerotic lesions has been shown to correlate with
CXCR3+ T cell accumulation within the lesions
(15). Moreover, marked enrichment of
CXCR3+ cells in the synovium, over blood, of
patients with rheumatoid arthritis (16), and increased
levels of circulating as well as intralesional
CXCR3+ cells in pateints with multiple sclerosis
(17, 18) suggest a possible chemotactic role for CXC
chemokines in inflammation. In addition, enhanced expression of I-TAC
mRNA by IFN-
-stimulated bronchial epithelial cells (11)
and in allergic skin reactions (19) suggest that this
chemokine may play an important role in the recruitment of activated T
cells to lesions in the tuberculoid lung and to delayed type
hypersensitivity reactions in the skin. Recently, prolonged
cardiac allograft survival has been reported in
IP-10-/- mice, also suggesting a role for CXC
chemokines in graft rejection (20).
Previously, it was shown that T cells activated for 715 days in the presence of IL-2 and/or PHA, migrated in chemotaxis assays in response to CXC chemokines, IP-10, Mig, and I-TAC (9, 10). However, it is not clear whether blood T lymphocytes, which are not stimulated with IL-2 or PHA, can chemotax to these CXC chemokines. Because most circulating memory T cells express CXCR3, it was important to determine whether these lymphocytes would migrate without long-term activation to CXC chemokines and especially to I-TAC, which has the highest binding affinity of these chemokines (9). Moreover, transendothelial migration (TEM) of T cells in response to I-TAC, especially across cytokine-stimulated EC, as would occur during inflammation, has not been previously examined.
In the present study, chemotaxis and TEM of freshly isolated human
peripheral blood T cells, without IL-2 preactivation, was investigated
in response to I-TAC and IP-10. These freshly isolated T cells
demonstrated substantial chemotaxis and TEM in response to I-TAC. TEM
was further enhanced by TNF-
, but in contrast to other chemokines,
not IFN-
stimulation of ECs.
| Materials and Methods |
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Recombinant human I-TAC and IP-10 were obtained from PeproTech
(Rocky Hill, NJ), TNF-
(specific activity = 5 x
107 U/mg) was from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN),
and IFN-
(107 U/mg) was purchased from
Genentech (South San Francisco, CA). Anti-CXCR3 (1C6) was a gift from
Dr. P. Ponath (Leukocyte, Cambridge, MA). Affinity purified, rabbit
polyclonal anti-I-TAC Ab, with or without biotin label, were
purchased from PeproTech. Anti-CD45 mAb (4B2) was obtained from the
American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA). Anti-CD45RA
(G115) was a kind gift of Dr. J. Ledbetter (Bristol-Meyers-Squibb,
Seattle, WA). Anti-CD45RO (UCHL-1) was obtained from Immunotech
(Westbrook, ME). Affinity isolated goat-anti-mouse Ig was purchased
from DAKO (Glostrup, Denmark). Anti-CD4 (OKT4), anti-CD8 (OKT8),
and anti-LFA-1
(IB4) Abs were obtained from ATCC. Anti-very late
Ag (VLA)-4 (HP2/1) was a generous gift from Dr. F. Sanchez-Madrid
(Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain).
Preparation of lymphocytes
Lymphocytes were isolated from human peripheral blood from healthy donors by gradient centrifugation and passage over a nylon wool column. In brief, acid citrate dextrose-heparin anticoagulated blood was gently mixed with an equal volume of warm PBS, layered onto Ficoll-Paque (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden), and centrifuged at 900 x g for 20 min. The PBMC on top of the Ficoll-Paque were collected and washed three times with Ca2+Mg2+ free Tyrodes solution. The PBMC were resuspended in RPMI 1640 (RPMI) medium with 10% human platelet-poor plasma (PPP) and were applied onto a nylon wool column. After 60 min of incubation, the unbound T lymphocytes were eluted, washed, resuspended in fresh RPMI medium plus 10% PPP at 2 x 106 cells/ml, and cultured overnight in tissue culture flasks. The nonadherent cells contained >96% T cells, <3% B cells, and <0.1% monocytes by immunofluorescence staining, and were >98% viable by trypan blue dye exclusion. In some experiments, to study the effect of IL-2 activation, T cells were cultured in RPMI + 10% PPP, with or without 400 U/ml recombinant human IL-2 for 8 days. Cells were cultured at a concentration range of 1.52 x 106 cells/ml medium; and to maintain the cell numbers at this concentration, IL-2-supplemented cultures were diluted at 2- to 3-day intervals using fresh IL-2 containing medium.
In some studies, naive (CD45RA+), memory (CD45RA-), CD4+- or CD8+-enriched T cells were purified by using MACS (Miltenyi Biotec, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany). Briefly, T cells were incubated with mAb to either CD45RA (biotinylated G115), or CD4 (OKT4) or CD8 (OKT8) at 50 µg/108 cells/ml in RPMI medium plus 10% FCS at 4°C for 30 min. The cells were then washed twice and resuspended in HEPES-buffered HBSS containing 10% FCS at 107 cells/90 µl medium. Streptavidin-conjugated- or goat anti-mouse Ig-conjugated magnetic beads as appropriate were added and incubated at 612°C for 15 min, mixing every 5 min. Finally, cells were washed once and passed through a column in a magnetic field and the flow through cells were collected as CD45RA-, CD4- cells, or CD8- cells. The purity was >97% for the CD45RA- cell population, and >99% for CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by immunofluorescence staining.
Unfractionated, memory, naive, CD4+, CD4- or CD8+, CD8- T cells were labeled by incubating 5 x 107 cells/ml in RPMI + 15 mM HEPES + 10% FCS with 50 µCi/ml Na251CrO4 (Amersham, Oakville, Canada) at 37°C for 45 min. Cells were washed three times with RPMI and resuspended in RPMI + 5 mg/ml human serum albumin (HSA) for chemotaxis and TEM assays. Depending on the assay, cells were left untreated or pretreated with 20 µg/ml of anti-CD45, anti-LFA-1, anti-VLA-4, or anti-LFA-1 plus anti-VLA-4 mAbs for 20 min at room temperature, and then added on top of the EC monolayers in the TEM assay without removing the mAbs. In some assays, T cells were also pretreated with 10 µg/ml anti-CXCR3 mAb (1C6) before being tested for TEM to I-TAC.
Isolation and culture of ECs
HUVEC were isolated by collagenase digestion as described (21). Briefly, human umbilical veins were flushed with Ringers Lactate, then incubated with 0.5 mg/ml collagenase type II (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) at 37°C for 30 min. Detached EC were collected, washed, and then cultured in gelatin-coated flasks (Nunc, Naperville, IL) in RPMI containing 20% FCS (HyClone Laboratories, Logan, UT), 25 µg/ml EC growth supplement (BD Labware, Bedford, MA), 45 µg/ml heparin, 2 mM L-glutamine, 50 µM 2-ME, 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin. Confluent HUVEC in the flasks were gently trypsinized and seeded onto polycarbonate Transwell filters of 6.5-mm diameter and 5-µm pore size (Costar Corning, Cambridge, MA). The Transwell filters were prepared by coating with 0.01% gelatin at 37°C overnight followed by 3 µg of human fibronectin (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) at 37°C for 3 h. Then, 1.2 x 104 HUVEC in 100 µl HUVEC medium were seeded onto each filter and 0.6 ml of the culture medium was added to each lower chamber beneath the filter. After 6 days of culture, the integrity of confluent HUVEC monolayers was assessed by microscopic observation and by measuring the permeability of the monolayer using 125I-albumin diffusion.
Measurement of lymphocyte chemotaxis to I-TAC
Percentage of T cells migrating in response to I-TAC across 5 µm pore size polycarbonate filters (6.5-mm diameter) was investigated in 24-well Transwell chambers (Costar Corning). 51Cr-labeled T lymphocytes were suspended at 2 x 106 cells/ml in RPMI plus 5 mg/ml HSA and 100 µl of the cell suspension was added to the upper chamber of each Transwell precoated with gelatin and fibronectin. Chemokines were added to the lower chamber at the indicated concentrations. The plates were incubated for 60 min at 37°C in 5% CO2. The migrated T cells in the lower chambers were collected and the extent of T cell migration was measured by gamma counting. Percentage of migration was calculated by dividing the radioactivity of cells in the lower chamber by the total input radioactivity of the labeled cells added to the upper chamber.
Measurement of lymphocyte TEM
HUVEC were left untreated or were stimulated by adding TNF-
(200 U/ml), IFN-
(200 U/ml), or IFN-
plus TNF-
(200 U/ml each)
to the lower chamber of the Transwells for 18 h. The endothelial
monolayers in the Transwell inserts were rinsed with RPMI, 100 µl
labeled cells at 2 x 106 cells/ml in RPMI
plus HSA were added to the HUVEC monolayers, and the inserts were
transferred to new wells (lower chambers) of a 24-well plate containing
0.6 ml of fresh RPMI plus HSA and the indicated chemokine. The
Transwells were then incubated at 37°C in 5%
CO2. After 4 h, T cells which had migrated
through the HUVEC monolayer into the lower chambers were recovered. The
radioactivity in these samples was determined by gamma counting. The
percentage of migrated cells was calculated as above. Spontaneous
release of 51Cr from the labeled cells during the
4-h migration assay was <2%.
Immunofluorescence staining
Briefly, T cells were washed, resuspended in PBS plus 0.5% BSA, and incubated with 10 µg/ml mAb to CD4, CD8, CD45RA, CD45RO, and CXCR3 at 4°C for 30 min. Cells were washed twice and incubated with FITC-conjugated sheep anti-mouse IgG (Sigma-Aldrich). Finally, cells were washed, fixed in 1% paraformaldehyde in PBS, and analyzed by flow cytometry.
Measurement of lymphocyte adhesion
HUVEC were grown to confluence in gelatin-coated 96-well tissue culture plates. 51Cr-labeled T lymphocytes (2 x 105 cells in 100 µl RPMI plus 10% FCS) were added to triplicate wells with or without I-TAC (200 ng/ml). In some experiments, HUVEC was pretreated with 200 ng/ml I-TAC for various times before adding labeled T cells. The cells were allowed to adhere at 37°C for 60 min. Nonadherent cells were removed by four washes with warm RPMI. The bound T cells were lysed with 0.1 N NaOH, collected into tubes, and the radioactivity was measured by gamma counting. Percentage of cell adhesion was calculated by dividing the radioactivity of bound cells by the radioactivity of total input cells.
Measurement of I-TAC
Synovial fluids were obtained from the rheumatology clinic of
the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (Dalhousie University), and the
cell-free supernatants were stored at -80°C until tested for I-TAC.
To obtain endothelial-conditioned medium, HUVEC was grown to confluency
in 35-mm tissue culture wells in HUVEC medium and the growth medium was
replaced with 3 ml/well RPMI plus 5 mg/ml HSA just before stimulating
cells using 200 U/ml IFN-
and/or TNF-
for 18 h. HUVEC
supernatant was collected and tested for I-TAC secretion using a
sandwich ELISA with the ELISA amplification system (Life Technologies).
Briefly, 50 µl/well of 0.5 µg/ml rabbit polyclonal anti-human
I-TAC Ab in carbonate buffer (pH 9.6) was coated overnight at 4°C to
96-well Maxi-Sorp plates (Nunc Immuno Plates, Roskilde, Denmark),
washed twice with 0.01% Tween 20/TBS, and blocked with 2% BSA at
37°C for 2 h. After three washes, samples and known
concentrations of recombinant human I-TAC were added and incubated
overnight at 4°C. Biotin-labeled polyclonal anti-human I-TAC Ab
at 0.5 µg/ml (50 µl/well) was added and incubated for 2 h at
37° C, followed by streptavidin-alkaline phosphotase for 30 min at
room temperature. Each step was separated by four washes. Then, 50 µl
of NADPH substrate was added for 45 min, followed by 50 µl of the
amplifier solution containing alcohol dehydrogenase and diaphorase
according to manufacturers instructions. OD was read at 490 nm after
stopping the reaction with 0.3 N
H2SO4 solution. The
detection limit of this ELISA amplification system was
4 pg/ml.
Statistical analysis
Data were expressed as either the mean ± SEM of multiple assays, or as the mean ± SD of replicate from a representative experiment. ANOVA and Students unpaired t test were used to compare the differences between means.
| Results |
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The migration of unstimulated blood T cells, either across gelatin
and fibronectin-coated microporous Transwell membranes or across HUVEC
monolayers grown on Transwell membranes to various concentrations of
I-TAC in the lower chamber of the Transwells was tested. For
comparison, migration to IP-10, which also binds to CXCR3, was also
measured. As shown in Fig. 1
A,
I-TAC at 10 ng/ml had little effect on T cell migration, but increased
T cell chemotaxis by 5-fold from a background of 420% migration at a
concentration of 100300 ng/ml. In contrast, IP-10 at 100 ng/ml
induced only a small increase in T cell migration, and at 300 ng/ml
induced only a 3-fold increase in T cell chemotaxis, which was still
less than that with I-TAC.
|
To determine whether the T cell TEM to I-TAC was chemotactic or due to
increased chemokinesis, the effect of adding I-TAC in the upper chamber
with the T cells, or in both upper and lower chambers was tested. As
shown in Fig. 1
C, T cell migration across the HUVEC to the
lower chamber was completely lost when I-TAC was added to either the
upper or both upper and lower chambers, which indicated that I-TAC
induced TEM was chemotactic not chemokinetic for the T cells in this
system. This also suggested that the effect of I-TAC was on the T cells
and not the HUVEC.
I-TAC specifically binds to CXCR3 on T lymphocytes; therefore, the
effect of treating T cells with anti-CXCR3 on T cell
chemotaxis and TEM was determined. I-TAC-induced T cell
chemotaxis was inhibited by 90% and TEM by 84%
following anti-CXCR3 mAb treatment (Fig. 1
D), suggesting
that I-TAC induced migration of the blood lymphocyte was mediated
through CXCR3.
Effect of I-TAC on chemotaxis and TEM of T cells cultured with or without exogenous IL-2
Previous reports had shown that T cells cultured with IL-2 for 8
or more days to induce T cell proliferation and activation chemotaxed
to I-TAC. Therefore, the effect of culturing T cells with and without
IL-2 for 8 days on T cell chemotaxis and TEM to I-TAC was examined. Up
to 90% of the T cells cultured without IL-2 were recovered and there
was a 3-fold increase in the T cells in the presence of IL-2. Both
groups of T cells demonstrated higher spontaneous migration to medium
alone than did freshly isolated T cells (Table I
vs Fig. 1
A). However, both
sets of cultured T cells showed similar and significant
(p < 0.05) levels of chemotaxis to I-TAC
whether they were cultured with or without IL-2.
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To identify the phenotype of T cells migrating in response to
I-TAC, T cells were separated into CD4, CD8,
CD45RA+ (naive), and
CD45RA- (memory) fractions, and their chemotaxis
to I-TAC across bare membranes was determined (Fig. 2
). CD4+ T cells
demonstrated lower spontaneous migration than
CD4- T cells, but both
CD4+ and CD4- T cells had
a strong chemotactic response to I-TAC (Fig. 2
A). Similarly,
when T cells were separated into CD8+ and
CD8- populations, their migration to I-TAC was
comparable (data not shown), not only between these two populations,
but also to that seen with CD4- and
CD4+ cells, respectively.
|
4-fold (519%) more to I-TAC than
to the medium control, while there was no significant response by naive
T cells. Thus, I-TAC induced the chemotaxis of both CD4 and CD8 memory,
but not naive T cells. Effect of cytokine activation of the endothelium on T cell migration to I-TAC
In inflammation, T cells migrate across cytokine-activated EC in
response to chemokines. Therefore, the effect of treating the HUVEC
with TNF-
, IFN-
, and both cytokines for 18 h on
I-TAC-induced T cell TEM was determined. As shown in Fig. 3
, T cell migration across HUVEC treated
with TNF-
, IFN-
, or both cytokines was increased 4- to 5-fold
from 4% to 1523%. I-TAC significantly increased lymphocyte TEM
across the TNF-
-stimulated EC from 15 to 30% of input T cells. The
TEM to I-TAC across TNF-
-activated HUVEC was also significantly
greater than observed across unstimulated EC in response to I-TAC, and
appeared to be additive to that of either I-TAC alone or TNF-
activation alone. In striking contrast to TEM across TNF-
-treated
EC, T cell migration to I-TAC across IFN-
or IFN-
plus
TNF-
-stimulated EC was similar to the migration seen in the absence
of I-TAC across HUVEC treated with these cytokines. Similarly,
migration to I-TAC across IFN-
or IFN-
plus TNF-
-stimulated EC
was not significantly higher than that to I-TAC alone across
unstimulated endothelium. Thus, IFN-
treatment of the HUVEC reduced
the response to added I-TAC and also prevented the increase in TEM to
I-TAC across TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC. These findings show that T cell
TEM to I-TAC is differentially regulated by IFN-
and TNF-
activation of the endothelium. Moreover, this effect was not caused by
change in T cell adhesion to cytokine-stimulated HUVEC, as we did not
observe any effect of I-TAC on T cell adhesion to IFN-
and/or
TNF-
-stimulated endothelium (data not shown).
|
The effect of I-TAC on TEM of CD4 and CD8 T cells across normal
and cytokine-stimulated EC was investigated. I-TAC significantly
increased TEM of both CD4+ and
CD4- T lymphocytes across unstimulated HUVEC
(Fig. 4
). Both CD4+
and CD4- T cells demonstrated an increase in TEM
across IFN-
and/or TNF-
-treated HUVEC. I-TAC-stimulated TEM was
enhanced across TNF-
but not IFN-
and IFN-
plus
TNF-
-treated endothelium for both CD4+ and
CD4- T cells. Similar results were obtained
using CD8+ and CD8- T
cells (data not shown).
|
I-TAC induced a marked increase in CD45RA-
memory-enriched T cell TEM across unstimulated HUVEC, but had a
relatively meager effect on CD45RA+
naive-enriched T cells (Fig. 5
) similar
to the chemotactic response to I-TAC. Cytokine treatment of HUVEC
increased memory, but not naive T cell TEM. I-TAC further enhanced
memory-enriched lymphocyte TEM across TNF-
, but not IFN-
or
IFN-
plus TNF-
-treated HUVEC. Naive enriched T cell migration was
only slightly increased across TNF-
-activated EC, and was much less
than that of memory T cells to all stimuli. Thus, memory T cells, but
not naive T cells, were responsible for the increased TEM to I-TAC
across unstimulated HUVEC, and for the increased response across
TNF-
-stimulated endothelium. Supporting this observation, freshly
isolated memory T cells had nearly 10-fold higher proportion of cells
expressing CXCR3 (33%) compared with naive T cells (3.5%).
|
Because cytokine stimulation of the HUVEC differentially regulated
T cell TEM to I-TAC, the effect of cytokine treatment on the production
of I-TAC by HUVEC was determined in EC-conditioned media. As shown in
Table III
, unstimulated and
TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC produced no detectable amounts of I-TAC.
However, treatment of the HUVEC with IFN-
induced a large amount of
I-TAC to be produced by the EC and released into the medium.
Stimulation of the HUVEC with both IFN-
and TNF-
also induced
I-TAC secretion and caused an even greater (>60%) increase than
IFN-
activation alone. Thus, IFN-
, but not TNF-
, induced I-TAC
production by HUVEC, and TNF-
acted synergistically with IFN-
to
augment I-TAC secretion.
|
To determine the cell adhesion molecules involved in T cell
migration to I-TAC, the effect of function blocking mAbs to LFA-1 and
VLA-4 on T lymphocyte TEM across unstimulated and cytokine-treated
HUVEC was examined. I-TAC-induced TEM of >20% of the T cells across
unstimulated, IFN-
, and IFN-
plus TNF-
-treated HUVEC, and
>30% T cell migration across TNF-
-stimulated HUVEC (Fig. 6
). Anti-LFA-1 mAb blocked
80% of the
migration across unstimulated HUVEC, anti-VLA-4 mAb had little
effect, while combined blockade of both LFA-1 and VLA-4 inhibited
90% of the lymphocyte migration to I-TAC. Migration across
IFN-
-stimulated HUVEC was completely abolished by anti-LFA-1
mAb, and unaffected by VLA-4 blockade. T cell TEM to I-TAC across
TNF-
and IFN-
plus TNF-
stimulated HUVEC was significantly,
but only partially (5060%), inhibited by anti-LFA-1 mAb.
Blocking VLA-4 inhibited this migration by
10%, and the combination
of LFA-1 and VLA-4 blockade completely abolished T cell TEM to I-TAC
across these activated endothelia. These findings suggested that
I-TAC-induced TEM is completely dependent on LFA-1 and VLA-4.
|
To evaluate the potential relevance of I-TAC to inflammation in
vivo, the concentration of I-TAC in the synovial fluid of arthritic
joints from patients with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis was determined.
The synovial fluid samples from rheumatoid patients had significantly
higher leukocyte counts (11.7 ± 0.9 x
106/ml) than those of patients with
osteoarthritis (0.6 ± 0.2 x 106/ml).
As shown in Fig. 7
, significant
concentrations of I-TAC were present in all of the rheumatoid joint
synovial fluids. The mean concentration of I-TAC was 735 pg/ml. In
contrast, no I-TAC was detected (<4 pg/ml) in the synovial fluid of
patients with osteoarthritis. This suggests that large amounts of I-TAC
are produced during joint inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis; and
that osteoarthritis is not associated with production of this
chemokine. Moreover, I-TAC is present at a site of chronic inflammation
in vivo.
|
| Discussion |
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This is the first study to demonstrate that I-TAC is a chemoattractant
for freshly isolated normal human blood T cells. I-TAC was effective at
inducing both chemotaxis and TEM at 100300 ng/ml, which is similar to
the concentrations found to be effective with several other
inflammation-associated chemokines, including RANTES,
macrophage-inflammatory protein (MIP)-1
, and monocyte
chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) (27, 28). In
addition to stimulating T lymphocyte chemotaxis across bare membranes,
this study also demonstrates that I-TAC is a very potent inducer of T
cell TEM. Moreover, with the exception of SDF-1, I-TAC appeared to be
among the strongest stimulators of human T cell TEM, which we have
observed (28). Concentrations as low as 25 ng/ml
stimulated significant TEM, suggesting that in vivo I-TAC may be an
effective recruiter of normal blood T lymphocytes.
Cole et al. (9) were unable to show that I-TAC induced chemotaxis of unstimulated human T cells. This may be the result of the differences in the techniques used to measure and enumarate the T cells. Cole et al. (9) coated filters with collagen on the bottom surface and the cells that migrated to the lower surface of the filter were scored microscopically. In contrast, in our experiments the upper surface of Transwell membranes were coated with gelatin and fibronectin and radiolabeled T cells, which had migrated through the membrane in response to I-TAC, were quantified by gamma counting. Chemokines can enhance binding to fibronectin and collagen, so the coating on the Transwells may have facilitated chemotaxis to I-TAC. Unactivated T cells are less adhesive than IL-2-activated T cells to extracellular matrix proteins, such as the collagen on the underside of the filters. This may have resulted in better adherence and detection of the IL-2-activated T cells than the unstimulated lymphocytes. In any case, it appears that I-TAC under appropriate circumstances is a potent stimulator of unstimulated T cell chemotaxis.
Our results also indicated that I-TAC was having a specific chemotactic effect. I-TAC induced a concentration-dependent increase in lymphocyte TEM, and I-TAC-stimulated TEM was abolished in the absence of a concentration gradient for the chemokine. Blockade of CXCR3 also prevented I-TAC-stimulated chemotaxis and TEM, demonstrating that the effect of I-TAC on blood T cells was mediated through binding to CXCR3. This suggests that CXCR3 on blood lymphocytes is functional without prolonged lymphocyte activation.
Previous studies had shown that the percentage of T cells expressing
CXCR3 increased after culture of the lymphocyte in the presence of
exogenous IL-2 and/or PHA for 821 days (10, 16).
Moreover, T cells cultured with IL-2 chemotaxed in response to I-TAC
(9, 10). In the present study, lymphocytes cultured for 8
days with exogenous IL-2 also increased their expression of CXCR3
(Table II
) and I-TAC induced both chemotaxis as well as TEM of these
cells (Table I
). In addition, our results show that T cells maintained
in culture without exogenous IL-2 migrated to I-TAC to a similar extent
as lymphocytes incubated with IL-2, and the chemotactic response to
I-TAC of the T cells cultured for 8 days was comparable to that
observed with T cells freshly isolated from the blood. Thus, our
studies suggest that I-TAC-stimulated migration of T cells does not
require prolonged IL-2 preactivation of the T cells and demonstrate
that there are significant numbers of I-TAC responsive T cells in
blood. This finding suggests a role for I-TAC in the recruitment of
unactivated circulating blood CXCR3+ T cells to
inflammatory sites.
The T cells used in this study are considered "resting" T cells
because they were freshly isolated from healthy donors, and the cells
were not activated in vitro using cytokines or mitogens. These freshly
isolated T cells lack activation markers and are
CD25low and <3% CD69+
similar to those previously reported by others and found to express
CXCR3 (16, 24). Because we found that I-TAC induced
1225% of T cells to migrate almost all of the migration observed was
by T cells lacking activation markers. Activation with IL-2 did not
substantially increase the already considerable chemotaxis induced by
I-TAC (Table I
) under the conditions used in this study. Thus, blood T
cells in the absence of cytokine or mitogen stimulation appear to be
highly responsive to I-TAC.
Our studies demonstrate that I-TAC can stimulate blood T lymphocyte chemotaxis, and suggest that it acts on T cells to induce transmigration of endothelium in vitro. Although the chemotactic effect of I-TAC on blood T cells suggests that I-TAC-induced TEM is mediated by its actions on T cells, ECs have also been shown to express functional CXCR3 (29, 30, 31). However, I-TAC-induced T cell TEM does not appear to be due to an effect of I-TAC on the HUVEC. Addition of I-TAC in the upper chamber of the Transwell containing the EC monolayer did not result in T cell TEM, and a chemotactic gradient was required for TEM.
Previous studies have shown that CXCR3 is expressed on both
CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes
of the memory phenotype, and on some naive CD8+
cells (16, 26). Our results show that I-TAC stimulates the
chemotaxis and TEM of both freshly isolated blood
CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, and
induces the migration of only memory (CD45RA-)
and not naive (CD45RA+) T lymphocytes. This
demonstrates that CXCR3 is functional on both memory
CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in
the blood. In this respect, I-TAC resembles MCP-1, RANTES, and MIP-1
in inducing human blood memory T cell TEM (28).
During inflammation, EC are stimulated by cytokines such as TNF-
and
IFN-
to up-regulate adhesion molecule expression, which promotes TEM
and lymphocyte recruitment into the inflammatory site (3, 32, 33, 34, 35). Migration of T cells, monocytes, and neutrophils in
response to chemokines has also been shown to be augmented across
cytokine-activated endothelium (28, 36, 37). I-TAC-induced
T cell TEM was markedly increased by TNF-
activation of HUVEC (Fig. 3
). This is similar to the previous report with the chemokines, RANTES,
MIP-1
, and SDF-1 (28). TEM to these latter chemokines
was also augmented by IFN-
activation of HUVEC, while TEM to I-TAC
did not increase further across IFN-
or IFN-
plus
TNF-
-activated endothelium. Furthermore, the increase in TEM across
TNF-
, but not across IFN-
or IFN-
plus TNF-
-stimulated
HUVEC was observed for both CD4+ and
CD8+ memory T cells. Therefore, I-TAC appears to
be unusual among these inflammation-associated chemokines in that
I-TAC-induced TEM is differentially regulated by IFN-
and TNF-
treatment of the endothelium.
ECs stimulated with cytokines can produce chemokines which can affect T
cell TEM (28, 38, 39, 40). As previously shown, T cell TEM
across IFN-
- and TNF-
-activated endothelium has been shown to be
pertussis toxin sensitive (28). Chemokines present at the
luminal (apical) surface of EC enhance leukocyte adhesion but not
migration, while chemokines on the abluminal (basal) surface of EC
induce TEM (41). This suggests that there is a requirement
for a chemokine gradient for the T cell to transmigrate the
endothelium. Our results demonstrate that treatment of the HUVEC with
IFN-
and IFN-
plus TNF-
, but not TNF-
alone induces large
amounts of I-TAC to be produced (Table III
). In addition,
IFN-
-activated EC can also produce IP-10 and Mig (14, 15, 42, 43). Because I-TAC-stimulated TEM is highly dependent on a
chemokine gradient (Fig. 1
C), one explanation for the lack
of any increase in cell migration to I-TAC across IFN-
or IFN-
plus TNF-
activated HUVEC may be the disruption of the required
chemotactic gradient.
Another explanation for the decreased migration to I-TAC across
IFN-
-treated EC may relate to the proteoglycans on the surface of
the EC, which can bind chemokines (42, 44, 45, 46). These
proteoglycans are thought to produce a high local concentration of
chemokines in vivo to induce rapid integrin activation on rolling
leukocytes (47). Thus, I-TAC, IP-10, and Mig induced by
IFN-
and IFN-
plus TNF-
treatment of the HUVEC is likely
immobilized on the EC. These immobilized CXCR3+
ligands may also interfere with the chemotactic gradient or may
contribute to desensitization and internalization of
CXCR3+, as has been shown for some other
chemokines (48, 49). It was also shown recently that
surface-bound I-TAC, IP-10, and Mig on IFN-
activated, but not on
resting EC, upon coculture, could rapidly induce T cell CXCR3
internalization (50). Experiments to be reported elsewhere
by us also indicate that CXCR3 on T cells contributes together with
other chemokine receptors to TEM across IFN-
-stimulated endothelium,
further suggesting that IFN-
activated EC-derived I-TAC might play a
role in desensitizing CXCR3+ T cells.
In the case of monocytes, MCP-1 produced by IL-1-activated EC has been
shown to inhibit monocyte TEM in response to exogenous MCP-1
(36). Taken together, it appears that the chemokines
produced by the endothelium in response to TNF-
and/or IFN-
may
play an important role in differential regulation of T cell TEM induced
by I-TAC. One thing which is not clear is why this effect is observed
with I-TAC, but not with other chemokines, such as RANTES. Cytokine
activation of HUVEC can induce substantial secretion of RANTES (our
unpublished observation), but RANTES-induced TEM is enhanced across
TNF-
- and IFN-
-treated EC (28). Further studies on
EC chemokine production and T cell chemokine receptor modulation will
be needed to understand these processes.
Our studies also examined the role of the major T lymphocyte integrins
in I-TAC-induced TEM, because previous studies had shown that both
LFA-1 and VLA-4 could mediate TEM, but the contribution of these
integrins varied based on the cytokines and chemokines used to induce
lymphocyte migration (51). I-TAC-induced TEM of T cells
across unstimulated and IFN-
-stimulated EC was completely or almost
completely abolished by blockade of LFA-1 (Fig. 6
). In contrast, I-TAC
stimulated T cell TEM across TNF-
and TNF-
plus IFN-
was
partially inhibited by anti-LFA-1 and abolished when both VLA-4 and
LFA-1 were blocked. Previous studies had shown that TEM induced by
RANTES, MIP-1
, and SDF-1 across unstimulated and IFN-
-treated
HUVEC was mediated by LFA-1, while migration across TNF-
-activated
HUVEC stimulated by these chemokines, but not in the absence of the
chemokines, was dependent on both LFA-1 and VLA-4 (51).
TEM induced by I-TAC across unstimulated and TNF-
-activated HUVEC
similarly appears to depend on these two integrins, suggesting that
I-TAC increases not only LFA-1 but also VLA-4 function during TEM. It
is also interesting to note that TEM across EC treated with both
TNF-
and IFN-
was also mediated by these two integrins, even
though this migration was not enhanced by I-TAC, suggesting that TEM
across this activated endothelium is induced by endothelial-derived
chemokines, probably in part CXCR3 ligands.
Our findings that I-TAC induces normal blood T lymphocyte TEM suggests
that T cell recruitment to inflamed tissues may be stimulated by the
action of I-TAC on resting blood T cells. To determine whether I-TAC
may be contributing to T cell migration in vivo, the concentration of
I-TAC in arthritic synovial fluid was examined. I-TAC was abundant in
synovial fluid from joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but
not osteoarthritis (Fig. 7
). The finding of substantial levels of I-TAC
in RA synovial fluid further supports an in vivo role for I-TAC in
recruiting T cells to inflammation.
A recent report has shown increased levels of IP-10 in synovial fluid (52), and suggests that CXCR3 ligands likely play an important role in RA. The studies here indicate that I-TAC may play a particularly important role in this T cell infiltration, because unlike IP-10, I-TAC can stimulate TEM by resting blood lymphocytes. Increased expression of CXCR3 on T cells in inflammatory reactions mediated by type 1 cytokines has been previously reported (15, 16, 18, 23, 43, 52, 53, 54, 55). Our results suggest that the CXCR3 on T cells in these inflammatory sites likely mediates TEM to the site, and may not be the result of the up-regulation of CXCR3 by T cells in response to the cytokines in the inflamed tissue. Future studies of the in vivo migration of CXCR3+ T cells are needed to determine the full role of this receptor in recruitment of T lymphocytes to inflammation.
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Thomas B. Issekutz at the current address: Division of Immunology, Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Izaak Walton Killam Grace Health Center, 5850 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3J 3G9. E-mail address: thomas.issekutz{at}dal.ca ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: SDF-1, stromal cell-derived factor-1; TEM, transendothelial migration; EC, endothelial cell; I-TAC, IFN-
-inducible T cell
chemoattractant; IP-10, IFN-
-inducible protein-10; Mig, monokine induced by IFN-
; VLA-4, very late Ag 4; MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; MIP, macrophage inflammatory protein; PPP, platelet-poor plasma; HSA, human serum albumin. ![]()
Received for publication July 25, 2001. Accepted for publication April 8, 2002.
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