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Cutting Edge |

,
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* Graduate Program in Immunology, Departments of
Microbiology, and
Internal Medicine, and
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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CD40 is a member of the TNFR family that plays an important role in B lymphocyte activation. CD40 engagement by its ligand, CD154 expressed on Th cells, stimulates B cell proliferation, differentiation, isotype switching, up-regulation of surface molecules, development of germinal centers, and immunological memory (5). CD40 does not possess intrinsic kinase activity and there are no conserved tyrosine residues in the cytoplasmic (CY) tail between human CD40 (hCD40) and mouse CD40 (mCD40). However, the CY tail of CD40 does possess several potentially phosphorylatable serine (three in human and two in mouse) and threonine (four in human and three in mouse) residues. Several members of the TNFR-associated factor (TRAF) family have been shown to bind to CD40 and appear to serve as adapter proteins in the CD40 signaling pathway (6). However, the exact role of TRAFs in CD40 signaling is still unresolved.
The signaling pathways emanating from the BCR and CD40 are able to
cooperate in a synergistic or additive manner (7, 8).
Despite obvious structural differences between the two receptors, BCR
and CD40 have both been reported to stimulate kinases such as
extracellular signal-regulated kinase, c-Jun
NH2-terminal kinase, p38, and ultimately similar
transcription factors, such as NF-
B, NF-AT, and activating protein 1
(9, 10). Regardless of similarities in their signaling
pathways, there are distinct signaling mechanisms unique to each
receptor that may contribute to the cooperative/synergistic nature of
pathways initiated by these receptors. The molecular mechanisms of
interaction between BCR and CD40 are not completely understood. We have
investigated the role of structural motifs in the CD40 CY tail in the
synergy between BCR and CD40. Interestingly, while a single threonine
in the context of the full-length tail was found to be both necessary
and sufficient to allow synergy, this was independent of its
phosphorylation status. Our findings also demonstrate a
differential role for TRAF2 and TRAF3 in BCR-CD40 synergy. TRAF2
appears to be required for the synergy between BCR and CD40 if TRAF3 is
able to bind to CD40. However, the major function of TRAF2 in this
context may be to counteract a negative effect of TRAF3.
| Materials and Methods |
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The mouse B cell line CH12.LX expresses surface IgM specific for phosphatidylcholine, an Ag found on the surface of SRBC (11), and has been described previously (12). Cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% FCS, 10 µM 2-ME, and antibiotics (BCM-10). Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells infected with wild type, a recombinant baculovirus expressing mCD154, or Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing mCD154 were prepared as previously described (7, 13). C57BL/6 mouse splenic B cells were prepared as described (7). Stable transfection of cells with hCD40 constructs was performed using electroporation (14). G418-resistant clones were analyzed for surface expression of hCD40 using FACS. Transfectants with similar levels of expression of hCD40 were selected for experiments.
Antibodies
Mouse IgG1 isotype control mAb (MOPC-21) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO). Rabbit anti-TRAF3 (H-122) was purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). Rabbit anti-TRAF2 was purchased from MBL (Nagoya, Japan). Goat anti-rabbit HRP was purchased from Bio-Rad (Hercules, CA). The following Abs were produced in our laboratory by hybridomas purchased from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA) or were gifts of the indicated individuals: anti-hCD40 (G28-5, mIgG1), anti-mCD40 (1C10, rat IgG2a; from Dr. F. Lund, Trudeau Institute, Saranac Lake, NY), anti-mouse IgE (EM95.3, isotype control, rat IgG2a; from Dr. T. Waldschmidt, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA). Goat anti-mouse µ-chain-specific F(ab')2 was purchased from Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories (West Grove, PA).
Assays for B cell function
IgM secretion assay. The IgM secretion assay has been described previously (15). Briefly, CH12.LX and its transfected subclones were cultured in 96-well plates (1.5 x 103/well) with various stimuli. Anti-CD40 Abs were used at a final concentration of 2 µg/ml. SRBC (Elmira Biologicals, Iowa City, IA) at a final concentration of 0.1% were used as Ag. Triplicate cultures were incubated for 72 h, then viable cells were counted by trypan blue exclusion. IgM-secreting cells were enumerated as SRBC hemolytic plaques (16).
Cytokine ELISAs.
For IL-6, CH12.LX cells or T-depleted splenic B cells (1 x
105) plus mCD154-expressing cells were cocultured
at a ratio of B cells:mCD154-expressing cells of 4:1 for 48 h, and
the supernatants were tested for IL-6 by ELISA as previously described
(13). Cells were stimulated with 10 µg/ml goat
anti-mouse µ-chain-specific F(ab')2
(Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories). For TNF-
, B cells (1 x
106 splenocytes or 5 x
105 CH12.LX cells per well) were resuspended in
200 µl of BCM-10 with various stimuli in an anti-TNF-coated
96-well flat-bottom plate. Cells were stimulated with 10 µg/ml
anti-IgM Ab with or without 5 x
104 mCD154-expressing cells for 3 h.
Splenocytes were stimulated with 2.5 x 104
mCD154-expressing cells for 4 h. Culture supernatants were assayed
for TNF-
as described (17).
Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting
CH12.LX cells (107) transfected with different hCD40 constructs were stimulated for 15 min with Sf9-hCD154 cells (2.5 x 106). Both CD40 and TRAF molecules are recruited to detergent-insoluble membrane rafts upon CD40 engagement (18). Cells were lysed and the detergent-soluble and -insoluble fractions were separated by centrifugation as described (18). The detergent-insoluble pellet was resuspended in octylglucopyranoside buffer and hCD40 was immunoprecipitated as described (17). Immunoprecipitated proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and electroblotted onto nitrocellulose membranes. A chemiluminescent substrate (Pierce, Rockford, IL) was used to detect HRP-labeled Abs on Western blots.
Preparation of 32P-labeled cell lysates
CH12.hCD40 cells (107 cells) were cultured in phosphate-free RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% dialyzed FCS (Sigma-Aldrich) and [32P]orthophosphate (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, NJ) to a final concentration of 1 mCi 32P/2 ml/107cells for 2 h. Stimuli (10 µg/ml goat anti-mouse µ-chain-specific F(ab')2 or isotype control goat Ab fragments, 2.5 x 106 Sf9-hCD154 or Sf9-Wt vector cells, or 100 ng/ml PMA) were added during the last 130 min of incubation. At 5-min intervals, cells were lysed in 1% Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer (1% Nonidet P-40, 150 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris (pH 7.5), 0.02% NaN3, and protease and phosphatase inhibitors) for 30 min. The supernatants were precleared for 1.5 h at 4°C with protein G beads preconjugated with isotype control Ab (MOPC-21). The precleared lysates were immunoprecipitated with protein G beads preconjugated with anti-hCD40 mAb (G28-5). Immunoprecipitated proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE. The gel was dried and autoradiography was performed to detect CD40 (2 days to 2 wk).
DNA constructs
The mammalian expression vector used for transfection of all hCD40 constructs was pRSV.5 (neo) (19). Oligonucleotide primers containing appropriately positioned point mutations or stop codons were synthesized and used in PCR amplification and subcloning by overlap extension (20). Terminal restriction endonuclease sites were designed into the oligonucleotide primers for inserting the PCR products into the pRSV.5 (neo) vector.
| Results and Discussion |
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It has previously been reported that normal B cells are activated
to secrete IgM (21), IL-6 (13), and TNF-
(22) following CD40 stimulation. We have previously shown
that the mouse mature B cell line CH12.LX can also be induced to
produce IgM, IL-6, and TNF-
following CD40 ligation (13, 14, 17). Data presented in Fig. 1
show
that signals from CD40 and BCR can cooperate in TNF-
and IL-6
production in both normal mouse splenic B cells (Fig. 1
, A
and B) and CH12.LX (Fig. 1
, C and D).
We have previously shown that CD40 and BCR also synergize in
stimulating IgM production (7). Thus, CH12.LX is an
appropriate model for structure-function studies to examine the
molecular basis of BCR-CD40 synergy. While the production of IgM and
IL-6 requires several days, production of TNF-
occurs in <3 h. We
thus selected both IgM secretion (a late event) and TNF-
production
(to allow examination of earlier signaling events) to study BCR-CD40
interaction.
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Earlier structure-function studies suggested a role for the
threonine residue in the PXQXT motif, which is conserved between mCD40
and hCD40 (at position 235 in mouse and 234 in human), in the synergy
between BCR and CD40 (14). A hCD40 molecule containing a
threonine to alanine substitution at position 234 (T234A) is able to
induce IgM secretion similar to wild-type hCD40, but it is not able to
synergize with the BCR (14). Signaling through another
hCD40 mutant, T234S, mimics wild-type hCD40 (14),
suggesting the hypothesis that the presence of a phosphorylatable
residue at position 234 is critical for the observed synergy between
BCR and CD40. To test this hypothesis, two additional hCD40 mutants
were constructed and stably expressed in CH12.LX cells (Fig. 2
). The mutant called hCD40NPR contains
no phosphorylatable residues (NPR), while hCD40OPR contains T234 as the
only phosphorylatable residue (OPR) (Fig. 2
). These mutants were tested
for the ability to cooperate with the BCR in IgM secretion (Fig. 3
A) and TNF-
production
(Fig. 3
B). Both OPR and NPR hCD40 molecules
stimulated similar levels of IgM secretion in the absence of BCR
signaling (Fig. 3
A, hatched bars). However, similar to
wild-type hCD40, BCR signaling synergized with hCD40OPR (Fig. 3
A, filled bars) (14) but not with the hCD40NPR
mutant. Similar findings were observed in TNF-
production (Fig. 3
B). Although BCR engagement alone does not stimulate IgM
production by CH12.LX cells (12), modest induction of
TNF-
by B cells was induced (Fig. 1
). To determine whether the level
of TNF-
production induced by CD40 plus BCR shows cooperation
between the two signals, the calculation described in Fig. 3
was
performed on data sets from each transfected subclone. Summary data are
shown in Fig. 3
B. As indicated, compared with the endogenous
mCD40 (which serves as an internal control for the ability of BCR to
synergize with CD40 engagement), wild-type hCD40 and OPR CD40
molecules enhanced BCR signaling while T234A and NPR were defective in
cooperation. These data demonstrate that, of the potentially
phosphorylatable residues in the CD40 CY domain, T234 is both necessary
and sufficient for the interaction between BCR and CD40 in IgM
secretion and TNF-
production.
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The requirement for T234 suggested that BCR-induced
phosphorylation of this residue might be critical for
BCR and CD40 to synergize. It has been reported that CD40 is
phosphorylated in response to PMA treatment of cells, but
the physiological relevance of these findings is unclear (23, 24). To examine the phosphorylation state of the
hCD40 CY domain, cells were labeled with
[32P]orthophosphate and hCD40 was
immunoprecipitated from cells stimulated via BCR, CD40, or both.
Currently available anti-mCD40 Abs do not effectively
immunoprecipitate mCD40, so CH12.LX expressing wild-type hCD40 was
chosen for these experiments because G28-5 mAb works well in
immunoprecipitation (17, 25). Although we reproduced the
published finding that PMA induces phosphorylation of
the CY tail, no constitutive or BCR/CD40-induced
phosphorylation of hCD40 was detected at either very
early or later time points (Fig. 4
). This
negative finding was reproducibly seen even at very long exposures of
the gels (up to 2 wk).
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We considered the possibility that T234 is involved in the
recruitment of signaling molecules to the CD40 CY tail, which in turn
are important for BCR-CD40 synergy. Indeed, it has been reported that
T234 is contained within the binding motif for TRAFs. However, these
studies were performed by transient overexpression of these molecules
in epithelial cell lines or by in vitro binding studies using GST-CD40
mutants or peptides (26, 27, 28, 29). To address the physiologic
role of endogenous TRAF-CD40 binding in CD40-BCR synergy, the ability
of the different hCD40 mutants to bind endogenous TRAFs in B cells was
investigated. Engagement of B cell CD40 is necessary for recruitment of
TRAF molecules (18), as is evident with wild-type hCD40
(Fig. 5
, first two lanes). In contrast to
previous studies performed in artificial systems, we find that the
T234A mutant is able to bind TRAF3 in B cells to a similar extent as
wild-type hCD40, although it is defective in TRAF3 binding in 293 cells
(data not shown). This indicates that B cells have different CD40
binding requirements for TRAFs than epithelial cells, so binding
studies in one cell type cannot be fully extrapolated to another.
Perhaps an additional uncharacterized cell type-specific factor
promotes TRAF3-CD40 binding in B cells, or perhaps the abnormal
stoichiometry of CD40-TRAF binding in more artificial systems can in
some instances actually inhibit binding. Consistent with previous
studies, T234A was defective in TRAF2 binding compared with wild-type
CD40 (Fig. 5
), although a small amount of binding occurs.
Interestingly, NPR, the other synergy-defective mutant, displayed the
same binding pattern as T234A (Fig. 5
and Table I
). This indicates that TRAF2 binding
plays a positive role in CD40-BCR synergy, but TRAF3 is not required.
However, hCD40
22, a mutant in which the C-terminal 22 CY residues
are deleted, binds neither TRAF2 nor TRAF3 (Ref. 25 and
Fig. 5
) but is able to synergize with the BCR (14). Thus,
the major role of TRAF2 in BCR synergy may be to counteract a negative
effect of TRAF3. A mutant hCD40 molecule (hCD40EEAA) that binds TRAF2
and TRAF3 but not TRAF6 (30) synergizes with BCR in IgM
secretion and TNF-
production (Ref. 30 and data not
shown), so TRAF6 is not required for synergy.
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22) that binds neither TRAF2 nor TRAF3 synergizes with
the BCR, hCD40 mutants that bind TRAF3, but not TRAF2 (T234A, NPR),
were defective. Therefore, TRAF3 binding in the absence of TRAF2 may
play a negative role in the synergy between BCR and CD40. Our prior
studies and others have suggested a negative role for TRAF3 in
signaling by CD40 (25), OX-40 (32, 33), and
CD27 (34). Thus, TRAF2 may inhibit TRAF3 or other
molecule(s) from exerting a negative effect in synergy. Our results
also underscore the importance of studying receptor-signaling molecule
interactions at physiological levels in relevant cell types.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Gail A. Bishop, Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, 3-570 Bowen Science Building, Iowa City, IA 52242. E-mail address: gail-bishop{at}uiowa.edu ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: BCR, B cell Ag receptor; CY, cytoplasmic; TRAF, TNFR-associated factor; hCD40, human CD40; mCD40, mouse CD40; Sf9, Spodoptera frugiperda; NPR, no phosphorylatable residues; OPR, only phosphorylatable residues. ![]()
Received for publication May 3, 2002. Accepted for publication June 4, 2002.
| References |
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B, AP-1 and NF-AT during B cell stimulation through the CD40 receptor. Int. Immunol. 7:151.
B-independent IL-6 production in B cells. Eur. J. Immunol. 29:3855.[Medline]
in controlling human B cell death. J. Immunol. 156:507.[Abstract]
B and JNK activation. J. Biol. Chem. 274:22414.
B activation induced by OX40 signaling. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 272:856.
B activation. J. Biol. Chem. 273:5808.
B activation in CD27 signaling: involvement of TRAFs in its signaling and identification of functional region of CD27. J. Immunol. 161:4753.This article has been cited by other articles:
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