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* Division of Molecular Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine III, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany; and
Instrumental Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
| Abstract |
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-1 and
-2, vimentin,
-actin, mitofilin, and prohibitin. None of these has previously been reported in lipid rafts of B cells. The differential raft association of three proteins, including a novel potential signaling molecule designated swiprosin-1, correlated with the stage-specific sensitivity of B cells to BCR-induced apoptosis. In addition, MHC class II molecules were detected in lipid rafts of mature, but not immature B cells. This intriguing finding points to a role for lipid rafts in regulating Ag presentation during B cell maturation. Finally, a fraction of the BCR in the B cell line CH27 was constitutively present in lipid rafts. Surprisingly, this fraction was neither expressed at the cell surface nor fully O-glycosylated. Thus, we conclude that partitioning the BCR into lipid rafts occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum/cis-Golgi compartment and may represent a control mechanism for surface transport. | Introduction |
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-Ig
(1), is first expressed at the surface of immature B cells. To avoid generation of self-reactive B cells, immature B cells harboring a self-reactive BCR can either rearrange their L chain genes for a second time or become anergic or deleted (3). The immature B cells then migrate from the bone marrow to the spleen, where they develop into mature B cells. At this stage, mature B cells are either activated via dual signals from their BCR elicited by Ag binding and a costimulatory T cell or undergo apoptosis when activated by the BCR alone (default response) (4). In experimental systems, anti-BCR µHC F(ab)2 are frequently used as Ag because they mimic dual signaling of BCR and T cell help in mature B cell lines, such as CH27, as these cells do not undergo apoptosis after this treatment (5).
Conversely, engaging the BCR of immature B cells and immature B cell lines such as WEHI231 by anti-µHC F(ab)2 induces apoptosis (6, 7). These events have been correlated with the limited entry of the BCR into lipid rafts (5, 8, 9). In contrast, the BCR in mature B cells gains rapid access to lipid rafts after activation with anti-µHC F(ab)2 (5, 10, 11). Besides activating a B cell or committing it to apoptosis, the BCR functions to deliver foreign Ags to endosomes, where they are processed and loaded as peptide fragments onto MHC class II molecules (for review, see Refs. 12 and 13). Although conflicting data exist about the role of lipid rafts in BCR internalization (14, 15), MHC class II molecules are clearly functionally associated with lipid rafts in APCs (16, 17, 18).
The presence of lipid rafts in biological membranes is due to the separation of lipid mixtures into liquid-ordered (Lo/L
) and liquid-disordered (Ld/L
) phases according to the content of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids (for review see Refs. 19, 20, 21). Lipid rafts, corresponding to Lo domains, can be stabilized by proteins and protein/ligand interactions (19, 22) and be recovered after detergent extraction and sucrose density fractionation in so-called detergent-resistant membranes (DRM) (20).
Since mature and immature B cells differ in their response to BCR ligation (5, 8, 23, 24, 25) as well as their ability to stimulate T cells via MHC class II presented Ags (16), we hypothesized that these differences were reflected in the protein composition of DRM. To test this hypothesis, we used two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (MS) to characterize B cell DRM proteins obtained from three B cell lines representing different developmental stages. In this study we demonstrate a differential protein composition of B cell DRM that correlated with the ability of the cells to respond to BCR ligation with apoptosis. Moreover, MHC class II molecules were only detected in DRM of mature, but not immature, B cells. Finally, we provide the first evidence that the cytoplasmic, not fully O-glycosylated, IgM BCR is present in DRM, which leads us to propose that lipid rafts may regulate molecular traffic in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/cis-Golgi membranes of B cells.
| Materials and Methods |
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All chemicals were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich or Roth unless stated otherwise. Cell culture medium and medium supplements were obtained from Invitrogen Life Technologies. Affinity-purified goat Abs against mouse µHC were purchased from Southern Biotechnology Associates. Polyclonal rabbit IgG Abs against Lyn (sc-15), vacuolar ATPase subunit
2 (H180), and G protein
2 (C16) were obtained from Santa Cruz Biotechnology; the mAb against the transferrin receptor (TfR) was purchased from Zymed Laboratories; anti-CD45 mAb was obtained from Cell Signaling; anti-prohibitin mAb was purchased from NeoMarkers; and rat anti-IgG2A coupled to FITC (clone R19-15) was obtained from BD Pharmingen. Rat anti-MHC class II mAb NIMR4 was purchased from Southern Biotechnology Associates, rat anti-MHC class II mAb M5/114.15.2 (26) was obtained from Miltenyi Biotec, and rat mAb R5 (27) against murine VpreB was a gift of Dr. M. Cooper (University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL). Polyclonal rabbit Ab against 
-actin (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33) and goat anti-vimentin Ab were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich. Affinity-purified and HRP-conjugated goat Abs against mouse Fc
were obtained from Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories (distributed by Dianova). HRP-conjugated goat Abs against rabbit IgG and goat IgG were obtained from Bio-Rad and Santa Cruz Biotechnology, respectively. To detect Gm1, cholera toxin-HRP (Sigma-Aldrich) was used, and streptavidin-HRP was purchased from Amersham Biosciences. Anti-swiprosin-1 serum was generated by Charles River Laboratories after immunization with a keyhole limpet hemocyanin-coupled swiprosin peptide (C-MEGEGGEATEQPG; gift from Dr. H. Kalbacher, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany) and purified on a GST-swiprosin (residues 1118)-Sepharose column according to standard procedures. The affinity-purified serum was used at a concentration of 0.5 µg/ml for Western blotting.
Cell lines
The murine B cell lines CH27.LX (28), WEHI231 (29), and NYC31.1 (30) were grown in complete RPMI medium (RPMI 1640 containing 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 50 mM 2-ME, 10% FBS, 50 U/ml penicillin, and 50 µg/ml streptomycin) with 5% CO2.
Preparation of DRM
DRM were prepared according to the method described by Cheng et al. (10) with some modifications. Briefly, 108 cells were washed with serum-free, otherwise complete, RPMI medium, resuspended at a density of 107 cells/ml, and incubated at 37°C for 3060 min. Cells were spun down and resuspended in 1 ml of ice-cold TNEV (150 mM NaCl, 25 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), 5 mM EDTA, and 1 mM sodium orthovanadate) (10) containing 1% Triton X-100 (w/v), 1 mM PMSF, and 10 µg/ml each of aprotinin, leupeptin, and pepstatin. The detergent/protein ratio was 6/7 (grams/grams) and was roughly the same for each cell line. Cells were lysed on ice for 10 min and further homogenized in a glass/Teflon homogenizer. After centrifugation at 800 x g for 10 min, the supernatant was mixed in 14 x 89-mm polypropylene tubes (Beckman Coulter) with an equal volume of 85% sucrose, overlaid with 6 ml of 35% sucrose, and finally 4 ml of 5% sucrose in TNEV. Sucrose gradients were centrifuged for 16 h at 38,000 rpm in an SW 41.Ti swing-out rotor in a Beckman ultracentrifuge with full acceleration and without braking. To harvest gradients, an ice-cooled 60% sucrose solution was applied by a P-500 fast protein liquid chromatography pump (Pharmacia Biotech) into the bottom of tubes fixed in a Brandel fraction collector, and 1-ml fractions were collected from the top. Titration of Triton X-100 from 0.5 to 4% (w/v) did not affect the solubilization of Gm1, Lyn, TfR, or CD45 (not shown). Protein concentrations were determined with a commercial bicinchoninic acid test (Pierce) with BSA as standard.
Gel electrophoresis
One-dimensional SDS-PAGE was conducted according to Laemmli (31) using the Hoefer SE600 system (Amersham Biosciences), and 2D electrophoresis was performed as described previously (32). Briefly, appropriate volumes of DRM or soluble proteins were precipitated with 4 vol of ice-cold acetone for 216 h at 20°C. Proteins were collected by a 1-h centrifugation at 10,000 x g and 4°C. Pellets were washed in ice-cold 80% acetone, air-dried, redissolved in rehydration buffer (7 M urea, 2 M thiourea, 2% CHAPS (Merck), 0.5% IPG ampholyte buffer (Amersham Biosciences), 0.001% bromo phenol blue, and 100 mM DTT) and focused after rehydration in 18-cm strips with immobilized pH gradients (IPG pH 310) on an IPGphor platform (Amersham Biosciences). Focused samples were subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE using the Hoefer Dalt system according to the manufacturers instructions (Amersham Biosciences). The Bio-Rad broad-range marker was used as molecular mass standard.
Staining of 2D gels
2D gels were stained with silver according to Shevchenko et al. (33). Ruthenium II Tris bathophenantrolin disulfonate (RuBPS) was synthesized as described by Rabilloud et al. (34). Gels were stained with RuBPS as described previously (34) and visualized on a Herolab gel documentation station equipped with UV lamps (
= 302 nm). 2D gels were scanned and analyzed after calibration with Image Master software (Amersham Biosciences). To detect differences in protein compositions, gels were analyzed manually, and differences were then quantified with AIDA software (Raytest) using several gels (as indicated). Spots were cut out with disposable scalpels and stored at 70°C. Isolated, silver-stained protein bands were essentially destained and digested as described previously (33). RuBPS-stained proteins were destained in 50% ethanol for 2 h (34). Ethanol was removed, and proteins were digested as described previously (33), omitting the first destaining step (34).
Mass spectrometry
Peptide fingerprinting with MALDI-TOF MS was performed on an Applied Biosystems Voyager-DE STR mass spectrometer in the reflector mode after calibration with angiotensin and insulin B chain. Approximately 800-1000 spectra/measurement were added and blasted after internal calibration using trypsin autolysis peaks with Protein Prospector software (
http://prospector.ucsf.edu/ucsfhtml4.0/msfit.htm
) (35) against current versions of NCBInr and SwissProt databases. Standard search parameters for Protein Prospector were as follows: minimal numbers of peptides required, 4; p-factor, 0.4; mass tolerance, 50 ppm; missed cleavages, 1; oxidation of methionine factor, 1.0; modification of cysteine, carbamidomethylation; modification of methionine, oxidation; contaminating masses, none; and homology mode, identity.
Western blotting
Gel-separated proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose (Schleicher & Schuell). The membrane was blocked in TBST (150 mM NaCl, 25 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), and 0.1% Tween 20) containing 5% nonfat dry milk powder for 1 h. First and secondary Abs (diluted 0.11 µg/ml and 1/20,000, respectively) were applied for 1 h at room temperature, followed by four 5-min washes in TBST. Cholera toxin-HRP was diluted 1/20,000. Blots were developed with ECL as described previously (32).
Miscellaneous biochemical methods
Surface biotinylation. Cells (107) were washed repeatedly in PBS and biotinylated with sulfo-LC-NHS-biotin (Pierce) according to the manufacturers instructions. Cells were washed three times with PBS containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4) and then lysed. Dead cells were removed by centrifugation through a 2-ml Ficoll cushion before lysis (Lympholyte-M, Cedarlane Laboratories).
Immunoprecipitation. Anti-µHC Abs were added to cell lysates prepared with TNEV buffer (10) containing 1% Triton X-100 and protease inhibitors. The mixture was rotated for 1 h at 4°C, 2050 µl of equilibrated protein G-Sepharose (Pierce) was added, and incubation was performed for 1 h. Immune complexes were collected by short pulse centrifugation, washed three times in lysis buffer, and boiled in 2x SDS sample buffer.
Endoglycosidase H (Endo H) digest (36).
Immunoprecipitated µHCs were incubated with 100 µl of 0.5% SDS, 100 µg/ml BSA, 50 mM
-DTT, 10 mM Na2HPO4, and 5 mM citric acid (pH 5.0) for 10 min at 95°C. Samples were collected by centrifugation and cooled on ice. One-half of the supernatant was digested with 1 mU of Endo H (Roche) for 2 h at 37°C; the other half was incubated at 37°C without EndoH.
Measurement of lysosomal hexosaminidase activity (37). Cells were centrifuged for 5 min at 200 x g, and the supernatant from 5 x 104 cells was diluted 1/10 in substrate buffer. The reaction was conducted for 13 h at 37°C, then OD405 was measured.
Flow cytometry and analysis of apoptosis
Flow cytometry was performed as described previously (36). Briefly, 5 x 105 cells were suspended in FACS-PBS (PBS containing 2% FBS and 0.02% NaN3). Cells were incubated with Abs for 15 min on ice and washed twice with FACS-PBS. For analysis of apoptosis by annexin V staining (38), 105 cells were washed once in annexin V binding buffer (140 mM NaCl, 2,5 mM CaCl2, and 25 mM HEPES, pH 7.2) and incubated with Cy2-conjugated annexin V (gift from Dr. E. Pöschl, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany) for 20 min at room temperature in a volume of 100 µl. Finally, 400 µl of annexin V binding buffer containing propidium iodide (PI; 0.87 µg/ml) was added, and cells were analyzed immediately. All measurements were performed with a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Biosciences).
Immunofluorescence
Cells were attached to Teflon-coated coverslips (Roth) in serum-free medium for 30 min, stimulated, washed in ice-cold PBS, and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 15 min at 4°C. Cells were then rinsed in PBS and incubated in 3% BSA in PBS. Cells were incubated with Abs, washed in PBS, mounted in Moviol (Hoechst), and analyzed with a Leica confocal microscope after calibration with isotype-matched control Abs.
| Results |
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This study analyzed the protein composition of DRM from B cell lines representing different developmental stages: 1) CH27 mature B cells, a cell line that does not undergo apoptosis after BCR stimulation (5); 2) WEHI231 cells, which represent the immature B cell stage and undergo apoptosis after BCR ligation (7); and 3) NYC31.1 cells, representing an activated B cell blast generated from mice prone to autoimmune disease (NZBxNZW) (30), which also undergo apoptosis in response to BCR stimulation (39).
To isolate DRM, cells were lysed in ice-cold lysis buffer containing Triton X-100, and the lysate was fractionated in a discontinuous sucrose density gradient. With this method, DRM float to fractions of low density (20). As expected, the interface between 35 and 5% sucrose, corresponding to fractions 4 and 5 (referred to as DRM fractions) contained most of the DRM marker sphingolipid Gm1, but hardly any CD45 or TfR serving as negative controls (Fig. 1A). Densitometric analysis established that roughly 1% of the TfR resided in DRM fractions under these conditions (not shown), indicating a 99% purity of isolated DRMs.
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Notably, after incubation of cells with anti µHC F(ab)2, only the upper band appeared in DRM fractions of CH27, but not WEHI231 and NYC31.1, cells (Fig. 1, BD). In contrast, a significant portion of the lower µHC band was constitutively associated with DRM in CH27 cells and did not change in response to BCR engagement. To discriminate between these µHC bands, we biotinylated surface proteins of CH27 cells and immunoprecipitated the µHC. Immunoprecipitates were subjected to Western blotting with streptavidin or anti-µHC Abs (Fig. 2A). This established that only the upper, but not the lower, µHC band was biotinylated (Fig. 2A, lanes 2 and 3). Thus, only the upper band represents µHC of the surface BCR in CH27 cells (the same results were obtained for NYC31.1 and WEHI231 cells; data not shown).
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2D gel electrophoresis of DRM of B cells
To analyze the protein composition of DRM by 2D gel electrophoresis, we first had to ascertain whether copurified proteins specifically associate with DRM fractions or are contaminants of the detergent-soluble fraction. Because DRM are stabilized by cholesterol, depletion of cholesterol from cells with methyl-
-cyclodextrin (M
CD) (40) is commonly used to control for specific associations of proteins with DRM. Thus, we treated CH27, WEHI231, and NYC31.1 cells with increasing concentrations of M
CD (Fig. 3). All three B cell lines tolerated only low concentrations of M
CD, because 4 mM M
CD resulted in a sharp decrease in trypan blue-negative cells (Fig. 3A) and release of lysosomal hexosaminidase into the culture medium (Fig. 3B). However, despite obvious destruction of the plasma membrane, DRM association of the marker protein Lyn (10) was unaffected by treatment with 4 mM M
CD (Fig. 3C). Moreover, 2D gels of DRM fractions of untreated vs M
CD-treated cells appeared identical (not shown). In summary, the plasma membrane was at least partially destroyed by M
CD treatment, but DRM were not solubilized. Hence, M
CD treatment appeared inappropriate to assess the specific association of proteins with DRM in the B cell lines used for this study. Therefore, we performed a subtractive 2D gel analysis. Because the DRM fractions were
99% pure according to distribution of TfR (Fig. 1A), we ran 2D gels in parallel with equal protein amounts from soluble fractions (fractions 1012) and DRM fractions (fractions 4 and 5). Protein patterns obtained by staining with silver or RuBPS were compared (Fig. 4A). DRM-enriched proteins were detected at high levels as shown in Fig. 4A (e.g., spots 5, 6, 814, 18, and 19). The gels in Fig. 4A also demonstrate that protein spots equally abundant in DRM and soluble fractions can easily be identified (see circles in Fig. 4A). With this subtractive method, we identified 51 protein spots in DRM fractions that were not or were hardly detectable in soluble fractions (Fig. 4B).
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To precisely characterize DRM proteins, several 2D gels of DRM fractions were compared with 2D gels of soluble cell fractions. DRM spots 151 were excised several times and analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS (Table I). Most of the mass searches had a data error <50 ppm (see Table I). From the 51 spots, 18 proteins could be identified according to the criteria proposed by Thiede et al. (41), who suggested a minimal sequence coverage of 30% for peptides derived from a given protein. This criterion applied for all spots in Table I, except for spots 5, 6, 33, 34, and 41. Nevertheless, determination for spots 5 and 6 was reliable, because rather high MOWSE probability scores were achieved, and a low data error was obtained. Moreover, measured and theoretical molecular mass and isoelectric point (IEP) were almost identical, and the protein spots were located in areas as previously described for 2D gels (42). Spot 5, therefore, probably represents either mitofilin isoform 1 or 2, whereas due to increased IEP and decreased molecular mass, spot 6 is probably isoform 3 (43). Likewise, spots 33 and 41 are depicted in Table I despite sequence coverage <30%. However, they formed part of the pearl-like pattern of spots 3234 and 3941 (Fig. 4B), of which two (spots 32 and 40) were identified as MHC class II protein chains, and, moreover, MHC II molecules had matched the submitted peptides (Table I). The discrepancy in expected and observed molecular masses and IEPs for vimentin (spots 47 and 51) is probably due to proteolytic processing of vimentin by caspases (44). In support of this, one of the vimentin fragments (fragment A; 29.7 kDa; IEP, 5.3) (44) fits almost perfectly to spot 47 (29.9 kDa; IEP, 5.7).
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Controversial data exist about the role of DRM in apoptotic BCR signaling in WEHI231 cells (5, 45). However, if DRM play a key role in BCR signaling, then they would also be expected to be involved in apoptotic signals (45). We propose that differences in the protein composition of DRM control the BCR signaling outcome. To test this, we compared DRM of CH27 cells to those of WEHI231 and NYC31.1 cells, both of which undergo apoptosis after engagement of the BCR (7, 39).
Consistent with our hypothesis, the DRM protein pattern differed between CH27 and WEHI231/NYC31.1 cells. For example, spots 8 and 9 (BCR µHC), 3234 (MHC class II A
-
), as well as 3941 (MHCII E
-
) from CH27 DRM were not detectable in DRM of WEHI231 and NYC31.1 cells (Fig. 5, A and C, and data not shown). Accordingly, spots 22, 23, and 30 were enriched in CH27 DRM compared with DRM of NYC31.1 and WEHI231 (Fig. 5D and data not shown); however, only spot 23 (
-actin) could be identified by MS. In contrast, spot 42 (swiprosin-1) appeared to be enriched in DRM of WEHI231 and NYC31.1 cells (Fig. 5B).
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-actin molecules, MHC class II molecules, as well as swiprosin-1. Additionally, two other, as yet unidentified proteins, spots 22 and 30 (Fig. 5), were enriched in CH27 DRM. In addition, our data strongly suggest that the µHC of the BCR (spots 8 and 9; Fig. 5) associates with DRMs already in the ER/cis-Golgi of CH27 cells.
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Effect of differential DRM partitioning of MHC class II molecules on apoptosis
Induction of apoptosis through anti-MHC class II Abs is a well-characterized phenomenon and involves presentation of phosphatidylserine on the cell surface (for review, see Ref. 46) that can be detected through binding of annexin V (38). We were interested in whether the induction of anti-MHC class II-mediated apoptosis depends on the presence of MHC class II in lipid rafts. For this purpose, we stimulated CH27 and WEHI231 cells with anti-pan-MHC class II Ab NIMR4 and measured the increase in annexin V-positive cells (Fig. 8A). We did not discriminate between intact (annexin V-positive/PI negative) or disintegrated (annexin V-positive/PI-positive) cells as MHC class II-mediated apoptosis leads to a very rapid disintegration of cells, making it almost impossible to detect annexin V-positive cells that are still alive (46) (our unpublished observations).
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| Discussion |
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Although the function of some of the other proteins described in this study is still speculative with regard to DRM (Table II), the presence of vacuolar ATPase subunits strongly suggests a role for lipid raft-associated enzymes in Ag presentation. Because vacuolar ATPase subunits and G
2 have been detected in DRM of both endosomes and Golgi apparatus in CHO and MDCK cells (50, 51), an open question still is: where do DRM proteins actually reside in intact cells? Careful subcellular fractionation before analysis of DRM might be appropriate for future experiments. In line with this, mitofilin, a DRM protein we identified in this study, was probably derived from the inner membrane of mitochondria (Table II). Hence, we hypothesize that DRM may exist in the inner mitochondrial membrane, a possibility we are currently testing in our laboratory using purified mitochondria.
Several groups have analyzed known proteins and signaling pathways in DRM from B cells (5, 10, 11, 45). In contrast to their studies, we did not detect classical signaling molecules in DRM with the proteomic approach, except for G
2 (spot 37). Although proximal BCR signaling molecules, such as Lyn, were easily detectable by Western blotting (Fig. 3), the corresponding spots in 2D gels were hardly, if at all, stained with silver (data not shown). Hence, we cannot exclude the possibility that the proteins identified in this study may not represent the complete number of DRM-associated proteins.
During the course of this work, Saeki et al. (52) identified a novel DRM protein, raftlin, in human Raji B cells. Their approach was based on 1D gel electrophoresis, followed by liquid chromatography electrospray ionization MS/MS). Some of the proteins detected by Saeki and colleagues were also described in this study, namely G
2, MHC class II molecules, and
-actin (52). In contrast, none of the other proteins that we detected has been reported by Saeki et al. (52), and vice versa.
With regard to cytoskeletal proteins, the description of DRM-associated tubulin by Saeki et al. (52) is contradictory to other reports (10) that described tubulin as a fully soluble protein in B lymphocytes. One explanation might be that in the report of Saeki et al. (52) as well as other reports, no discriminative MS analysis between soluble and DRM factions was performed (52, 53), underlining the benefit of a 2D gel-based subtractive analysis (see Fig. 4).
Another advantage of the established 2D gel map is that, in contrast to one-dimensional gel electrophoresis, quantitative and qualitative differences between B cell lines can be analyzed (see Fig. 5). For example, we showed that MCH class II chains are not present in DRM of WEHI231 cells, although they are expressed at the cell surface (Fig. 7). Since raft association of MHC class II molecules is important for Ag presentation and activation of Th cells (16, 18), our findings point to a new mechanism of B cell tolerance; the inability to organize Ag-presenting MHC class II molecules in lipid rafts could conceivably prevent an immature B cell from being efficiently costimulated by Th cells, which may contribute to clonal deletion or anergy. Particularly, immature transitional B cells can only weakly activate CD4 T cells in contrast to mature B cells (25).
With respect to MHC class II-induced apoptosis, we could not detect a difference between the mature B cell line CH27 and the immature B cell line WEHI231. Thus, in contrast to the BCR (5); raft localization of MHC class II molecules neither positively nor negatively correlates with induction of apoptosis. This finding indicates that the apoptotic pathways used by MHC class II and the BCR may involve different mechanisms. Indeed, in contrast to BCR-induced apoptosis (54), MHC class II-mediated apoptosis does not involve caspases (46).
With regard to regulating the DRM association of the BCR, a direct role for MHC class II molecules appears rather unlikely, because the BCR and MHC class II molecules form distinct complexes (55). Nevertheless, the transfer of Ig
-Ig
from the BCR to MHC class II molecules involves a physical interaction of an unknown nature (55), which could possibly stabilize the BCR in DRM. More likely, however, the increased abundance of
-actin in DRM of CH27 cells indicated that structural proteins may be involved in stabilizing the BCR/DRM interaction. This is supported by two findings. First, the F-actin-disrupting drug latrunculin A inhibited the DRM association of human BCR transfected in murine A20 lymphoma B cells (56). Second, several spots we identified in this study were cytoskeletal proteins. Among them, spot 2 was double the expected size for
-actin and may thus represent an urea- and SDS-stable dimer; in addition, spot 36b might be a degradation product of actin.
Finally, somewhat unexpected, the intracellular BCR µHC (spots 8 and 9) was prominent in DRM of CH27, but not in WEHI231 and NYC31.1 cells (Figs. 1 and 5). However, in sharp contrast, the surface BCR of CH27 cells did not associate with DRM unless cross-linked by anti-µHC F(ab)2 (Fig. 1) (5, 10). Thus, an intriguing possibility is that the IgM BCR is cross-linked intracellularly, possibly through interactions with chaperones and/or other enzymes that reside in lipid rafts. One candidate molecule is prohibitin (BAP31), which we identified in B cell lipid rafts and which has recently been shown to retain membrane IgD complexes in the ER (57).
It is tempting to speculate that folding, glycosylation, or retention of the BCR occur in intracellular lipid rafts. In this regard, the low levels of the BCR µHC expressed at the surface of CH27 cells (Fig. 1B and data not shown) are consistent with a role for DRM in cytoplasmic retention. Therefore, we hypothesize that partitioning the BCR into DRM can be established in the ER/cis-Golgi compartment of B cells and not exclusively at the cell surface as previously thought. Thus, in analogy to the classical raft hypothesis, lipid rafts in B cells might serve as sorting platforms during protein surface transport in nonpolarized B cells similar to the role they have in polarized epithelial cells (for review, see Ref. 58).
| Disclosures |
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| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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1 This work was supported in part by Project Grant SFB466 and Research Grant JA968/2 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to H.-M.J.) and by Research Grant M3-Mielenz 0204181 from the ELAN-Fonds, University of Erlangen (to D.M.). ![]()
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Dirk Mielenz, Division of Molecular Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine III, Nikolaus Fiebiger Center for Molecular Medicine, Glückstrasse 6, D-91054 Erlangen, Germany. E-mail address: dmielenz{at}molmed.uni-erlangen.de ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: µHC, µ H chain; 2D, two-dimensional; DRM, detergent-resistant membranes; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; Ld/L
, liquid-disordered; Lo/L
, liquid-ordered; M
CD, methyl-
-cyclodextrin; MS, mass spectrometry; PI, propidium iodide; RuBPS, ruthenium bathophenanthroline disulfonate; TfR, transferrin receptor; Endo H, endoglycosidase H; IEP, isoelectric point. ![]()
Received for publication August 18, 2004. Accepted for publication January 8, 2004.
| References |
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5-deficient mice. J. Immunol. 167:3734.
from the ER-cis-Golgi. J. Immunol. 171:3091.
-,
- and
-cyclodextrins on human erythrocytes. Eur. J. Biochem. 186:17.[Medline]
/
dimers. Science 291:1537.
-Ca2+-dependent pathway. EMBO J. 22:4166.[Medline]
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