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BRIEF REVIEWS |

* Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam, and
Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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R2-expressing organizing cells and LT
1
2-expressing inducer cells ( 1, 2, 3, 4). The inducer cells are believed to be hemopoietic cells that express the IL-7R
chain and CD4, but lack CD3. These CD45+CD4+CD3 lymphoid tissue inducer (LTi) cells are among the earliest cells to be found within the embryonic lymph node anlagen ( 1, 2, 5), and were shown to be the inducer cells for Peyers patches (PPs) and the nasal-associated lymphoid tissue (Fig. 1) ( 6, 7). Ligation of the LT
R on stromal organizers by LTi cells leads to the initiation of two sequential NF-
B signaling pathways, initiating the expression of adhesion molecules like ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule (MAdCAM)-1, and the production of homeostatic chemokines such CXCL13, CCL19, and CCL21 ( 8, 9, 10). As a result, circulating hemopoietic cells will subsequently be attracted to, and retained within, these lymph node anlagen (Fig. 1).
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| Generation of functional LTi cells |
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( 11, 12), the negative regulator of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein signaling Id2 ( 13), and the TNF family member TNF-related activation-induced cytokine (TRANCE; also known as receptor activator of NF-
B ligand, osteoclast differentiation factor, or osteoprotegerin ligand) ( 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) all lead to either the absence (ROR
and Id2) or severe reduction (TRANCE) of LTi cells, resulting in aborted lymph node formation (Fig. 2). Whereas the instrumental role of these molecules in formation or accumulation of the LTi cells in lymph node anlagen is eminent, the exact mechanism by which they influence LTi cells remains largely unknown. The importanceof Id2 implies the involvement of bHLH proteins, yet to date, no bHLH protein has been linked to negatively regulate development of LTi cells or lymph node formation. The role of ROR
is even more elusive, mainly as a result of the fact that signaling routes for this orphan receptor are largely unknown. However, the recent identification of the chromatin remodeler Mi-2
as a natural ROR
signaling repressor is likely to fuel research into the signaling events evoked by this nuclear receptor ( 19). In contrast to the phenotype of Id2 or ROR
mutant mice, deficient TRANCE-R signaling does not lead to an absence, but to a severe reduction of LTi cells in lymph node anlagen ( 16). The fact that these mice fail to develop most lymph nodes shows that a critical number of LTi cells is required to initiate lymph node formation. This is supported by the fact that, upon transgenic overexpression of TRANCE in hemopoietic cells of the TRANCE/ mice, numbers of LTi cells increase, resulting in the formation of several lymph nodes ( 16). During embryonic development, TRANCE expression is found on LTi cells, but most notably on stromal cells within the developing lymph nodes ( 2, 16). Local production of TRANCE, together with the findings that PPs develop normally in the absence of TRANCE, implies that TRANCE acts locally by either attracting or differentiating LTi cells. Furthermore, it has been shown that TRANCE-R triggering leads to enhanced expression of LT
1
2 on LTi cells ( 20).
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1 integrin ( 6). According to the model presented by the authors, the function of CXCL13 in lymph node development is not restricted to the induction of chemotactic activity and additionally involves the generation of the activated form of
1 integrin, allowing intimate interaction with stromal cells.
Several genes are involved in functioning of LTi cells, rather than development of these cells. Most of these genes encode proteins that are involved in ligation of the LT
R on stromal cells. Signaling via the IL-7R or via the TRANCE-R are two ways by which LTi cells can initiate surface LT expression ( 20). Defects in either one of these pathways, as well as absence of surface LT ( 21), results in severely defective lymph node development (Fig. 2). Despite the fact that TRANCE-R and IL-7R signaling seem to have a redundant function, their in vivo roles might, however, be very distinct. Mice lacking TRANCE-R signaling develop all PPs, while lacking most lymph nodes ( 14, 16). In contrast, IL-7R signaling-deficient mice lack all PPs, and develop only mesenteric and brachial nodes consistently ( 22, 23, 24, 25), whereas other peripheral lymph nodes develop with variable incidence ( 25). This suggests that, although TRANCE can substitute for IL-7 in the development of several lymph nodes, the signals delivered by TRANCE cannot be replaced by IL-7R ligation, again suggesting an important role for TRANCE in the generation of LTi cells for lymph node formation.
| Generation of functional organizer cells |
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R signaling (Fig. 2). Upon LT
R ligation, two sequential signaling paths are initiated ( 10). The first signals via RelA, p50, and I
B
, and initiates expression of adhesion molecules such as VCAM-1 ( 10). Expression of these adhesion molecules facilitates the interaction of stromal organizers with LT+ LTi cells, assuring sustained triggering of the LT
R by these cells. As a consequence of this prolonged signaling, the p100 precursor will be formed, leading to a second NF-
B pathway via NF-
B-inducing kinase, I
B kinase
, and RelB ( 8, 10). This signaling will lead to induction of homeostatic chemokines such as CXCL13, CCL21, and CCL19, which in turn will mediate the clustering of LTi cells ( 8, 9). In this way, a positive-feedback loop is instigated, which ensures the correct generation of lymph nodes. Defects in any component of these two pathways leads to the disruption of lymph node formation (reviewed in Refs. 26 and 27), most likely due to the inability of the lymph node anlage to attract and retain LTi cells and subsequently additional hemopoietic cells (Fig. 2). | The earliest events |
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(super)family of growth factors, which are crucial for the differentiation of mesenchymal cells important for organogenesis during embryonic development ( 33, 34, 35, 36, 37), are likely to be involved in the earliest phases of lymphoid organ formation. Regarding the PDGF family of growth factors, it is noteworthy that stromal organizer cells present early in PP anlagen have been described to express both PDGFR
as well as PDGFR
( 38). However, no molecules have been identified that direct the early specification of mesenchymal cells into specific lymph node organizer cells. Nevertheless, by drawing parallels to the formation of other organs, one can envision that signaling of these growth factors through their specific receptors may be involved in determining the locations of future lymph node development by inducing essential molecules on mesenchymal cells.
The mesenchymal specification of lymph node organizer cells is expected to occur independent from LT
R signaling, because LT
R-expressing stromal cells are present in normal numbers in rudimentary mesenteric lymph nodes from LT
/ mice at day of birth, although they lack expression of VCAM-1 ( 39). Therefore, the stromal cell differentiation toward lymph node organizer cells would at least consist of two separate lineage determination steps (Fig. 3). First, the mesenchymal cells differentiate toward stromal cells that produce TRANCE ( 2), and perhaps at this point are also induced to express LT
R and TNFR. Second, triggering of LT
R leads to the up-regulation of adhesion molecules, such as VCAM-1, and the production of chemokines. Upon production of these molecules, stromal organizer cells mediate attraction and retention of hemopoietic cells, resulting in accumulation and clustering of cells. Other factors might be expressed or produced by these stromal cells, such as factors that mediate cell cycle arrest of LTi cells, described to lack expression of Ki67 during embryogenesis ( 5).
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| Differences between lymph nodes |
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is missing, cervical and mesenteric lymph nodes can form ( 40, 41). Finally, in the absence of either CXCL13 or IL-7R
, certain peripheral lymph nodes are present ( 22, 23, 24, 25, 42), whereas these fail to form when mice are deficient for both CXCL13 and IL-7R
( 25, 43). This indicates that each set of lymph nodes develops in accordance with its own subtle interplay of various molecules, with a varying dependence on each individual component. It can be envisioned that these variations can be traced back to differences in the stromal compartment of each lymph node set, as we recently showed for peripheral vs mesenteric neonatal lymph nodes ( 2). In line with this, stromal cells within cervical lymph nodes could differ slightly from stromal cells in other lymph nodes, which were shown to produce TRANCE ( 2). The stromal cells within cervical lymph nodes might therefore produce factors that mimic TRANCE, facilitating the generation of the cervical lymph nodes in the absence of this TNF family member.
The formation of mesenteric and cervical lymph nodes in LT
-deficient mice could also be explained by differential representation of stromal subsets ( 40, 41). Because these subsets express different levels of LT
R ( 2), variations in other TNFRs, like TNFR1, are not unlikely. Signaling through these receptors can potentially lead to the induction of chemokines and adhesion molecules required for the accumulation of hemopoietic cells. The ligands that can form in the absence of LT
such as LT
, TNF-
, or LIGHT homotrimers, or perhaps heterotrimers formed with these molecules, might induce stromal cells in mesenteric and cervical lymph nodes to participate in lymph node formation. This threshold will not be surpassed in other lymph node anlagen. Because only mesenteric lymph nodes are occasionally present in LT
/ mice, the ligands that can form in the absence of LT
are very inefficient in inducing the required components for lymph node formation. Also, blockade of both LT
R and TNFR signaling in utero resulted in a lack of all lymph nodes, whereas mesenteric nodes were still formed when only LT
R was blocked ( 3, 4). All these data indicate that these receptors are differentially represented on stromal cells of the various lymph nodes.
In the absence of CXCL13, some peripheral lymph nodes fail to develop ( 42). Again, the stromal subsets, differentially represented in each pair of lymph nodes, might produce other chemokines that can compensate for the lack of CXCL13. Depending on the relative contribution of the stromal subsets, this compensation may not always occur. Indeed, in the additional absence of the chemokines CCL19 and CCL21, CXCL13-deficient mice fail to form any peripheral lymph nodes, whereas mesenteric lymph nodes develop ( 25). Similarly, in the absence of both CXCR5 as well as CCR7, receptors for the chemokines CXCL13 and for the chemokines CCL19 and CCL21, respectively, a cooperative function of CXCR5 and CCR7 during lymph node formation was shown ( 43).
That the stromal cellular component exhibits subtle differences among the different lymph nodes could also result in a functional difference in adult life. For instance, this is indicated by the differential expression of peripheral lymph node addressin and MAdCAM-1 on high endothelial venules in peripheral vs mucosal lymph nodes ( 44, 45). This differential expression might be directed by the stromal cells within the lymph nodes ( 46). Furthermore, it has been shown that cervical lymph nodes that drain the nose mucosa have a specialized microenvironment that mediates immune tolerance when harmless Ags encounter the nose mucosa ( 47). Perhaps the differential requirements for development result in functional differences within the microenvironment of lymph nodes at distinct anatomical locations in adult life.
| Stromal compartments in inflammatory lesions |
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-smooth muscle cell actin, vimentin, and desmin, among other markers ( 48). They produce both cytokines and chemokines, while they also secrete extracellular matrix components. When activated, myofibroblasts express the adhesion molecules VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 ( 49, 50, 51). As such, the organizer cells identified in developing lymph nodes could be viewed as myofibroblasts: they produce chemokines and express ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 upon LT
R triggering. Furthermore, in adult lymph nodes, the expression of vimentin has been observed in reticular fibroblasts that colocalize with many extracellular matrix components ( 52, 53). Therefore, it is highly likely that the capacity of organizer cells to attract hemopoietic cells and orchestrate their spatial positioning during lymphoid organogenesis is a role that myofibroblasts fulfill in inflammatory lesions. In view of that, inflammatory lesions could be abridged to inducer and organizer cells, similar to the basic mechanisms of lymphoid organ development ( 54). In this scenario, the inducer cells would be hyperactivated lymphocytes that induce and subsequently continuously trigger myofibroblasts. In fact, rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocytes have been shown to overexpress the chemokine CXCL12, mediating the migration and accumulation of CXCR4-expressing T cells ( 49, 50, 55, 56). Moreover, the production of homeostatic chemokines has been reported in several autoimmune disorders ( 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64). Also during inflammatory bowel disease, a central role for intestinal fibroblasts in attracting and retaining immune cells during inflammation was postulated ( 49, 50, 56). | Concluding remarks |
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| Footnotes |
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1 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Reina E. Mebius, Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, P.O. Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail address: r.mebius{at}vumc.nl ![]()
2 Abbreviations used in this paper: LT, lymphotoxin; LTi, lymphoid tissue inducer;MAdCAM, mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule; PP, Peyers patch; ROR, retinoid orphan receptor; bHLH, basic helix-loop-helix; TRANCE, TNF-related activation-induced cytokine; E, embryonic day; PDGF, platelet-derived growth factor. ![]()
Received for publication August 3, 2004. Accepted for publication October 19, 2004.
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