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*
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555; and
Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143
| Abstract |
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is largely
unknown. We have demonstrated that IL-5 induces tyrosine
phosphorylation of IL-5R
in eosinophils. To identify
IL-5R
-associated tyrosine kinases, we have examined the expression
of Src family tyrosine kinases in eosinophils. Among the Src family
members, Lyn, Hck, Fgr, and Lck are present in eosinophils, and, among
these four kinases, only Lyn is associated with the IL-5R
under
basal conditions. We also confirm the association of Janus kinase
(Jak)2 with IL-5R
. Lyn kinase phosphorylates both IL-5R
and
cR
in vitro. The importance of Lyn kinase for eosinophil differentiation
was studied using antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. Lyn antisense
oligodeoxynucleotide blocks eosinophil differentiation from stem cells
in a dose-dependent manner. The Jak2 inhibitor tyrphostin AG490 also
inhibits eosinophil differentiation. The importance of Lyn for
eosinophil differentiation was further studied using Lyn knockout mice.
The IL-5-stimulated eosinophil differentiation from bone marrow cells
is significantly inhibited in Lyn-/- mice as compared
with that in control mice. We conclude that both Lyn and Jak2 play an
essential role in IL-5R
signaling, leading to eosinophil
differentiation. The effect of Lyn appears to be relatively specific
for the eosinophilic lineage. | Introduction |
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The IL-5R has two subunits, the ligand-specific
subunit and the
c subunit, which is common to receptors for IL-3 and GM-CSF
(10). The signal transduction mechanism of the
cR has
previously been studied.
c is associated with Lyn (11, 12), Fes (13), Janus kinase
(Jak)31
(14), and Jak2 (15, 16, 17) tyrosine kinases.
Following receptor oligomerization, the tyrosine kinases are rapidly
activated, which leads to receptor phosphorylation and recruitment of
cytosolic signaling, including Syk (18), the adapter
protein Shc (19), phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase
(20), and STAT transcription factors (15, 16, 21, 22). The cytosolic signal is transduced via the Jak-STAT
(15, 16) and Ras-mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase
(12) pathway. Both pathways have been shown to play
important roles in IL-5 signaling. The signal transduction mechanism of
IL-5R
subunit is largely unknown. Since IL-5 plays an essential and
nonredundant role in eosinophil differentiation, the foregoing function
must be attributable to the signaling via the IL-5R
. Indeed, mice
with null mutation for IL-5R
are unable to increase eosinophil
differentiation in response to IL-5 (23, 24). Tyrosine
kinases of the Src family are frequently associated with cytokine
receptors and play an important role in generating cytosolic signals
(25). The association of Src-type kinases with IL-5R
has not been previously reported. We investigated the physical
association of Src-type kinases with IL-5R
and examined their
biological relevance.
| Materials and Methods |
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Percoll was purchased from Pharmacia (Piscataway, NJ). The mAb
against anti-phosphotyrosine (clone 4G10) was obtained from Upstate
Biotechnology (Lake Placid, NY). Rabbit polyclonal anti-IL-5R
and
, anti-Jak2, and Abs against the Src family of tyrosine
kinases, Lyn, Hck, Fyn, Fgr, Blk, and Lck, were purchased from Santa
Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). The Jak2 inhibitor tyrphostin
AG490 was purchased from Calbiochem (Carlsbad, CA) and resuspended in
DMSO. ECL detection system was purchased from Amersham (Arlington
Heights, IL).
Eosinophil purification
Peripheral blood for eosinophil purification was obtained from subjects with mild to moderate eosinophilia (612%). Eosinophils were isolated by sedimentation with 3% hydroxyethyl starch, followed by centrifugation on discontinuous Percoll gradients and by negative selection using anti-CD16 immunomagnetic beads (Miltenyi Biotec, Sunnyvale, CA), according to the method described previously (12). Eosinophils (>99% purity) were then suspended in RPMI 1640 in tubes coated with 3% human serum albumin.
Preparation of cytosolic cell extracts and immunoprecipitation
Eosinophils (14 x 106/ml) were
incubated with IL-5 (10-10 M) or medium at
37°C for the indicated period of time. The stimulation was terminated
by addition of 1 vol of ice-cold PBS containing 1 mM
Na3VO4. The cells were
pelleted by centrifugation, washed rapidly with PBS, and lysed in a
buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EGTA,
0.25% sodium deoxycholate, 1 µM PMSF, 1 µM
Na3VO4, 1 mM NaF, 0.7%
Triton X-100, and 1 µg/ml aprotinin, leupeptin, and pepstatin. After
incubation on ice for 10 min, the lysates were passaged several times
through a 26-gauge needle and detergent-insoluble materials were
removed by centrifugation at 4°C at 12,000 x g. The
protein concentration was determined using bicinchoninic acid assay
(Pierce, Rockford, IL). Cell lysates were then resolved on SDS-PAGE and
subjected to Western blotting using appropriate Abs according to the
method described previously (12). In other experiments,
cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with Abs against anti-IL-5R
and
c and Lyn to study phosphorylation. For this purpose, the cell
lysates were precleared by incubation with 20 µl Protein A/G Agarose
Plus (Santa Cruz Biotechnology) for 2 h. After removal of the
beads, the lysates were incubated with an appropriate Ab and Protein
A/G Agarose Plus for 4 h at 4°C. The immunoprecipitates were
washed three times with the cold lysis buffer and boiled in the Laemmli
sample buffer.
Gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting
SDS-polyacrylamide gels were prepared according to the Laemmli protocol and used for immunoblotting. The concentration of polyacrylamide was 7 or 12% depending on the m.w. range of the proteins studied. Gels were blotted onto Hybond membranes (Amersham) for Western blotting using the ECL system. Blots were incubated in a blocking buffer containing 5% BSA in TBST buffer (20 mM Tris-base, 137 mM NaCl, made to pH 7.6, and 0.05% Tween 20) for 1 h, followed by incubation in the primary Ab (0.1 µg/ml) for 1 h. After washing five times in TBST buffer, blots were incubated for 30 min with a HRP-conjugated secondary Ab (0.1 µg/ml) directed against primary Ab. The blots were developed with the ECL substrate according to manufacturers protocol. In some experiments, blots were reprobed with another Ab after stripping in a buffer of 62.5 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.7), 100 µM 2-ME, and 2% SDS at 50°C for 30 min.
In vitro kinase assay
Lyn, IL-5R
, and
c were immunoprecipitated from eosinophils
with respective Abs (Santa Cruz Biotechnology). The kinase assay was
performed in a buffer containing 20 mM Tris (pH 7.4) 2 mM
MgCl2, 0.5 µM cold ATP, and 2 µCi
[
-32P]ATP for 20 min. The assay was stopped
by addition of 6x Laemmlis buffer. The reactions then were separated
by SDS-PAGE, transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, and
autoradiographed.
Murine bone marrow cell culture
In vitro liquid culture was performed as described elsewhere (26). OVA-sensitized BALB/c mice were sacrificed, and the femurs were removed. The bone marrow cavity was flushed with saline to obtain cells. The bone marrow cells (5 x 105 cells/ml) were suspended in IMDM. These cells were incubated with and without the inhibitors for 30 min at 37°C, followed by further culture in the presence of 1 ng/ml murine IL-3 and 6 ng/ml murine IL-5 plus 10% FCS for 1 wk. After harvesting, the total cell count was obtained and the remaining cells were used for cytospin preparations. These preparations were stained with Wright-Giemsa stain for counting the number of eosinophils.
Antisense ODNs
Two 15-mer Lyn sense and antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) were synthesized by Operon Technologies (Alameda, CA) based on previously published sequence information (18). These ODN do not match any other cDNA in the GenBank Database by basic local alignment search tool analyses. They have been shown to decrease the expression of Lyn in human eosinophils by one group (18), and this observation was confirmed in our laboratory (27). Sequences used were as follows: antisense Lyn (CATATTTCCCGCTCG) and sense Lyn (CGAGCGGGAAATATG). The ODNs were phosphorothioate modified and resuspended in sterile H2O at 100 µM concentration.
Statistical analysis
Results were expressed as mean ± SD. Data were analyzed for statistical significance using ANOVA and Students t test.
| Results |
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The signal transduction mechanism of IL-5R
is largely unknown.
IL-5R
has a short cytoplasmic tail, which consists of
55 amino
acid residues. The cytoplasmic tail has one tyrosine residue. We
investigated whether IL-5R
underwent tyrosine phosphorylation upon
ligand binding. Eosinophils were stimulated with IL-5, and the lysate
was Western blotted with an anti-phosphotyrosine Ab. IL-5 induced
tyrosine phosphorylation of the
receptor (Fig. 1
). IL-5R
has previously been reported
to be differentially glycosylated and appears as multiple bands on
Western blotting in the molecular mass range of 6085 kDa. We
have observed predominantly two bands (Fig. 1
) upon Western blotting of
eosinophil lysates.
|

The members of the Src family tyrosine kinases are frequently
associated with cytokine receptors. For this reason, we have examined
the expression of Src family tyrosine kinases in eosinophils by Western
blotting. Eosinophils express Hck, Lyn, Lck, and Fgr, but not Fyn (Fig. 2
). We are also unable to detect Src and
Blk (data not shown) in eosinophils. The results are in agreement with
a recent report on Src-type kinases in eosinophils (28).
We have previously reported that IL-5 activates Lyn kinase in
eosinophils. For this reason, we have initially examined the
association of Lyn with IL-5
. Coprecipitation studies reveal that
Lyn kinase is physically associated with IL-5R
under basal
conditions (Fig. 3
). Stimulation of
eosinophils with IL-5 for a short period of time (3 min) did not
increase the association of Lyn with IL-5R
.
|
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cR
(12). Thus, coprecipitation of Lyn with IL-5R
could be
the result of coprecipitation of IL-5R
with
c. To address this
concern, we first performed immunoprecipitation of stimulated and
nonstimulated eosinophils with an anti-
c Ab. The
immunoprecipitating pellet (pellet I) was separated from the
supernatant (supernatant I), and both were Western blotted for the
presence of
c. As expected, the pellet, but not the supernatant,
showed the presence of the
cR (Fig. 4
c, was then immunoprecipitated with an anti-IL-5R
Ab.
The immunoprecipitate (pellet II) was separated from the supernatant
(supernatant II). Pellet I, pellet II, and supernatant II were Western
blotted with the anti-Lyn Ab. The Western blot of pellet I confirms
our previous report that a fraction of Lyn is associated with
c, and
this association is increased following IL-5 stimulation of cells. The
Western blot of pellet II suggests that IL-5R
is associated with Lyn
under basal conditions in the absence of
c. This physical
association is modestly reduced after IL-5 stimulation. The Western
blot of supernatant II suggests that a fraction of Lyn is not
associated with either receptor subunit and is most likely associated
with other receptors. In a next step, we examined the association of
Hck with IL-5R
and
c using a similar protocol. Our results show
that IL-5R
is not associated with Hck (Fig. 5
c, but the majority of Hck is in the supernatant fraction.
Similar experiments with Fgr and Lck do not show any association with
IL-5R subunits (data not shown).
|
|
and
c subunits
We have shown that IL-5R
undergoes phosphorylation upon
stimulation of eosinophils with IL-5. Next, we examined whether Lyn
phosphorylates IL-5R in vitro. To this goal, we immunoprecipitated Lyn
kinase and performed kinase assay in the presence of IL-5R
and
c
immunoprecipitates. Lyn kinase phosphorylated both
and
c
subunits of IL-5R (Fig. 6
).
|

Previously, IL-5R
has been shown to be associated with Jak2
(14). We have confirmed this finding in coprecipitation
studies (Fig. 7
). Like Lyn kinase, Jak2
appears to be associated with IL-5R
under basal conditions. There is
only modest increase in IL-5R
binding to Jak2 following IL-5
stimulation of eosinophils.
|
The differentiation of eosinophils from stem cells occurs
stepwise. Lineage-committed stem cells initially require IL-3 for their
proliferation. Subsequent stimulation with IL-5 leads to the
differentiation of eosinophils. Previous studies have shown that a
combination of IL-3 and IL-5 stimulates eosinophilopoiesis in vitro
(29). We have used an in vitro liquid culture system using
bone marrow cells from mouse according to the method described
previously (26). In this model, allergic sensitization of
mice significantly increases the sensitivity of bone marrow stem cells
to IL-5. The percentage of in vitro differentiated eosinophils
increases from
10% in nonsensitized mice to 30% in sensitized
mice. We have studied the importance of Lyn kinase and Jak2 for
eosinophil differentiation using bone marrow cells from sensitized
mice. Murine bone marrow cells were incubated with IL-3 and IL-5 for 1
wk, followed by cytospin preparations for Wright-Giemsa staining.
Murine eosinophils were recognized by the ring-shaped nucleus and the
presence of eosinophilic granules. The presence of major basic
protein-containing granules in bone marrow-derived eosinophils was
confirmed by immunocytochemical staining in a previous publication
(26). The total cell and eosinophil counts after 1 wk were
46 ± 6 and 14 ± 2 x 104 cells,
respectively (n = 3). Approximately 32% of the total
cells were of eosinophilic lineage.
To block Lyn kinase, we used two strategies. First, we used a Lyn
antisense ODN, which blocks the expression of Lyn kinase, but not Jak2,
in eosinophils (27). Tyrphostin AG490 was used to block
Jak2 (30). The Lyn antisense ODN and AG490 blocked
eosinophil differentiation from stem cells in a dose-dependent manner
(Fig. 8
, A and B).
The Lyn antisense ODN did not affect proliferation of other cells in
the culture (Fig. 8
C). However, AG490 showed a tendency to
inhibit growth of all lineages in the culture, which is in agreement
with the previous finding that Jak2 is essential for hemopoiesis in
general (31, 32).
|
Next we have examined the differentiation of eosinophils in Lyn
knockout mice. Lyn knockout mice do not have any developmental
abnormalities (33). However, they show some dysregulation
of Ig synthesis, implying a regulatory role of Lyn kinase in this
process (34, 35). Furthermore, they have impaired mast
cell degranulation. We have immunized Lyn knockout mice and control
mice (C57/B6) with OVA to stimulate eosinophilopoiesis in vivo. Bone
marrow cells were then cultured in vitro in the presence of IL-3 and
IL-5, as described above. The IL-5-induced differentiation of
eosinophils was strikingly inhibited in Lyn-/-
mice as compared with that in control mice (10 ± 2 vs 27 ±
2, p < 0.01, Fig. 9
).
The total cell count in bone marrow cultures from knockout and control
mice was similar. The noneosinophilic cells are mostly of monocytic
lineage, indicating that Lyn is not essential for their growth.
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| Discussion |
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subunit plays an essential role in IL-5 signaling and
eosinophil differentiation. The significance of Src family kinases in
IL-5R
signaling has not been previously investigated. We show that
eosinophils express four different Src family kinases, Hck, Lyn, Fgr,
and Lck. Among these four tyrosine kinases, only Lyn is physically
associated with IL-5R
, and this association occurs independent of
its association with
c following IL-5 stimulation. Lyn kinase is
able to phosphorylate IL-5R
in vitro. Lyn is important for
IL-5-induced eosinophil differentiation from bone marrow stem cells. We
have confirmed a previous report that Jak2 is associated with IL-5R
.
Jak2 is also important for eosinophil differentiation.
Tyrosine kinases of the Src family are associated with many cytokine
and growth factor receptors. Previous studies have implied an important
role of Src-type kinases in a variety of cellular functions, including
cell growth, differentiation, proliferation, adhesion, locomotion, and
apoptosis (reviewed in Ref. 25). Specifically, in vitro
studies have implicated an important role of the kinases in myeloid
cell growth and differentiation. For example, Lyn is associated with
receptors for B cell Ag receptor (36), erythropoietin
receptor (37), Fc
RI (38), Fc
R
(39), Fc
RI (40), and c-Kit
(41). In Lyn-/- mice,
differentiation of erythrocytes, granulocytes, macrophages, and mast
cells is not impaired (33, 34, 35), suggesting that
erythropoietin, GM-CSF, and c-Kit signaling are unaltered. In
Lyn-/- mice, basal production of neutrophils is
mildly increased, whereas the B cell number is decreased by 50%
(34). Basal eosinophilopoiesis appears normal in
Lyn-/- mice, as reflected by the normal
eosinophil count in the peripheral blood (
3% in both
Lyn-/- and control mice). However, no specific
information regarding IL-5-induced differentiation of eosinophils in
Lyn-/- mice is available in the published
literature.
Our results suggest that Lyn-/- mice have
impaired IL-5-induced eosinophilopoiesis. The results imply that basal
eosinophilopoiesis is regulated by multiple factors. It has been shown
that the commitment of stem cells to granulocytic lineages is
stochastic and independent of growth factors. Once committed,
eosinophil progenitors are regulated by a multitude of positive and
negative factors, including IL-3, IL-5, GM-CSF, IL-6, TGF-
,
corticosteroids, CC chemokines, and others (1). This is
confirmed by the observation that basal eosinophil differentiation in
IL-5R
(21) and
c (42) knockout mice is
reduced but not eliminated. For example, peripheral blood eosinophil
count in IL-5R
-/- mice is reduced by <50%
(23).
Lyn exerts a positive signaling effect by phosphorylating the
immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif of the B cell Ag
receptor and a negative signaling effect by phosphorylating the
immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif of the Fc
RII
(38). In Lyn-/- mice, the negative
signaling in B cells is affected more than the positive signaling,
which results in increased Ab synthesis (32, 33, 34, 35). c-Kit
signaling is unimpaired, and mast cell differentiation is normal.
However, mast cell activation through Fc
RI is attenuated (33, 35). These observations suggest that the downstream signaling
effect of Lyn is cell and receptor specific. Lyn is redundant for
downstream signaling by erythropoietin, IL-3, and GM-CSF receptors but
is important for signaling through Fc
RII and Fc
RI. Our results
suggest that Lyn is also important for IL-5R
signaling in eosinophil
progenitors. Interestingly, a subpopulation of mouse B cells, the
so-called B1 cells, responds to CD38 ligation and IL-5 with cell
proliferation and IgG1 synthesis. This effect is significantly
abrogated in Lyn-/- mice, suggesting a pivotal
role of Lyn in IL-5R signaling in B cells (43).
The signaling pathways downstream of Lyn kinase that lead to eosinophil differentiation are unknown. We have previously shown that extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and p38 MAP kinases are important for eosinophil differentiation from stem cells (26). Antisense inhibition of Lyn blocks the activation of ERK1/2 in eosinophils (27), indicating that the latter kinases are coupled to the Lyn signaling pathway. Whether p38 MAP kinases are linked to Lyn kinase in eosinophils is unknown. The activation of ERK1/2 in Lyn knockout mice has previously been examined. ERK1/2 activation is impaired in mast cells but enhanced in B cells from Lyn-/- mice (34). We were unable to study the activation of MAP kinases in purified eosinophils from Lyn-/- mice because of severely impaired production of eosinophils. Given that antisense Lyn ODN block ERK1/2 activation in eosinophils (27), it is likely that ERK1/2 activation is impaired in Lyn-/- eosinophil progenitor cells and results in reduced eosinophil production.
| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Rafeul Alam, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Rt-1083, Galveston, TX 77555-1083. E-mail address: ralam{at}utmb.edu ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: Jak, Janus kinase; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; MAP, mitogen-activated protein; ODN, oligodeoxynucleotide. ![]()
Received for publication October 5, 2001. Accepted for publication December 14, 2001.
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