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* Department of Immunology, DNAX Research, Palo Alto, CA 94304; and
Schering Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ 07033
| Abstract |
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-inducible protein-10 within the CNS during experimental
autoimmune encephalomyelitis fails to occur early in the inflammatory
process in TNF-deficient mice, despite local expression of monokines
and IFN-
. The critical source of TNF in CNS inflammation is the
infiltrating hemopoietic cell, and, in its absence, chemokine
expression by irradiation-resistant CNS-resident cells fails. The CCR8
ligand, TCA3, is shown to be produced predominantly by resident
microglia of the CNS in response to TNF. Using CCR8-/-
mice, evidence is provided that TCA3-CCR8 interactions contribute to
rapid-onset CNS inflammation. Thus, through TNF production, the
hemopoietic compartment initiates the signals for its own movement into
tissues, although the tissue ultimately defines the nature of that
movement. Chemokines are a major, although not exclusive, mechanism by
which tissues regulate leukocyte movement in response to
TNF. | Introduction |
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Clues to the pathway(s) truly dependent upon TNF activities came instead from the observation that mice lacking TNF (14, 15) or TNFR I (16) had a degree of lymphoid disorganization at the microarchitectural level that resembled that seen in mice lacking BLR1 (CXCR5), the receptor for the B cell chemokine BLC (17). Prominent in TNF-/- mice was loss of primary B cell follicles in spleen, lymph node, and Peyers patches, but with lymphocyte phenotype and frequency within these tissues virtually normal. Further to this, our analysis of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)4 (9, 10) and pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (13) in TNF-/- mice showed that the only component of the inflammatory pathway that failed was the movement of leukocytes within the target organ. Thus, in EAE, disease onset was delayed in TNF-/- mice relative to wild-type (WT) mice, and this was accompanied by an unusual histopathological outcome (9, 10). First, at the time of disease delay in TNF-/- mice, comparable number and phenotype of inflammatory leukocytes were isolated from the whole CNS of both WT and TNF-/- mice, despite the fact that TNF-/- mice were clinically healthy. Unlike WT mice, however, inflammatory leukocytes in the TNF-/- CNS could not be detected at the histological level. Precise anatomical location of leukocyte accumulation at this time has yet to be resolved. Given that Ag presentation to T cells and early leukocyte accumulation occurs in the perivascular space of meningeal vessels and smaller CNS capillaries before onset of EAE (18, 19, 20) suggests that these locations represent likely sites of leukocyte retention in TNF-/- mice.
In any event, these observations demonstrated that a TNF-dependent event critical to normal disease development was leukocyte movement creating typical perivascular CNS inflammation. Second, when onset of disease did occur in TNF-/- mice, leukocytes were then detectable at the histological level as perivascular accumulations (cuffs) of leukocytes, but the nature of these cuffs remained distinct from that of WT mice. Thus, in TNF-/- mice, leukocytes remained tightly clustered around vessels, with limited movement of cells into the CNS tissue parenchyma. These outcomes have been reproduced by others (21). From these studies, a theme emerged where generation and movement of naive lymphocytes or inflammatory cells to secondary lymphoid tissues or target tissues respectively occurred apparently normally in the absence of TNF, while the movement of leukocytes within tissues failed.
TNF has been shown to induce chemokine gene expression both in vitro
(22) and in vivo (23), although it is only
one of a number of other factors including IL-1 and IFN-
that
exhibits this property. However, in light of the similarities between
mice lacking TNF or BLR1 (14, 15, 17), one interpretation
was that chemokine expression in vivo, at least in steady state
lymphoid tissue development, required absolutely an upstream signal
from TNF. Furthermore, the implication was that this property of TNF
was nonredundant. Our assessment of chemokine mRNA levels in the spleen
of TNF-/- mice supported this view, although
the data indicated dependency of chemokine expression was selective,
with many chemokines expressed at near normal levels in the absence of
TNF. Thus, using relatively insensitive Northern blot analysis
(24), we demonstrated that expression levels of key B cell
(BLC) and T cell (CCL21/6ckine/SLC and CCL19/macrophage-inflammatory
protein (MIP)-3
/ELC) homing chemokines were reduced in
TNF-/- mice, accounting for the defects in
lymphoid cell organization seen in these mice. More recent analysis
(25) using TaqMan quantitative PCR extended this list to
the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), which was
reduced 4-fold in TNF-/- spleen relative to WT
spleen.
In view of the consistent leukocyte-movement defect phenotype in mice deficient in TNF or TNFR I, a logical hypothesis proposed previously (26) is that a dominant and substantially nonredundant activity for TNF in vivo is regulation of leukocyte movement through control of chemokine expression. Evidence for this is lacking. We report in this study a substantial body of data confirming this concept and showing that the interplay between TNF and chemokine induction necessary for lymphoid tissue development is also a feature of CNS inflammation. Notable is that both physiological processes require TNF production by hemopoietic cells (B lymphocytes in lymphoid tissue neogenesis) (27), which in turn induces chemokine production by stromal cells, for example, follicular dendritic cells in spleen (28), and glial cells, including microglia, in the CNS. Based upon these and earlier studies in mice producing only membrane-bound TNF (25), a linear model for development of CNS inflammation is described.
| Materials and Methods |
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C57BL/6.TNF-/- mice (15) were bred in-house and maintained under specific pathogen-free conditions in microisolator cages at the DNAX Animal Facility. Control WT C57BL/6 mice were bred in-house or obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). The 129/C57BL/6 chimeric mice carrying an induced CCR8 gene deletion (29) were bred directly to 129SvEv mice (Taconic Farms, Germantown, NY) and screened by PCR to obtain homozygous CCR8-/- mice on a 129SvEv inbred background. Control WT 129SvEv mice were purchased from Taconic Farms. Adult (>7-wk-old) female mice were used in all experiments. All animal procedures were approved by the DNAX Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
Induction of EAE
EAE was induced actively by s.c. injection of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide in CFA (day 0) and i.v. injection of 100 ng of pertussis toxin on days 0 and 2, essentially as described previously (10). Animals were monitored daily, and neurological deficits were quantified on a scale from 0 to 6 (10).
Generation of radiation bone marrow chimeras
These were generated between WT and
TNF-/- mice, as described previously
(10). As a means of determining successful engraftment,
before each experiment, irradiated WT C57BL/6.CD45.2 mice were
reconstituted with bone marrow from congenic C57BL/6.CD45.1 mice.
Peripheral blood was drawn from the recipients and analyzed by flow
cytometry for the presence of the CD45.1 congenic marker on leukocytes.
At
8 wk after reconstitution, typically 100% of granulocytes, 100%
of monocytes, 100% of B cells, and 9095% of T cells were of
donor type.
Antibodies
The following mAb and isotype-matched control Abs were from BD PharMingen (San Diego, CA): purified rat anti-mouse CD4, purified or FITC-conjugated rat anti-mouse CD11b, FITC-conjugated rat anti-mouse CD3, FITC-conjugated rat anti-mouse B220, PE-conjugated mouse anti-mouse CD45.1, and biotinylated hamster anti-mouse T cell activation gene 3 (TCA3) (clone 1A6). Polyclonal rabbit anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO).
Flow cytometric analysis
Flow cytometric analysis of bone marrow engraftment in chimeras was performed on peripheral blood leukocytes. Cells were incubated with PE-conjugated mouse anti-mouse CD45.1 and one of the following FITC-conjugated mAbs: anti-CD3 (T cells), anti-B220 (B cells), anti-CD11b (monocytes, granulocytes, and NK cells), or their appropriate isotype controls. Flow cytometric data were acquired on either a FACScan or FACSCalibur (BD Immunocytometry Systems, San Jose, CA) and analyzed using CellQuest software (BD Immunocytometry Systems).
Immunohistochemistry and histology
Dissected spinal cords were embedded in OCT compound (Tissue Tek; Miles, Elkhart, IN), snap frozen in liquid nitrogen vapor, and stored at -80°C until required. Serial cryostat sections (8 µm) were prepared and fixed in acetone. For single Ag staining, the immunoperoxidase technique followed by hematoxylin counterstaining was used, as outlined previously (9). Purified rat mAbs reactive with the mouse surface Ags CD4 and CD11b were used and detected utilizing a HRP-conjugated donkey anti-rat Ig (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA). Biotinylated hamster mAb reactive to mouse TCA3 was detected using the ABComplex/HRP (DAKO, Carpenteria, CA). Two-color immunohistochemistry was used for TCA3 colocalization studies using a protocol based on a method previously reported (30). Sections were examined using a Leica DMRE microscope (Leica Instruments, Nussloch, Germany) utilizing standard bright field optics, and photographed using a SPOT RT Slider digital camera (Diagnostic Instruments, Sterling Heights, MI) equipped with the SPOT RT (Diagnostic Instruments) software.
Chemokine gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR
Total RNA was isolated from whole spinal cord using RNA STAT60
(Tel-test, Friendswood, TX), according to the manufacturers
instructions. A total of 5 µg of RNA was then reverse transcribed
into cDNA in accordance with the manufacturers directions (Life
Technologies, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Expression of the following
chemokines: 6ckine, CTACK, eotaxin, fraktalkine, IFN-
-inducible
protein 10 (IP-10), LPS-inducible CXC chemokine, lymphotactin,
MCP-1, MCP-3, MCP-6, monocyte-derived chemokine, monokine induced by
IFN-
(Mig), MIP-1
, MIP-1
, MIP-1
, MIP-3
, MIP-3
,
RANTES, thymus and activation-regulated chemokine, TCA3, P500/TCA3, and
thymus-expressed chemokine at the mRNA level was then determined by
quantitative real-time PCR using the ABI 5700 sequence detection system
(PerkinElmer Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Sense and antisense
primers, together with reaction-specific probes, were obtained as
predeveloped TaqMan assay reagents (PDAR; PerkinElmer) and used in
association with TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix (PerkinElmer),
according to the manufacturers protocols. A full description of the
PCR components and validation of the PDAR target reactions have
previously been described (31). The 18S rRNA levels were
measured for each cDNA sample as a means of normalizing chemokine mRNA
expression levels. Basal (nonimmunized) spinal cord mRNA levels for all
examined chemokines were similar for both WT and
TNF-/- mice, with expression levels typically
differing by no more than 2-fold. Therefore, chemokine mRNA expression
data are expressed as fold induction over noninflamed WT spinal cord.
In all analyses, only differences greater than 4-fold (>2 PCR cycles)
were considered significant.
Statistics
All results are expressed as mean ± SEM. In the analysis of TaqMan data, differences greater than 4-fold (>2 PCR cycles) were considered significant. To determine whether the differences in onset of EAE between groups of mice were significant, a Students t test was performed. Value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
| Results |
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Following s.c. immunization with 50 µg of MOG 3555 peptide in
CFA, and administration of pertussis toxin i.v. on days 0 and 2, WT
mice reproducibly developed a severe, acute encephalomyelitis with
clinical signs of disease appearing at
day 12 and peaking at
day
18 (Fig. 1
A). In response to
immunization, TNF mRNA in the CNS was increased above background levels
by day 8, 23 days before EAE onset (Fig. 1
A). Clinical
signs of disease in TNF-/- mice (Fig. 1
A) were delayed by
5 days, peaking in severity at
day
23 (9). Disease in both WT and
TNF-/- mice then remitted to leave a mild,
chronic, nonrelapsing deficit. The overall duration of disease was
reduced in TNF-/- mice.
|
Chemokine expression levels following EAE induction in WT and TNF-/- mice
To ascertain whether a defect in chemokine induction could account for the delay in onset of clinical signs of disease, and the impaired leukocyte movement seen in TNF-/- mice with EAE, chemokine mRNA levels in spinal cord were assessed at selected time points following immunization.
As illustrated in Fig. 1
A, onset of clinical signs of
disease in TNF-/- mice was delayed relative to
WT animals. At day 14, WT mice exhibited clinical signs of disease,
while TNF-/- mice appeared clinically normal.
We have previously reported that similar numbers of inflammatory cells
can be isolated from the CNS of both WT and
TNF-/- mice at this time (9).
Consistent with this, mRNA levels for CD4, TCR
, IFN-
, IL-1, and
IL-6 were elevated in both groups of mice (data not shown). Examination
of chemokine mRNA levels at day 14 revealed a number of chemokines that
were up-regulated relative to basal levels, and these chemokines
displayed three distinct profiles of expression (Fig. 2
). Profile 1 (Fig. 2
A) is
those chemokines that are dependent on TNF for rapid and optimal
expression, CCL1 (TCA3), its splice variant, P500/TCA3, CCL2 (MCP-1),
CCL7 (MCP-3), CXCL10 (IP-10), CCL6 (C10), CCL17 (thymus and
activation-regulated chemokine), and CCL9/10 (MIP-1
). This set of
chemokines was up-regulated substantially in the spinal cord of WT mice
at day 14, but remained at near basal levels in
TNF-/- mice. Notably, a few days later, at or
around the time of clinical disease onset in
TNF-/- mice, expression levels of these
chemokines became elevated. It is evident, therefore, that other
pathways, albeit not as efficient as TNF, drive increased expression of
these molecules.
|
Spinal cord chemokine mRNA expression levels were measured over various
time points from days 824 postimmunization (PI). In WT mice, TCA3,
MCP-1, IP-10, and C10 mRNA were up-regulated in the spinal cord at
least 810 days PI (Fig. 2
D), 24 days before onset of
clinical signs of disease. This is most likely due to increased TNF
expression in the spinal cord, where TNF mRNA levels were already
elevated above basal levels by
10-fold at day 8 and 30-fold at day
10 PI (Fig. 1
A). In contrast, these same chemokines were not
elevated in TNF-deficient mice until around the time of onset of
clinical signs of disease (Fig. 2
, A and D).
Consistent with this, detected on a number of occasions in time course
studies was a first small accumulation of perivascular leukocytes in
CNS tissue samples from clinically healthy
TNF-/- mice just before expected time of
disease onset (data not shown). These tissues always contained
chemokine mRNA levels above that found in mice assessed 612 h
earlier. Thus, up-regulation of one or a combination of these
chemokines appears essential for first histological evidence of
inflammation and appearance of clinical signs of disease. It is of
interest that despite the fact that up-regulation of these key
chemokines in the CNS eventually occurred in
TNF-/- mice, leukocyte congestion remained a
feature of EAE in these animals (Fig. 1
B).
Despite the induction of Mig, RANTES, and a selection of other
chemokines in TNF-/- mice already by day 14
(Fig. 2
, BD), clinical disease was not initiated. Thus,
these chemokines do not appear to be the critical players for early
triggering of disease.
The role of hemopoietically derived and resident CNS cell-derived TNF in chemokine induction and onset of EAE
Within the CNS, glial cells and, in particular, microglial cells
produce TNF and are thought to contribute to CNS pathologies
(32). To test which source of TNF was essential for
chemokine induction and the development of EAE, we generated radiation
bone marrow chimeras between WT and TNF-/-
mice. Hemopoietically derived peripheral inflammatory cells, namely
macrophages and T cells, are radiation sensitive, while microglia, the
resident macrophage of the CNS, are largely radiation resistant
(33), certainly within the timeframes used in this study.
Four distinct chimeras were generated: 1) mice that had the capacity to
secrete TNF from both hemopoietic and resident CNS cell sources
(WT
WT); 2) mice that had hemopoietic cells able to secrete TNF, but
lacked resident CNS cells with the capacity to secrete TNF
(WT
TNF-/-); 3) mice that totally
lacked TNF
(TNF-/-
TNF-/-); and
4) mice that lacked a hemopoietic source of TNF, but were comprised of
CNS resident cells with the capacity to produce TNF
(TNF-/-
WT).
TNF-/-
WT mice and
TNF-/-
TNF-/- mice
exhibited the delay in onset of EAE (Fig. 3
A) characteristic of
TNF-/- mice (Fig. 1
A), highlighting
the critical role played by TNF derived from inflammatory peripheral
leukocytes. By contrast, WT
TNF-/- mice
developed a disease indistinguishable from that of WT
WT mice (Fig. 3
A). At day 15, a great disparity in TNF mRNA levels existed
in spinal cord samples from the different chimera groups. TNF levels in
TNF-/-
WT mice were 100-fold lower than those
measured in WT
WT and WT
TNF-/- mice at day
15 (Fig. 3
B). Analysis of spinal cord chemokine expression
at day 15 (Fig. 3
C) revealed that hemopoietic TNF was
required for the induction of the highly TNF-inducible chemokines
described earlier (Fig. 2
A). Despite the presence of
resident CNS cells capable of TNF secretion,
TNF-/-
WT chimeras did not exhibit increased
levels of these key chemokines, and their expression profile resembled
that seen for
TNF-/-
TNF-/- mice
(Fig. 3
C) and TNF-/- mice (Fig. 2
A). Thus, blood-derived leukocytes contribute >99% of
total TNF present within the inflamed CNS and are the essential source
of TNF for typically rapid EAE induction.
|
As outlined above, induction of one or more of the TNF-inducible
chemokines identified in Figs. 2
and 3
is required for the progression
of EAE and onset of clinical signs of disease. Of these chemokines,
protein expression by resident CNS cells following EAE induction has
been reported for MCP-1 (34) and C10 (35),
while IP-10 mRNA expression has been localized to astrocytes
(36). Although up-regulation of TCA3 has been reported in
EAE (37), its importance in the onset of this disease has
not been extensively addressed. Because we found that TCA3 was one of
the first chemokines up-regulated in EAE and was highly dependent on
TNF for its early up-regulation (Figs. 2
A, 3, and
4C), we used a mAb directed
against mouse TCA3 to identify a novel cellular source of this
chemokine.
Immunohistochemical studies performed on spinal cord cryostat sections
(Fig. 4
) correlated with TCA3 mRNA expression data. Immunostaining for
TCA3 was associated with inflammatory infiltrates in specimens obtained
from WT mice at day 14 PI (Fig. 4
A), but was not readily
detectable in spinal cords from nonimmunized mice (Fig. 4
C),
or tissue obtained from TNF-/- mice at day 14
(Fig. 4
D). TCA3 was detected in tissue taken at the
corresponding peaks of disease for both WT (Fig. 4
B) and
TNF-/- mice (Fig. 4
E). Although TCA3
has been reported as a product of T lymphocytes, staining was not
associated with the bulk of inflammatory cells, but rather at the edge
of the inflammatory infiltrate (Fig. 4
, A, B, and
E). At higher magnification it became evident that
TCA3+ cells were found mainly at the inflammatory
infiltrate-parenchymal interface (Fig. 4
G, filled
arrowheads), and within the parenchyma, the latter showing the
morphology of glia (Fig. 4
G, open arrowheads). Two-color
immunohistochemistry, in conjunction with Abs directed against
astrocyte-specific GFAP and CD11b (to identify microglia/macrophages),
was then used to determine the cellular source of TCA3. Colocalization
of CD11b+ parenchymal cells (red) with TCA3
(blue) revealed that microglia were the major source of TCA3 in the
spinal cord (Fig. 4
H). Thus, purple (red + blue)
CD11b+TCA3+ cells at the
infiltrate edge (filled arrowheads) and within the parenchyma
(open arrowheads) were distinguishable from red-staining
CD11b+TCA3- macrophages
within the inflammatory infiltrate (Fig. 4
H, asterisk). In
addition to astrocytes, microglia form up to 15% of the cells of the
glia limitans that helps define the blood brain barrier
(38). It is likely that it is these cells at the
infiltrate-parenchymal interface that are
TCA3+.
|
TCA3-CCR8 interactions contribute to EAE onset
CCR8 is the only known receptor for TCA3 (39), and I-309, the human homologue of TCA3, appears to have only human CCR8 as a functional receptor (40). CCR8-/- mice, therefore, represent a good model system to address the role of TCA3 in the induction of EAE.
EAE was induced in WT 129SvEv and CCR8-/- mice
using the same protocol as that used to induce disease in C57BL/6 mice.
Mean time of onset of clinical disease was significantly delayed in
CCR8-/- mice relative to WT controls (Fig. 5
) by
2 days (mean day of onset: WT,
12.0 ± 0.3; CCR8-/-, 14.4 ± 0.4;
p < 0.05). At 12 days PI, all but one of the WT
animals that would develop clinical signs of disease had done so, while
only one CCR8-/- mouse showed clinical signs of
disease (Fig. 5
A). At day 14 PI, all of the WT animals that
would develop clinical signs of disease had done so, compared with just
over half of the CCR8-/- mice (Fig. 5
A). Although the time of disease onset was delayed and more
variable in the CCR8-/- mice, overall the
incidence of disease was comparable between the two groups (Fig. 5
A). The severity of disease, however, was reduced in
CCR8-/- mice compared with WT controls (Fig. 5
B). Thus, TCA3 interactions alone contribute to the
normally rapid onset of disease and to the magnitude of disease. It is
not surprising to see that the phenotype resulting from the loss of
TCA3-CCR8 interactions is less dramatic than that observed in
TNF-/- mice (Fig. 1
A) in which
multiple chemokines are affected.
|
| Discussion |
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TNF is a case in point. It is generally accepted that TNF operates at
many levels during an immune response, from up-regulation of adhesion
molecule expression, to the activation of APCs and the induction of
cytokines and chemokines (1, 2). Nevertheless, in its
absence, most immunological pathways proceed relatively normally.
Although onset of EAE in TNF-/- mice is delayed
relative to WT animals (Fig. 1
A) (9, 10), this
is not due to a defect in T cell priming or inflammatory cell
recruitment per se; comparable numbers and phenotype of leukocytes can
be isolated from the whole CNS of both TNF-/-
mice and WT animals at any given time following immunization to induce
EAE (9). TNF-/- mice also do not
show a defect in up-regulation of adhesion molecules, such as VCAM-1
and ICAM-1, on CNS endothelium (data not shown) (9).
TNF-/- mice do, however, show broad-based
deficiencies in inflammatory leukocyte movement within the CNS, where
cells are slow to accumulate as detectable cuffs around blood vessels
and fail to move into the tissue parenchyma. In this study, we provide
evidence indicating that the key role TNF plays in the instigation of
autoimmune pathology is through the induction of chemokine production
by resident cells in the target tissue.
Comparison of spinal cord chemokine mRNA expression levels between WT
and TNF-/- mice at selected time points after
immunization to induce EAE revealed a number of chemokines, all
reported mononuclear cell chemoattractants, which were dependent on TNF
for optimal induction (Figs. 2
, A and D, and
3C). It is of interest that a number of the chemokines
identified as being TNF inducible, and required for development
of clinical signs of disease, have been implicated in the development
of disease in EAE (reviewed in Refs. 42 and
43) as well as viral encephalitis (44).
Up-regulation of TCA3 mRNA in the spinal cord of mice before the onset
of EAE has been reported previously (37). The
encephalitogenicity of T cell clones has also been correlated with TCA3
production (37, 45). We also found TCA3 to be induced in
the spinal cord before onset of clinical signs of disease (Fig. 2
D) and in addition, found TCA3 to be highly dependent on
TNF for optimal expression in the spinal cord (Figs. 2
, A
and D, and 3C). Microglia were shown to be the
major CNS source of this chemokine during autoimmune inflammation (Fig. 4
H), and this is consistent with a predominantly stromal
source for chemokines in the inflamed CNS. Further to this, astrocytes
have been shown to be a major source of both MCP-1 and IP-10
(36), and CNS endothelial cells have also been shown to
produce MCP-1 during EAE (34). C10 production has been
identified in the CNS during EAE, but, unlike MCP-1 and IP-10, which
are astrocyte products, C10 has been localized to microglia and
infiltrating macrophages (35). In contrast to C10,
inflammatory macrophages were not a significant source of TCA3, nor
were astrocytes (Fig. 4
I) or T cells (data not shown).
TCA3+ microglia were, however, located in close
association with inflammatory infiltrates (Fig. 4
, A,
B, E, G, and H). This
location has previously been noted for MCP-1+ and
IP-10+ astrocytes (36), suggesting
that localized production of chemokines by glia at the
parenchymal-perivascular interface regulates inflammatory cell movement
into the CNS.
To further examine the role of TCA3 in the pathogenesis of EAE, we used
CCR8-/- mice. Following immunization with MOG
3555, CCR8-/- mice reproducibly showed a
delay in onset of clinical signs of EAE compared with WT controls (Fig. 5
, A and B), highlighting a role for TCA3 in
disease onset. Clearly, this chemokine does not itself play the
dominant role proposed for MCP-1 or IP-10, but is one of a small subset
of chemokines that contributes to the development of CNS inflammation.
The precise role of TCA3-CCR8 interactions in supporting CNS
inflammation remains undefined. CCR8 is expressed on
CD4+ T cells, preferentially Th2
CD4+ T cells according to one report
(46), although this does not fit well mechanistically with
the observations in this study of delay in a Th1-mediated pathology. In
contrast, CCR8 is highly up-regulated on activated macrophages and
microglial cells in multiple sclerosis-affected CNS tissue
(56). This expression profile, together with the
delayed disease onset and CNS inflammation reported in this study,
implies a role for TCA3 in early leukocyte extravasation and chemotaxis
of monocytes/macrophages into the CNS. Direct activation of
CCR8-expressing macrophages and glial cells by TCA3 is also possible.
That macrophage movement out into the CNS parenchyma was normal in
CCR8-/- mice, but failed in
TNF-/- mice even after CNS chemokine expression
reached WT levels (Fig. 2
, A and D), is
consistent with the possibility that this process is TNF dependent, but
substantially independent of chemokine expression (see below for
further discussion).
The predominant source of TNF in the CNS of mice around the time of
clinical disease onset was of hemopoietic origin (Fig. 3
B),
and this source was required for optimal chemokine induction
(Fig. 3
C) and for typical onset of EAE (Fig. 3
A). A CNS source of TNF alone, in the absence of
hemopoietically derived TNF (TNF-/-
WT mice),
could not drive chemokine induction and, as a consequence, a delay in
the onset of EAE typical of TNF-/- mice was
observed (compare Fig. 1
A with Fig. 3
A).
Although not altering these conclusions, it is important to note that
there is some replacement of microglial cells from the donor bone
marrow compartment such that by 1620 wk after irradiation and bone
marrow reconstitution,
10% of CNS cells with characteristics of
microglia express the donor CD45 allotype (unpublished data).
Therefore, in WT
TNF-/- chimeras, 10% of
microglia could in principle be producing TNF. Whether this small
proportion of microglial cells contributed significantly to the rapid
onset of disease seen in these mice is not known, although improbable.
Likewise, in TNF-/-
WT chimeric mice,
90%
of microglial cells could in principle produce TNF, and 10% not.
Again, it is unlikely that it was this 10% of
TNF-/- microglia that rendered these mice
similar in EAE susceptibility to complete
TNF-/-
TNF-/- mice.
Thus, while it is possible that microglia may represent an early source
of TNF following EAE induction (32, 47), our results
suggest, nevertheless, that TNF production by resident CNS cells is not
sufficient to support chemokine induction. Our findings point to a role
for TNF derived from inflammatory leukocytes in driving local chemokine
production within the CNS and thereby initiating the recruitment of
inflammatory cells and movement into the CNS.
Some broad concepts can be deduced from this study and an earlier
analysis of the development of EAE in the presence only of
membrane-expressed TNF (25). These are illustrated in Fig. 6
, which represents a simple linear model
of development of CNS inflammation. First, TNF most efficiently drives
the inflammatory process of movement of leukocytes into and within CNS
tissue. TNF is derived from hemopoietic cells in the blood, presumably
produced by early appearing T cells and monocytes (I). This
TNF induces glial cells to produce chemokines such as MCP-1 and TCA3
(II) that is necessary for the accumulation of leukocytes
(macrophages and T cells) around vessels into a perivascular location
(III). It should be noted that TNF is not alone in its
chemokine-inducing capacity. Many chemokines are expressed normally in
the absence of TNF, and even those that seem very TNF dependent for
induction are seen eventually within the inflamed CNS in
TNF-/- mice. Nevertheless, alternative means to
induce these critical chemokines are inefficient.
|
/
) mice) show
normal time of onset of EAE and histological appearance of
inflammation (25) as well as normal CNS chemokine
induction (unpublished data). Even when the immunization strength is
reduced by using less CFA, which results in a lower overall magnitude
of EAE in memTNF
/
mice, disease onset
occurs at the same time as WT mice (25).
Fourth, the TNF dependency of T cells vs macrophages for movement from
the perivascular space into the CNS parenchyma differs. In the absence
of TNF, CD4+ T cells move into the parenchyma,
while macrophages predominate in the congested cuff typical of EAE in
TNF-/- mice (Fig. 1
B). In contrast,
TNF is necessary for macrophages to leave the perivascular region and
move into the CNS parenchyma. Normal macrophage movement also fails in
memTNF
/
mice (25), suggesting
that soluble TNF is required (stage IV).
Finally, despite eventual up-regulation of chemokines in
TNF-/- mice and disease onset (Fig. 2
, A and D), macrophages remain confined to the
perivascular region (Fig. 1
B, bottom left panel).
Thus, this stage of the inflammatory process (stage IV) is TNF
dependent, but apparently independent of chemokine expression. There
are numerous possible mechanisms through which soluble TNF may
facilitate this process, including macrophage activation directly
(48) and induction of factors such as matrix
metalloproteinases that could facilitate cell movement across glial
barriers and through the extracellular space (49). Our
analysis of CNS gene expression for these and other molecules,
including chemokine receptors, known to be TNF inducible, has not
revealed obvious deficiencies in TNF-/- mice
that could explain the leukocyte congestion phenotype.
The results presented in this work indicate that a key role for TNF in the initiation of CNS inflammation, and presumably in other autoimmune diseases, is through the induction of chemokines. Furthermore, the interplay between TNF and chemokines, and the respective hemopoietic/stromal cellular sources of these factors in CNS inflammation is highly reminiscent of that seen in lymphoid neogenesis (27). Targeting of specific TNF-inducible chemokines or preferably their receptors, perhaps in concert with anti-TNF-based therapies, may represent a valid therapeutic approach for treatment of CNS inflammatory disease, multiple sclerosis especially. In this context, alternatives to TNF-directed therapies for the treatment of CNS inflammation are desirable in view of clinical studies showing that TNF blockade is either ineffective (50) in the treatment of multiple sclerosis or even detrimental (51, 52). Access of biologicals to TNF produced by infiltrating cells within the CNS could explain lack of efficacy. In contrast, reported worsening of clinical symptoms may involve neurological side effects of the binding of TNF-directed agents to membrane-expressed TNF-inducing cellular apoptosis (53), or other effects via reverse signaling (54). The recent demonstration that glial-derived TNF may participate in control of synaptic strength (55) provides another explanation for detrimental effects of TNF blockade within the CNS.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Current address: Immunobiology Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029. ![]()
3 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Jonathon D. Sedgwick, Department of Immunology, DNAX Research, 901 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1104. E-mail address: jon.sedgwick{at}dnax.org ![]()
4 Abbreviations used in this paper: EAE, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein; IP-10, IFN-
-inducible protein 10; MCP, monocyte chemoattractant protein; memTNF
/
, uncleavable, membrane-expressed TNF; Mig, monokine induced by IFN-
; MIP, macrophage-inflammatory protein; MOG, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein; PI, postimmunization; TCA3, T cell activation gene 3; WT, wild type. ![]()
Received for publication August 6, 2002. Accepted for publication October 10, 2002.
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