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* Department of Pathology and
Division of Infectious Disease, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Recently, it was discovered that mammalian HSPs have immunological functions (2). Mammalian HSPs, e.g., HSP70 (3, 4, 5, 6), HSP90 (4, 7), gp96 (4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11), calreticulin (12, 13), and HSP110 (14), bind peptides to form highly immunogenic HSP:peptide complexes (15). Macrophages and dendritic cells process HSP-chaperoned peptides for presentation by class I MHC (MHC-I) molecules to activate CD8+ T cells (5, 16). HSPs assist in cross-priming (11) and immunization to induce antiviral immunity (6). Immunization with HSPs purified from tumor cells protects mice from subsequent challenge with the same tumor (2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 14). The enhanced immunogenicity conferred by mammalian HSPs requires binding of antigenic peptide to the HSP (3), and the immunogenicity of empty HSPs can be reconstituted by loading them with peptides (17). It appears that HSP-chaperoned peptides are processed by APCs for presentation of constituent epitopes, and the peptides presented by MHC-I may be smaller proteolytic fragments of HSP-chaperoned peptides that are produced by Ag-processing mechanisms.
Endogenous cytosolic Ags are processed via the conventional MHC-I Ag-processing pathway that involves cytosolic proteasome-mediated proteolysis and transport of peptides into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) via the transporter for Ag presentation (TAP) to bind MHC-I. Exogenous Ags are internalized into vacuolar compartments and then may be processed for MHC-I cross-presentation by alternate MHC-I-processing mechanisms that involve either transit to the cytosol for cytosolic processing (similar to the conventional pathway) or exclusively vacuolar processing. Exogenous HSPs may use cytosolic processing mechanisms, perhaps by enhancing delivery of HSP-chaperoned peptides to the APC cytosol, thereby achieving access to proteasome-dependent processing and TAP-dependent entry into the ER to bind MHC-I. Studies that support cytosolic mechanisms report that HSP enhancement of peptide presentation is inhibited by brefeldin A (which inhibits anterograde Golgi transport and transport of peptide MHC-I complexes from the ER to the cell surface), proteasome inhibitors (e.g., lactacystin), and absence of TAP (16, 18). In contrast, other studies report that HSP-enhanced MHC-I processing of chaperoned peptides may occur by vacuolar mechanisms independent of TAP or cytosolic processing (19, 20), and that mammalian HSPs traffic to endosomes to deliver peptides for MHC-I processing and presentation (8, 21). These observations suggest that mammalian HSPs may contribute to vacuolar as well as cytosolic alternate MHC-I Ag-processing mechanisms.
Because HSPs are expressed by prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic organisms, bacterial HSPs could potentially play an important role in antibacterial immunity. MTB HSP70 enhances production of IL-12 and RANTES (22), and MTB HSP70 fusion proteins have been shown to elicit CD8+ T cell responses (23, 24, 25, 26). However, Ag-processing functions have not been studied with prokaryotic HSPs, and it is not known whether microbial peptides chaperoned by prokaryotic HSPs can generate immune responses.4
Peptides naturally associated with mammalian HSPs include self peptides, tumor peptides, or viral peptides, because these are derived from proteins synthesized in mammalian cells. In contrast, peptides naturally associated with bacterial HSPs include bacterial Ags, suggesting that bacterial HSPs may contribute to antibacterial CD8+ T cell responses or could be used therapeutically to generate such responses. These mechanisms could be especially important to augment host immunity to intracellular bacterial pathogens (e.g., MTB, Mycobacterium leprae, and Salmonella), because CD8+ T cell responses play a role in infection with these pathogens.
This study reveals that two bacterial HSPs, E. coli DnaK and MTB HSP70, are capable of delivering an extended synthetic peptide for enhanced processing and MHC-I presentation of a constituent epitope. We report that E. coli DnaK and MTB HSP70 promote alternate MHC-I Ag processing through vacuolar mechanisms in macrophages and cytosolic mechanisms in dendritic cells. The dichotomy in processing mechanisms observed in these studies may explain disparities among other studies regarding the relative roles of cytosolic and vacuolar processing for MHC-I cross-presentation of exogenous Ags. We propose that bacterial HSPs may deliver HSP-bound bacterial peptides during phagocytic processing of bacteria, thereby promoting MHC-I presentation of bacterial Ags and CD8+ T cell responses during infection with bacterial pathogens. Furthermore, this mechanism could provide a basis for the use of prokaryotic HSPs in vaccines to enhance efficacy in priming of CD8+ T cell responses.
| Materials and Methods |
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Unless otherwise specified, incubations were at 37°C and 5% CO2 in standard medium containing DMEM (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA), 10% heat-inactivated FCS (HyClone Laboratories, Logan, UT), 50 µM 2-ME, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 10 mM HEPES buffer, and antibiotics. B6D2F1/J, C57BL/6, and TAP1/ (C57BL/6 background) female mice were from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). Myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)/ mice were generously provided by O. Takeuchi and S. Akira (Osaka University, Osaka, Japan) (27) and bred onto C57BL/6 background for five to seven generations. B6D2F1/J mice were used for all experiments except those involving knockout models, which used TAP1/ or MyD88/ mice with C57BL/6 mice for wild-type controls. Macrophages were derived from femur marrow cells cultured in bacterial grade dishes for 710 days in 20% LADMAC cell-conditioned medium (containing M-CSF (28)). To produce dendritic cells (29, 30), femur marrow cells were resuspended for 10 min in 0.83% NH4Cl to lyse erythrocytes, incubated for 1 h at 4°C with combined supernatants of B hybridomas GK1.5 (anti-CD4), 53-6.72 (anti-CD8), RA3-3A1/61 (anti-B220), and 34-5-3S (anti-I-Ab/d) (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA), and resuspended for 1 h at 37°C in complement (Accurate, Westbury, NY). Cells were resuspended in RPMI 1640 (BioWhittaker, Walkersville, MD) supplemented with 5% FCS, 50 mM 2-ME, 25 mM HEPES (Life Technologies), 20 µg/ml gentamicin (Life Technologies), and 4 ng/ml GM-CSF (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN). Cells were cultured in six-well plates (3 x 106 cells/well), and nonadherent cells were removed every 2 days by gentle swirling and replacement of half of the volume with fresh medium containing GM-CSF. Dendritic cells were harvested by pipetting on day 5, incubated with anti-murine CD11c microbeads (100 µl beads/4 x 107 cells; Miltenyi Biotec, Auburn, CA) for 20 min at 4°C, resuspended in PBS with 0.5% BSA and 2 mM EDTA (4 x 107 cells/0.5 ml), isolated with a MACS MS column (Miltenyi Biotec), washed, and resuspended in standard medium.
HSPs, Abs, and reagents
E. coli DnaK (StressGen, Victoria, BC, Canada) was >90% pure by SDS-PAGE analysis. MTB HSP70 for most experiments was obtained from Lionex (Braunschweig, Germany) and was >95% pure by SDS-PAGE analysis. We also prepared MTB HSP70 from E. coli BL-21 pLys transformed with MTB HSP70 in pET-23 (Novagen, Madison, WI), obtained through the Tuberculosis Research Materials and Vaccine Testing Contract (Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO), which drives expression of His-tagged MTB HSP70 (His tag on C terminus of MTB HSP70). E. coli were induced with isopropyl
-D-thiogalactoside for 4 h and lysed with BugBuster (Novagen). His-tagged MTB HSP70 was purified under native conditions with nickel columns (Qiagen, Valencia, CA). Similar results were obtained with native MTB HSP70 (Lionex) and His-tagged MTB HSP70. Although LPS contamination was detected in HSP preparations with the E-TOXATE LAL assay (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) with maximum experimental LPS concentrations of 0.221.1 µg/ml for E. coli DnaK and <0.14 µg/ml for MTB HSP70, control experiments showed that addition of LPS (from E. coli O127:B8; Difco, Detroit, MI) at concentrations in this range or higher (1.5 µg/ml) did not alter the results of our experiments.
FITC-labeled 18-mer extended OVA peptide EQLESIINFEKLLVLLKK (FITC conjugation at N terminus; 90% pure by HPLC) was from Bio-Synthesis (Lewisville, TX). The sequence included 12 residues at the N terminus reflecting OVA sequence (including the SIINFEKL Kb-binding motif) plus 6 residues including the LVLL DnaK binding motif (31) and 2 K residues that assist in binding DnaK (32). FITC-EQLESIINFEKLLVLLKK (0.04 ml at 1 mM in H2O) was incubated with 0.4 ml of E. coli DnaK (StressGen) or MTB HSP70 at 1 mg/ml in 40 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) at 37°C with rotation for 1 h (final prokaryotic HSP concentration of 0.91 mg/ml). Unbound peptide was removed using a Centricon YM-10 or YM-30 centrifugal filter device (Millipore, Bedford, MA) three times for 20 min at 14,000 rpm with washes in 40 mM Tris-HCl. A negative control sample of 0.4 ml of 40 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) and 0.04 ml of uncomplexed peptide (1 mM) was processed to insure that unbound peptide was removed. The HSP:FITC-peptide solution was analyzed with a Spectra Fluor Plus plate fluorometer (Tecan, Research Triangle Park, NC) to determine HSP-bound peptide concentration. DnaK and MTB HSP70 bound similar amounts of peptide with
0.1 mol of peptide bound per mole of HSP (10% loading). In comparison, studies with eukaryotic HSPs reported 15% loading with peptide sequences from model Ag (17, 33) and 20% loading with Ag peptide containing sequences known to promote HSP binding (5). A previous study with prokaryotic HSP reported 30% loading with sequence optimized for HSP binding (34). In our studies, HSP loading may have been enhanced by design of the extended OVA peptide to include C-terminal residues containing an optimized DnaK binding motif (31, 32). To make latex bead-DnaK:peptide, protein G-Fluoresbrite YG carboxylate microspheres (Polysciences, Warrington, PA) were incubated overnight at 4°C with anti-DnaK Ab (Stressgen), washed, incubated with DnaK:peptide for 2 h at 4°C, and washed with PBS.
Ag-processing and -presentation assays
Macrophages were detached with trypsin-versene (BioWhittaker), plated in 96-well flat-bottom plates at 105 cells/well, and incubated with 2 ng/ml recombinant IFN-
(Genzyme, Cambridge, MA) for 48 h. Cells were incubated with HSP:peptide (for 2 h unless otherwise stated), fixed with 0.5% paraformaldehyde, washed, and incubated for 24 h with CD8OVA1.3 T hybridoma cells (105 cells/well), which are specific for SIINFEKL:Kb (35). Supernatants (100 µl) were frozen, thawed, and assessed for IL-2 using a colorimetric CTLL-2 bioassay (29, 36). CTLL-2 cells (5 x 103/well) were incubated with supernatants for 24 h at 37°C, Alamar blue (Trek Diagnostic Systems, Cleveland, OH) was added (15 µl/well) for 24 h, and Alamar Blue reduction was determined by difference in OD at 550 and 595 nm using a Bio-Rad (Hercules, CA) model 550 microplate spectrophotometer. Dendritic cells were plated in 96-well flat-bottom plates at 105 cells/well and subjected to the same protocol except that plates were spun at 1800 rpm for 5 min between each wash step. Inhibitors used to probe processing mechanisms included brefeldin A (1 µg/ml; Sigma-Aldrich), lactacystin (20 µM; purchased from E. Corey (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)), 2-deoxy-D-glucose (Sigma-Aldrich), and sodium azide. The mAb to CD91 (5A6) was from Progen Biotechnik (Heidelberg, Germany), and isotype control IgG1 was from Zymed (San Francisco, CA). The mAb to mouse CD40 and isotype control Armenian hamster IgM were from BD Biosciences (San Diego, CA). Latex-OVA beads were made by noncovalent conjugation of chicken egg OVA (Sigma-Aldrich A-5503) to 2-µm latex beads (Polysciences).
To assess conventional MHC-I processing, macrophages activated with 2 ng/ml recombinant IFN-
for 48 h were suspended at 2 x 106/ml in 0.5 ml of DMEM with or without brefeldin A (1 µg/ml) or lactacystin (20 µM), incubated for 10 min at 37°C in polypropylene tubes with mixing, and cooled to 4°C. OVA protein (Sigma Aldrich A-5503) was added (0.6 mg/ml final concentration), and macrophages were electroporated at 4°C in 4-mm-gap electroporation cuvettes (Life Technologies) with a Cell-Porator (Life Technologies) at 200 V, 800 µF, and low resistance settings (37, 38, 39). Macrophages were washed, plated (105/well) for 2 h, and fixed for T cell assays.
Flow cytometry
Macrophages were incubated in 24-well plates (6.7 x 105 cells/well) for 48 h at 37°C with 2 ng/ml IFN-
. HSP:FITC-labeled peptide complexes were added for 30 min. Cells were then washed in PBS, detached by scraping, fixed in 1% paraformaldehyde, and analyzed by flow cytometry.
| Results |
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Mammalian HSPs have been shown to promote immune responses to chaperoned peptides that are derived from proteins synthesized in mammalian cells, including self peptides, tumor peptides, and viral peptides. Bacterial HSPs are associated with peptides derived from bacterial proteins, including bacterial Ags, suggesting that bacterial HSPs may contribute to antibacterial CD8+ T cell responses or could be used therapeutically to generate such responses. These mechanisms could be especially important to augment host immunity to intracellular bacterial pathogens, because CD8+ T cell responses play a role in infection with these pathogens. However, Ag-processing functions have not been studied with prokaryotic HSPs, and it is not known whether peptides chaperoned by prokaryotic HSPs can generate immune responses.4 We propose that bacterial HSPs deliver exogenous peptides for alternate MHC-I processing and presentation of constituent epitopes.
To test this hypothesis, we studied the ability of bacterial HSPs to deliver 18-mer extended OVA peptide (EQLESIINFEKLLVLLKK) for processing and presentation of a constituent epitope (SIINFEKL) by Kb. This extended OVA peptide has been used in studies with mammalian HSPs (7, 16, 26, 33) and requires processing for efficient presentation of the SIINFEKL epitope. The extended OVA peptide itself is presented poorly by APCs, presumably because the extended sequence precludes interactions of N- and C-terminal groups with sites in the MHC-I peptide-binding groove. We determined that the minimal SIINFEKL peptide was presented much more efficiently than extended OVA peptide in the absence of HSP (minimum concentrations for CD8OVA1.3 T hybridoma responses were 1 pM for SIINFEKL and 100,000 pM for extended OVA peptide). This observation suggests that extended OVA peptide is poorly presented unless it is processed to generate SIINFEKL peptide for presentation by Kb (this conclusion is further supported by studies of processing requirements presented later in this paper). Therefore, the extended OVA peptide allows study of delivery and processing of an HSP-chaperoned peptide that requires active processing for efficient presentation.
To determine whether an E. coli HSP, DnaK, can deliver extended OVA peptide for alternate MHC-I processing and presentation, APCs were incubated for 2 h with uncomplexed extended OVA peptide or E. coli DnaK:extended OVA peptide complexes. The cells were then fixed and incubated with CD8OVA1.3 T hybridoma cells to detect SIINFEKL:Kb complexes. Association of extended OVA peptide with E. coli DnaK significantly enhanced presentation of the SIINFEKL epitope from the extended peptide by both macrophages (Fig. 1A) and dendritic cells (B). The greatest relative enhancement of peptide presentation by E. coli DnaK with our readout assay was observed within 12 h of processing (Fig. 1C). Plateau signal (maximum response of our T cell assay) was achieved in this time frame at typical concentrations of DnaK:peptide, whereas presentation of uncomplexed extended OVA remained poor at 12 h but gradually increased at longer times (beyond 12 h, it is likely that DnaK:peptide continued to produce peptide:MHC-I complexes that were not evident due to the signal plateau). We conclude that E. coli DnaK can efficiently deliver chaperoned peptide for processing and MHC-I presentation of constituent epitopes.
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HSP-enhanced processing and MHC-I presentation require extended peptide to be complexed to bacterial HSP and are not due to signaling initiated by bacterial HSP alone
Contributions to MHC-I Ag processing and presentation have been examined for mammalian HSPs (16, 40) but not prokaryotic HSPs. Nonetheless, some immune functions have been attributed to prokaryotic HSPs. Bacterial HSPs can serve as Ags to elicit immune responses; MTB HSP70 and chlamydial HSP60 stimulate cytokine secretion through CD40 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), respectively (22, 41). The latter observations suggested the possibility that bacterial HSP modulation of alternate MHC-I Ag processing could be explained by HSP signaling to produce general enhancement of Ag processing and presentation of peptides other than those chaperoned by the HSP.
To distinguish generalized effects of HSP signaling from enhanced processing specific to HSP-chaperoned peptide, we explored the requirement for complexing of extended peptide to HSP in our system. Macrophages were preincubated with E. coli DnaK or MTB HSP70 for 0, 24, or 48 h, and uncomplexed extended OVA peptide was then added in the presence of HSP for 2 h (for the 0-h point, uncomplexed HSP and extended OVA peptide were added at the same time). Alternatively, macrophages were incubated with HSP-complexed extended OVA peptide or uncomplexed peptide for 2 h (without HSP preincubation). APCs were fixed and assessed for presentation of SIINFEKL:Kb complexes. Preincubation with or the presence of E. coli DnaK (Fig. 2A) or MTB HSP70 (B) did not enhance processing and presentation of uncomplexed extended OVA peptide; SIINFEKL presentation was enhanced only if exogenous extended peptide was complexed to the HSP. These data suggest that bacterial HSPs specifically deliver their bound or chaperoned peptide for processing.
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Active processing by APCs is necessary for enhanced presentation of HSP-chaperoned extended peptide
We tested whether bacterial HSP-chaperoned peptides required active processing, e.g., through endocytosis by viable APCs, or could be delivered directly to cell surface MHC-I molecules. To distinguish active processing from cell surface events, we inhibited uptake and processing by metabolic inhibition or fixation of APCs. Macrophages were exposed to sodium azide and 2-deoxy-D-glucose for 90 min to deplete ATP and subsequently incubated with DnaK:extended OVA peptide complexes for 2 h. This metabolic inhibition blocked enhancement of extended OVA peptide processing and presentation by E. coli DnaK (Fig. 3A). In other experiments, fixation of macrophages before the addition of extended OVA peptide prevented enhancement of processing and MHC-I presentation by E. coli DnaK (Fig. 3B) and MTB HSP70 (C) (the sensitivity of the Ag dose curve is shifted in this experiment, because prefixation with paraformaldehyde enhances MHC-I stability and peptide presentation (44)). Thus, active APC functions were required for HSP enhancement of peptide processing, which was prevented by prior fixation or metabolic inhibition.
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Bacterial HSPs enhance uptake of Ag
Enhancement of alternate MHC-I Ag processing by bacterial HSPs in our system could be mediated by enhanced uptake of peptide Ag as well as enhanced intracellular processing mechanisms. To assess whether E. coli DnaK or MTB HSP70 enhance uptake of extended OVA peptide, macrophages were incubated with FITC-labeled extended OVA, either uncomplexed or complexed with bacterial HSP. Flow cytometry was used to determine the level of FITC-peptide uptake. In negative control samples, APCs were incubated with metabolic inhibitors (azide and 2-deoxy-D-glucose) for 90 min before and during the peptide incubation to inhibit endocytosis. MTB HSP70:peptide complexes produced a strong signal for peptide uptake with mean fluorescence value (MFV) of 196, and metabolic inhibitors reduced uptake to
20% of this level (MFV = 39) (Fig. 4, A and B). In contrast, uptake of extended OVA peptide without HSP was much lower (MFV = 19) and was not substantially affected by addition of metabolic inhibitors (MFV = 25). Similarly, E. coli DnaK:extended OVA peptide promoted peptide uptake (MFV = 114) that was reduced by metabolic inhibitors to 22% of normal uptake (MFV = 25) (Fig. 4C). In addition, MTB HSP70 enhanced uptake of chaperoned peptides by dendritic cells, similar to the results seen with macrophages (data not shown). In summary, E. coli DnaK and MTB HSP70 enhanced uptake of chaperoned extended OVA peptide through a mechanism that was blocked by metabolic inhibitors. Thus, bacterial HSPs mediate enhanced delivery of peptide Ags to APCs, and this mechanism may contribute to enhancement of either vacuolar or cytosolic alternate MHC-I Ag processing.
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2-macroglobulin receptor)
The enhancement of peptide uptake by E. coli DnaK and MTB HSP70 suggests a receptor-mediated process. CD40 is involved in MTB HSP70 induction of cytokine secretion (22), and mammalian HSPs gp96, HSP90, HSP70, and calreticulin all use a common receptor, CD91, also known as
2-macroglobulin receptor (7, 9, 18), which is present on APCs. Once these mammalian HSPs bind to the surface receptor, they are internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis (21). Other unknown receptors may also be involved in internalization of mammalian HSPs. In our studies, processing of DnaK:peptide complexes was not altered by the addition of anti-CD40 blocking Ab (Fig. 5A), whereas anti-CD91 blocking Ab inhibited processing and presentation of extended peptide complexed to both E. coli DnaK (B) and MTB HSP70 (C). Thus, the ability of exogenous bacterial HSPs to contribute to MHC-I Ag processing and presentation is dependent on CD91. This finding reveals for the first time that CD91 can serve as a receptor for a wide range of HSPs, spanning prokaryotic as well as eukaryotic species.
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It is still unclear whether HSPs enhance cytosolic or vacuolar mechanisms of alternate MHC-I Ag processing. Some researchers suggest that mammalian HSPs enhance processing through vacuolar mechanisms after endocytosis (8, 21), and, in some cases, such processing is TAP independent (19, 20). However, others propose that mammalian HSPs enhance cytosolic processing, because their effect appears TAP dependent and inhibited by brefeldin A (an inhibitor of anterograde Golgi transport) and lactacystin (a proteasome inhibitor) (16, 18). One caveat is that these inhibitors and the TAP-deficient state decrease post-Golgi MHC-I levels and thereby inhibit vacuolar as well as cytosolic alternate MHC-I Ag-processing mechanisms (38, 45, 46, 47). Thus, it is still unclear whether mammalian HSPs deliver Ags for processing by cytosolic mechanisms, vacuolar mechanisms, or both, and this question is completely unaddressed for prokaryotic HSPs.
To determine the relative roles of vacuolar and cytosolic mechanisms in macrophage processing of HSP-associated Ag, cells were incubated with brefeldin A or lactacystin, incubated with bacterial HSP:extended OVA peptide complexes in the continued presence or absence of inhibitor, fixed, and incubated with CD8OVA1.3 T hybridoma cells. Brefeldin A did not substantially inhibit peptide processing and presentation by E. coli DnaK (Fig. 6A) or MTB HSP70 (B). In addition, lactacystin did not affect the E. coli DnaK enhancement of Ag processing (Fig. 6C). Finally, E. coli DnaK-enhanced processing was slightly diminished in TAP-deficient macrophages compared with wild-type C57BL/6 macrophages, but substantial TAP-independent processing activity was evident (Fig. 6D). As a positive control for activity of the inhibitors, we determined that conventional cytosolic MHC-I processing of OVA electroporated into the cytosol of macrophages was inhibited by similar concentrations of brefeldin A or lactacystin over a similar period (Fig. 6E). These data suggest that bacterial HSPs can contribute to vacuolar alternate MHC-I processing mechanisms in macrophages.
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| Discussion |
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We propose that microbicidal mechanisms cause release of bacterial HSPs from phagocytosed bacteria, potentially delivering antigenic HSP-chaperoned bacterial peptides for processing and binding to MHC-I. In addition, bacterial HSPs released into the extracellular space may be internalized by APCs, allowing alternate MHC-I processing and cross-presentation of HSP-chaperoned bacterial Ags. In this study, we established that exogenous bacterial HSPs (E. coli DnaK and MTB HSP70) enhance alternate MHC-I Ag processing of a chaperoned model peptide, and we characterized the mechanisms (cytosolic vs vacuolar) by which processing occurs in both macrophages and dendritic cells.
Although some HSPs may stimulate signaling (e.g., chlamydial HSP60 signaling via TLR4 (41)) to increase expression of accessory factors (e.g., cytokines or costimulators), our data establish a different mechanism whereby prokaryotic HSPs contribute directly to generation of peptide:MHC-I complexes from HSP-chaperoned peptide Ag. This mechanism requires that peptides be complexed to the HSP and is independent of MyD88. Thus, bacterial HSPs are not signaling the cell to generally enhance MHC-I peptide presentation, but are specifically delivering chaperoned peptides for processing and presentation by MHC-I.
Enhancement of peptide presentation by prokaryotic HSPs requires internalization and active processing of HSP:peptide complexes via alternate MHC-I Ag-processing mechanisms. These mechanisms may include vacuolar or cytosolic processing. In vacuolar Ag processing, Ag is phagocytosed and degraded within vacuolar compartments to produce antigenic peptides that bind post-Golgi MHC-I molecules. In cytosolic Ag processing, exogenous Ag enters the APC cytosol, thereby achieving access to proteasome-dependent processing and TAP-dependent entry into the ER to bind MHC-I molecules. Studies of alternate MHC-I processing of other (non-HSP-associated) exogenous Ag point to vacuolar processing in some cases and cytosolic processing in others. Some researchers have suggested that mammalian HSPs enhance processing through vacuolar mechanisms because they interact with MHC-I molecules after receptor-mediated endocytosis (8, 21) and enhance processing independent of TAP in RMA-S cells (19, 20). However, others have proposed that mammalian HSPs enhance cytosolic processing, because their effect has been reported to be dependent on TAP and inhibited by brefeldin A (an inhibitor of anterograde Golgi transport) and lactacystin (a proteasome inhibitor) (16, 18). Castellino et al. (5) found evidence for both cytosolic and vacuolar processing mechanisms, depending on the sequence of HSP-associated antigenic material. Whereas the processing mechanisms for mammalian HSPs remain controversial, the mechanisms accessed by prokaryotic HSPs have not even been explored.
Our data indicate that bacterial HSPs enhance vacuolar processing in macrophages, because the enhancement was unaffected by exposure to brefeldin A or lactacystin, and there was little impact of TAP deficiency. In contrast, bacterial HSPs used cytosolic processing mechanisms in dendritic cells, as manifested by dependence on TAP and inhibition by brefeldin A. The presence of lactacystin produced mild inhibition of bacterial HSP:peptide processing in dendritic cells, suggesting that some extended OVA peptide may be presented without proteasomal processing (proteolysis by nonproteasomal mechanisms may contribute). We conclude that the extent to which vacuolar and cytosolic processing mechanisms contribute to alternate MHC-I Ag processing is dependent on cell type with cytosolic mechanisms used more by dendritic cells and vacuolar mechanisms used more by macrophages. This diversity of processing mechanisms may explain differences among other studies regarding the relative roles of cytosolic and vacuolar processing for MHC-I cross-presentation of exogenous Ags, including peptides chaperoned by mammalian HSPs.
HSPs, both mammalian and prokaryotic, may play important roles in generating immune responses in vivo. It is well established that immunization with mammalian HSPs elicits MHC-I-restricted CD8+ T cell responses to HSP-chaperoned peptides. For example, Blachere et al. (17) demonstrated that mammalian HSP70 and gp96 bind OVA peptides in vitro and prime OVA-specific CD8+ T cell responses in vivo. Studies with prokaryotic HSPs have not focused on responses to chaperoned peptides (excepting a report published after submission of this paper (49)),4 but fusion proteins containing HSP sequence linked to Ag have been shown to produce substantially greater CD8+ T cell responses than Ag alone. We have observed that fusion proteins containing sequence from OVA linked to MTB HSP70 prime CD8+ T cells in vivo, as revealed by production of IFN-
upon restimulation in vitro with OVA protein or SIINFEKL peptide (our unpublished observations). Similar results have been reported in prior studies (23, 24, 26). Our current in vitro results indicate that prokaryotic HSPs also promote MHC-I Ag processing and presentation of chaperoned peptides, similar to mammalian HSPs. Overall, observations from several studies support the significance of both mammalian and prokaryotic HSPs in generating CD8+ T cell responses in vivo.
We propose that bacterial HSPs deliver antigenic HSP-chaperoned peptide Ags that contribute to the generation of CD8+ T cell responses during infection of mammalian hosts with bacterial pathogens. This mechanism could be particularly important during infection with certain intracellular bacterial pathogens, for which CD8+ T cell responses contribute to host immunity. APCs may encounter bacterial HSPs following bacterial phagocytosis and phagolysosomal degradation, which may release bacterial HSPs directly into the phagosomal Ag-processing environment. Alternatively, bacterial HSPs that have been released in the extracellular space may be internalized by receptor-mediated endocytosis for subsequent intracellular processing and MHC-I cross-presentation. CD91 may be one receptor involved in this process, and our data provide the first evidence that prokaryotic HSPs are internalized by CD91, driving enhanced delivery and presentation of HSP-chaperoned peptide. In addition to physiological roles in processing of bacterial Ags, bacterial HSPs have the potential to contribute to vaccine efficacy. HSPs, including prokaryotic HSPs, could be incorporated in vaccines to stimulate CD8+ T cell responses that are crucial to immune responses against viruses, tumors, and certain intracellular bacteria.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Clifford V. Harding, Department of Pathology, Biomedical Research Building 925, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-4943. E-mail address: cvh3{at}po.cwru.edu ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: HSP, heat shock protein; MTB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; MHC-I, class I MHC; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; TAP, transporter for Ag presentation; MyD88, myeloid differentiation factor 88; TLR, Toll-like receptor; MFV, mean fluorescence value. ![]()
4 A paper by MacAry et al. (49 ) published while this manuscript was in review reported that mycobacterial HSP70-associated peptides can generate CTL responses in vivo and provided structure-function studies with mutant HSP70 molecules. ![]()
Received for publication November 24, 2003. Accepted for publication February 23, 2004.
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2-microglobulin in the processing of bacterial or particulate antigens via an alternate class I MHC processing pathway. J. Immunol. 156:4182.[Abstract]
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