Flow cytometric measurement of intracellular ionized calcium in single cells with indo-1 and fluo-3.
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Publications and source records attributed to C H June.
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The expression of the protooncogenes ETS1 and ETS2 has been studied in purified human T cells activated either by cross-linking of the T-cell receptor-CD3 complex on their cell surface or by direct stimulation with phorbol esters and ionomycin. Our results show that resting T cells express high levels of ETS1 mRNA and protein, while expression of ETS2 is undetectable. Upon T-cell activation, ETS2 mRNA and proteins are induced, while ETS1 gene expression decreases to very low levels. Late after stimulation, ETS1 mRNA is reinduced and maintained at a high level, while ETS2 gene expression decreases to undetectable levels. Therefore, it appears that in human T cells, ETS2 gene products are associated with cellular activation and proliferation, while ETS1 gene products are preferentially expressed in a quiescent state.
The binding of antigen to the multicomponent T-cell receptor (TCR) activates several signal transduction pathways via coupling mechanisms that are poorly understood. One event that follows antigen receptor engagement is the activation of inositol phospholipid-specific phospholipase C (PLC). TCR activation by antigen, lectins, or anti-TCR monoclonal antibody has also been shown to cause increases in tyrosine phosphorylation of TCR-zeta and other substrates, suggesting stimulation of protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) activity. A critical question is whether these two pathways, PLC and PTK, are independently activated or whether one initiates and/or regulates the other. In the former case, PLC activation could be coupled to the TCR via a GTP-binding protein (G protein). We have reported, however, that tyrosine phosphorylation of intracellular substrates precedes detection of PLC activation and intracellular calcium elevation, suggesting that inositol phospholipid turnover in T cells is initiated by a PTK pathway. In this study, we test this hypothesis by treating T cells with the drug herbimycin A. We demonstrate that this agent inhibits substrate tyrosine phosphorylation, TCR-mediated inositol phospholipid hydrolysis, and calcium elevation. In contrast, under these conditions G-protein-mediated PLC activity, as tested by addition of aluminum fluoride, remains intact. Furthermore, whereas herbimycin treatment prevents TCR-mediated interleukin 2 production and interleukin 2 receptor expression, phorbol ester-induced effects are substantially resistant to herbimycin. The drug thus appears to abrogate TCR-mediated signaling without affecting distal signaling mechanisms.
A new human herpesvirus has been isolated from CD4+ T cells purified from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a healthy individual (RK), following incubation of the cells under conditions promoting T-cell activation. The virus could not be recovered from nonactivated cells. Cultures of lymphocytes infected with the RK virus exhibited a cytopathic effect, and electron microscopic analyses revealed a characteristic herpesvirus structure. RK virus DNA did not hybridize with large probes derived from herpes simplex virus, Epstein-Barr virus, varicella-zoster virus, and human cytomegalovirus. The genetic relatedness of the RK virus to the recently identified T-lymphotropic human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was investigated by restriction enzyme analyses using 21 different enzymes and by blot hybridization analyses using 11 probes derived from two strains of HHV-6 (Z29 and U1102). Whereas the two HHV-6 strains exhibited only limited restriction enzyme polymorphism, cleavage of the RK virus DNA yielded distinct patterns. Of the 11 HHV-6 DNA probes tested, only 6 cross-hybridized with DNA fragments derived from the RK virus. Taken together, the maximal homology amounted to 31 kilobases of the 75 kilobases tested. We conclude that the RK virus is distinct from previously characterized human herpesviruses. We propose to designate it as the prototype of a new herpesvirus, the seventh human herpesvirus identified to date.
We have investigated whether T-cell activation is required for the replication of the T-lymphotropic human herpesvirus 6. The virus did not replicate in quiescent peripheral blood lymphocytes but replicated efficiently following exposure of the cells to the polyclonal mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA). When purified T cells were treated with PHA in the absence of accessory cells, no virus replication was observed unless exogenous interleukin-2 (IL-2) was added to the medium, promoting cell division. Incubation of peripheral blood lymphocytes in the absence of PHA but in the presence of IL-2 resulted in delayed cell blastogenesis and virus replication. Cell blastogenesis and virus replication did not occur in the purified T-cell cultures incubated with IL-2 alone. Taken together, the results show that human herpesvirus 6 replication requires full progression of the cell cycle. This finding might have implications for the pathogenicity of the virus in the human host.
After the addition of a CD3 monoclonal antibody to peripheral T cells that have been previously stimulated with phytohemagglutinin, inositol phosphates are produced at a rapid rate for 2 min and at a much slower rate thereafter. Stimulation of CD5 allows CD3-mediated production of inositol phosphates to be sustained at a brisk rate for greater than 20 min and augments the initial CD3-mediated increase in inositol trisphosphate and release of intracellular Ca2+. Thus, perturbation of CD5 by monoclonal antibody enhances the ability of the CD3-antigen receptor complex to couple to the inositol phospholipid pathway. This effect of CD5 is independent of any direct effect of the CD5 monoclonal antibody on the levels of inositol phosphates.
Anti-delta antibody conjugated to 2 x 10(6) m.w. dextran (dex) stimulates B lymphocyte proliferation at 10,000-fold lower concentrations than that required by the unconjugated antibody. Dex conjugated antibody also stimulates a greater and more sustained increase in intracellular ionized calcium [( Ca2+]i) than does the unconjugated anti-Ig antibody. Inasmuch as inositol phosphate metabolites have been linked to rises in [Ca2+]i, we analyzed by FPLC the relative amounts of the inositol polyphosphates (IP) in these cells. Anti-Ig-dextran induced a threefold greater increase in total IP than did the unconjugated anti-Ig. Furthermore, in cells stimulated by unconjugated anti-Ig there was a transient induction of I(1,4,5)P3 followed by a rapid accumulation of the I(1,3,4)P3 isomer with little accumulation of I(1,4)P2, whereas in anti-Ig-dex-stimulated cells there was prolonged elevation of I(1,4,5)P3 with more accumulation of I(1,4)P2. In addition, levels of I(1,3,4,5)P4 were maintained over a longer period of time in B cells stimulated by anti-Ig-dex than in those stimulated by unconjugated anti-Ig. The enhanced ratio of I(1,4,5)P3/I(1,3,4)P3 was also seen when suboptimal concentrations of anti-Ig-dex were used which stimulated a level of total inositol phosphate that was similar to that stimulated by the unconjugated anti-Ig. The possibility that the greater stimulation of increased [Ca2+] by anti-Ig-dex than by unconjugated anti-Ig was a predominant factor in influencing the metabolic pathway of I(1,4,5)P3 was excluded. These results show that 1) stimulation of increases in the various IP isomers occurs in anti-Ig stimulated normal B cells as has been shown in B cell lines and 2) that signal transduction and consequent PIP2 hydrolysis that is stimulated by Ag-mediated cross-linking of sIg is strongly influenced by the extent and type of cross-linking that is induced.
The regulation of IL-2 gene expression during T cell activation and proliferation has been investigated in primary cultures of purified human peripheral blood T cells. Prior results indicated that stimulation of T cells by anti-CD28 mAb plus PMA could induce IL-2 expression and T cell proliferation that was entirely resistant to cyclosporine. The present studies examined whether CD28 augments IL-2 expression by a unique pathway or merely acts at a point common to CD3-induced proliferation but distal to the effects of cyclosporine. The induction of maximal IL-2 gene expression required three signals provided by phorbol ester, calcium ionophore, and anti-CD28 mAb. Stimulation of cells by optimal amounts of calcium ionophore and PMA induced IL-2 mRNA that was completely suppressed by cyclosporine. The addition of anti-CD28 to T cells stimulated with PMA plus calcium ionophore induced a 5- to 100-fold increase in IL-2 gene expression and secretion that was resistant to cyclosporine. The CD28 signal was able to increase steady state IL-2 mRNA levels even in cells treated with maximally tolerated amounts of calcium ionophore and PMA. The three-signal requirement did not reflect differential regulation of lymphokine gene expression between the CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets or differences in the kinetics of IL-2 mRNA expression. The signal provided by CD28 is distinct from that of CD3 because although anti-CD28 plus PMA-induced proliferation is resistant to cyclosporine, anti-CD3 or anti-CD3 plus PMA-induced IL-2 expression is sensitive. Thus, these studies show that three biochemically distinct signals are required for maximal IL-2 gene expression. Furthermore, these studies suggest that lymphokine production in T cells is not controlled by an "on/off" switch, but rather, that CD28 regulates a distinct intracellular pathway which modulates the level of IL-2 production on a per cell basis. The observation that CD28 stimulation results in IL-2 concentrations that exceed 1000 U/m1 in tissue culture supernatants suggests that a role in vivo for CD28 might be to amplify immune responses initiated by the CD3/T cell receptor complex. Finally, the observation that CD28 interacts with the signals provided by PMA and calcium ionophore shows that the function of CD28 is not merely to act as a scaffold to stabilize or enhance signalling through the CD3/TCR complex.
Quiescent T cells can be induced to express many genes by mitogen or antigen stimulation. The messenger RNAs of some of these genes undergo relatively rapid degradation compared to messenger RNAs from constitutively expressed genes. A T cell activation pathway that specifically regulates the stability of messenger RNAs for the lymphokines interleukin-2, interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor is induced by stimulation of the CD28 surface molecule. This pathway does not directly affect the steady-state messenger RNA level, transcription, or messenger RNA half-life of other T cell activation genes, including c-myc, c-fos, IL-2 receptor, and the 4F2HC surface antigen. These data show that stimuli received at the cell surface can alter gene expression by inducing specific changes in messenger RNA degradation.
Day-14 fetal CD4-, CD8- thymocytes showed a greater proliferative response to PMA + IL-4 than did adult double-negative thymocytes. In contrast, adult double-negative thymocytes were more responsive to PMA + IL-1 + IL-2 or to IL-1 + IL-2 alone. The adult double-negative thymocytes showed significantly greater proliferation than fetal thymocytes after stimulation via anti-CD3 or anti-Thy-1 in the presence or absence of interleukins (IL-1 + IL-2 or IL-4). Adult CD4-, CD8- thymocytes also exhibited greater calcium mobilization following anti-CD3 stimulation IL-2-dependent activation with anti-Thy-1 or IL-1 + IL-2 in the absence of PMA resulted in marked expansion of CD 3+, F23.1+, CD4-, CD8- thymocytes, a population absent in fetal thymocytes but constituting 4% of pre-cultured CD4-, CD8- adult thymocytes. IL-4 + PMA failed to expand this CD 3+ population. It is hypothesized that before expression of functional TCR, T cell development may be more dependent on activation pathways not using IL-2; after TCR expression, IL-2-dependent pathways, including Thy-1-mediated stimulation, become functional.
Previous investigations have defined phenotypic differences between unprimed (naive) and antigen-primed (memory) T cells from human peripheral blood. We now report that memory T cells proliferate much more than naive cells when stimulated with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody or pairs of anti-CD2 monoclonal antibodies. Enhanced responsiveness to receptor-mediated triggering is a novel mechanism for T cells which could facilitate memory cell response to specific antigen. Furthermore, when triggered via either CD2 or CD3, memory T cells produce substantial amounts of interferon gamma while naive cells produce virtually none; this suggests that differentiation from naive to memory state is accompanied by a stable change in regulation of the gene for interferon-gamma. We conclude that naive and memory T cells are dramatically different in function as well as phenotype.
Signal transduction occurs through multiple receptors expressed on mature, resting T cells. In addition to the CD3-T cell receptor complex, the CD2, CD4, CD5, CD7, CD8 and CD28 receptors mobilize cytoplasmic calcium within minutes of binding with monoclonal antibodies and additional crosslinking occurs on the cell surface. As an approach to study the interactions between these receptors and their transduced signals, monoclonal antibodies to each of these receptors were covalently coupled as heteroconjugates and investigated for activity in cytoplasmic calcium mobilization using indo-1 and flow cytometry. Of a total of 35 conjugates studied, there were seven heteroconjugates that showed an increase in activity and these consisted of either certain conjugates of anti-CD3 or certain conjugates of anti-CD5. The CD3-CD2, CD3-CD4, CD3-CD6 and CD3-CD8 heteroconjugates each gained two to three orders of magnitude in titer in calcium mobilization compared to unconjugated CD3 or the CD3-CD3 conjugate. The increase in activity was not accompanied by an increase in binding titer, indicating that signal transduction occurred at lower levels of receptor occupancy. The increased activity was dependent in each case on the relevant second receptor, since unconjugated CD2, CD4, CD6 or CD8 MAb could block the activity of the corresponding heteroconjugate. Neither CD3-CD5, CD3-CD28 or CD3-CD3 conjugates gained activity, whereas CD3-CD7 heteroconjugates gained slightly in activity. The heteroconjugates with CD5 that acquired ability to mobilize calcium at low concns (less than 5 micrograms/ml) were CD5-CD4, CD5-CD8 and CD5-CD6. Their activity could be inhibited by either CD5 MAb or the second MAb of the heteroconjugate. The increased activity of CD3 or CD5 heteroconjugates was observed in the absence of extracellular calcium. Size exclusion chromatography of heteroconjugates demonstrated that 1:1 ratios were optimal, but larger conjugates were also active. These results suggest that certain receptors are capable for molecular interactions on the cell surface to form complexes with enhanced activity in signal transduction leading to calcium mobilization.
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene regulation was investigated in primary cultures of highly purified human peripheral blood CD28+ T cells. Two discrete mechanisms for induction of T-cell proliferation could be distinguished by examining cell cycle progression and the expression of the IL-2 gene. Stimulation of cells by CD3 MoAb induced only transiently expressed, small amounts of IL-2 mRNA that was completely suppressed by cyclosporine. Costimulation of T cells with CD3 MoAb and either CD28 MoAb or PMA, but not calcium ionophore, induced a 50-100-fold increased in IL-2 gene expression and secretion. High levels of IL-2 gene expression could also be achieved by stimulation with calcium ionophore and PMA or CD28 MoAb and PMA, but not by CD28 MoAb plus calcium ionophore. IL-2 gene expression and T-cell proliferation induced by CD3 MoAb plus PMA or calcium ionophore plus PMA were completely suppressible by cyclosporine. In contrast, IL-2 gene expression and T-cell proliferation induced by CD28 MoAb plus PMA were unaffected by cyclosporine. The CD28 signal was dependent on new protein synthesis. Nuclear run-on transcription assays showed that anti-CD28 did not affect lymphokine transcription. A major effect of CD28 stimulation on mRNA stability was shown by studies using actinomycin D; CD28 stimulation substantially increased the half-life of IL-2 and TNF-alpha mRNA. The effects of anti-CD28 stimulation were specific for growth factors, and thus differ from previously described effects of cycloheximide on mRNA stability. These studies suggest the existence of two biochemical pathways for the induction of IL-2 production, one that occurs at the transcriptional level and is mediated by intracellular calcium release and protein kinase C and is cyclosporine-sensitive, and one that acts post-transcriptionally, is mediated by CD28 stimulation, and is cyclosporine-resistant.
We have utilized the human 4F2 heavy chain (4F2HC) gene as a model system in studies designed to elucidate the molecular events involved in regulating inducible gene expression during normal human T-cell activation. In previous studies we have shown that steady state levels of 4F2HC mRNA are induced 50-60-fold within 6 h of T-cell activation by phytohemagluttinin (PHA) and that the induction of 4F2HC gene expression involves both the protein kinase C and calcium-mediated activation pathways. Despite the fact that the 4F2HC gene is highly regulated in T cells, the 5' upstream region of the 4F2HC gene contains a housekeeping promoter which is G + C rich, lacks TATA or CCAAT sequences, and contains four potential binding sites for the ubiquitous Sp 1 transcription factor. The major regulatory elements of the 4F2HC gene do not reside within this 5' upstream region but instead, map to the exon 1-intron 1 region of the gene. The low levels of mature 4F2HC mRNA in resting T cells result from a block to transcription elongation within the exon 1-intron 1 region of the gene rather than promoter inactivity. Phorbol ester stimulation of resting T cells induces 4F2HC expression by removing this block to transcription elongation. We now report that in addition to its ability to serve as a transcriptional attenuator, the 4F2HC first intron contains a powerful enhancer element which is active in a wide variety of cell types including malignant human T cells. Full enhancer activity is displayed by a 186 bp fragment of the first intron which contains binding sites for two novel nuclear proteins (NF-4FA and NF-4FB) which flank a consensus binding site for the AP-1 transcription factor. A cDNA encoding the NF-4FB enhancer binding protein has been cloned by screening a lambda gt11 cDNA library with a rabiolabelled oligonucleotide corresponding to the NF-4FB recognition sequence.
The cytokine interleukin 4 (IL-4) has been shown to induce lipopolysaccharide-activated murine B cells to differentiate into IgE-secreting cells and to stimulate IgE secretion by cultured human peripheral blood lymphoid cells. It is unclear, however, whether this effect of IL-4 on human peripheral blood lymphoid cells is a direct effect on the B cell because IL-4 can stimulate T cells and monocytes as well as B cells and does not induce purified human B cells to secrete immunoglobulin. To investigate this issue we studied the ability of IL-4 to induce IgE secretion by purified human B cells (93-96% CD20+, less than 1% CD3+) that were cultured with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Although B cells cultured with IL-4 alone did not secrete Ig and B cells cultured with EBV alone secreted IgM, IgG, and IgA but less than 150 pg of IgE per ml, the combination of EBV and IL-4 induced an IgE response that ranged from 11.4 to 40.3 ng/ml of culture supernatant after 26 days of culture. While IL-4 also enhanced IgM, IgG, and IgA secretion, as well as proliferation by EBV-infected B cells, these effects were less pronounced, occurred earlier during culture, and required a lower concentration of IL-4 than did the stimulation of IgE secretion. Furthermore, interferon gamma at 10 units per ml was found to inhibit IL-4/EBV-induced IgE secretion without inhibiting the other stimulatory effects of IL-4. We conclude that (i) IL-4 and interferon gamma can act directly on polyclonally activated human B cells to respectively stimulate and suppress IgE secretion and (ii) IL-4, in addition to its specific effect on IgE secretion, has a general stimulatory effect on the growth and differentiation of EBV-infected human B cells.
We recently showed that anti-immunoglobulin conjugated to high molecular weight dextran is 1000-fold more mitogenic for B cells than unconjugated anti-immunoglobulin. This system serves as a model for T-cell-independent type 2 antigens such as haptenated Ficoll, dextran, and bacterial polysaccharides, which can also stimulate B-cell proliferation and antibody production at low concentrations. We show here that conjugated anti-immunoglobulin, at concentrations that stimulate significant increases in expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and incorporation of thymidine into DNA, does not induce detectable modulation of surface immunoglobulin. These results indicate that the facilitated T-cell-independent B-cell activation by polysaccharide antigens may result from inability to modulate surface immunoglobulin, possibly resulting in persistent and/or repetitive signaling. Early large increases in Ca2+ and breakdown of inositol phospholipids presently thought to be involved in transduction of the mitogenic signal are not detectable at low concentrations of conjugated anti-immunoglobulin, raising the possibility that these biochemical events may not in fact be central to this signaling pathway.
CD28 is a 44-kDa glycoprotein expressed as a homodimer on the surface of a major subset of human T cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that the binding of monoclonal antibodies to the CD28 surface antigen can augment the proliferation of purified human T cells stimulated with suboptimal doses of mitogens or anti-T-cell receptor/CD3 complex antibodies. In this report, we show that CD28 stimulation augments T-cell immune responses by specifically inducing a 5- to 50-fold enhancement in the expression and secretion of interleukin 2, tumor necrosis factor type alpha, lymphotoxin, interferon gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in normal human T cells stimulated to proliferate by crosslinking of the T-cell receptor/CD3 complex. This CD28-mediated induction of lymphokine/cytokine gene expression occurred even in T cells stimulated with optimal concentrations of mitogens or anti-T-cell receptor/CD3 antibodies, although under these conditions CD28 activation failed to enhance the proliferative response. The activation pathway induced by stimulation of CD28 is distinct from other biochemical pathways that induce lymphokines/cytokines because CD28 stimulation can induce lymphokine/cytokine gene expression in the presence of the immunosuppressant cyclosporine. Together these data suggest that the CD28 cell surface molecule is part of a distinct activation pathway that specifically modulates the expression of multiple lymphokine/cytokine genes.
The delivery of a mitogenic signal to T cells via any one of several cell surface molecules elicits a variety of intracellular responses, some or all of which regulate subsequent gene expression events. The expression of nine novel mitogen-induced genes in response to various T-cell-activating agents was examined to evaluate the diversity of pathways which regulate such genes. The relative contribution of distinct secondary signals, individually or together, to mitogen-stimulated gene induction and the capability of individual genes to respond to the sometimes divergent signals generated from different cell surface structures is addressed. The activation of T cells with mitogenic monoclonal antibodies directed against the CD2 or CD3 cell surface molecules, or with phytohemagglutinin, induced all nine genes. Thus, stimulation by fully mitogenic agents regardless of cell surface-binding specificity correlated with the expression of all of the genes studied. However, heterogeneous patterns of gene expression, encompassing five regulatory classes, were revealed by the use of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, calcium ionophore, and anti-CD28 monoclonal antibody, agents which mediated only a subset of intracellular events and thus an incomplete mitogenic signal. Interleukin-2 and two novel lymphokines represented one regulatory class that appeared to require unique transcriptional activation signals relative to the other mitogen-induced genes. As demonstrated in the accompanying paper (P. F. Zipfel, S. G. Irving, K. Kelly, and U. Siebenlist, Mol. Cell. Biol. 9:1041-1048, 1989), the immediate transcriptional response of T cells to mitogenic stimulation is quite complex, involving numerous genes beyond those which have been previously described. Furthermore, the discrimination of several regulatory phenotypes among these nine genes suggests that a multiplicity of signaling pathways extends from the cell surface to the level of transcription.