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PubMed2005

Coculture of Th cells with interleukin (IL)-7 in the absence of antigenic stimuli induced T-cell anergy reversed by IL-15.

Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is an important survival factor for T cells. We report here for the first time that it has another important role, facilitating T-cell clonal unresponsiveness, or anergy. The anergy was induced by a 20-day coculture of activated-human CD4(+) T-cell clones with IL-7 and irradiated peripheral blood mononuclear cells without antigenic stimuli. T-cell survival, but not T-cell anergy induction, was dependent on direct cell contacts between T cells and irradiated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The anergic T cells exhibited no or very low expression of IL-7 receptor alpha chain (IL-7Ralpha), IL-2 receptor alpha chain (IL-2Ralpha), and common gamma chain (gammac), and did not express cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4, but expressed IL-15Ralpha. Coculture for 3 to 9 days of anergic T cells with a T-cell-activating cytokine IL-15, but not IL-2, restored the responsiveness of IL-7-induced anergic T cells together with reexpressions of IL-7Ralpha, IL-2Ralpha, and gammac. The anergy induction by IL-7 and restoration of responsiveness by IL-15 suggest novel mechanisms for regulation of helper T-cell responses, induction of peripheral tolerance, and breakdown of T-cell self-tolerance.

Antigens↗
PubMed1975

T and B cell in hapten-specific carrier-determined tolerance.

BDF1 mice were made tolerant by a single i.v. injection of 1 mg of DNAP-gamma1 or by weekly i.v. injections of 0.2 mg of DNP-gamma1 given for a month. In both instances, spleen cells of tolerant animals were fractionated to obtain pure populations of T cells (nonimmunoglobulin-bearing cells), referred to as tolerant T cells, and B cells (immunoglobulin-bearing cells) referred to as tolerant B cells (immunoglobulin-bearing cells) referred to as tolerant B cells. The control cells were similarly fractionated to obtain normal T and B cells. Mixtures of tolerant T cells and normal B cells, or conversely, normal T cells and tolerant B cells were used to repopulate lethally irradiated recipients. These recipients were then immunized with dinitrophenyl-keyhole limpet haemocyanin and in certain instances with other antigen horse red blood cells. The immune response to both antigens was measured using the direct hemolytic plaque assay. It was found that both T and B cells were tolerant and that tolerance was hapten specific at both T- and B-cell levels. While B-cell tolerance was demonstrated at a 1/1 T/B ratio, a 4/1 T/B ratio was necessary to show T-cell tolerance. Thus, the hapten-specific carrier-determined tolerance involves not only B cells but also T cells. The implication of this finding for the cellular mechanism of tolerance in an experimental model closely related to self tolerance is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Differing roles for B7 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in negative selection of thymocytes.

To ensure self tolerance, immature thymocytes with high binding affinity for self peptides linked to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules are eliminated in situ via apoptosis (negative selection). The roles of two costimulatory molecules, B7-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), in negative selection was examined by studying apoptosis of T cell receptor transgenic CD4+8+ thymocytes cultured with specific peptides presented by MHC class I-transfected Drosophila cells. When coexpressed on these cells, B7-1 and ICAM-1 act synergistically and cause strong class 1-restricted negative selection of thymocytes. When expressed separately, however, B7-1 and ICAM-1 display opposite functions: negative selection is augmented by B7-1, but is inhibited by ICAM-1. It is notable that B7-1 is expressed selectively in the thymic medulla, whereas ICAM-1 is expressed throughout the thymus. Because of this distribution, the differing functions of B7-1 and ICAM-1 may dictate the sites of positive and negative selection. Thus, in the cortex, the presence of ICAM-1, but not B7-1, on the cortical epithelium may preclude or reduce negative selection and thereby promote positive selection. Conversely, the combined expression of B7-1 and ICAM-1 may define the medulla as the principal site of negative selection.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

The power of the third dimension: tissue architecture and autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis.

Lymphoid organs are the anatomic solution to the challenge of responding to minute amounts of antigen with powerful effector mechanisms. By arranging interacting cells in complex three-dimensional topographies lymphoid organs provide an optimal match between form and function. This principle is exploited in ectopic lymphoid structures that characteristically appear in rheumatoid synovitis. Synovial tissue T cells and B cells cooperate in different types of lymphoid organizations. Dendritic cell networks in the inflamed synovial membrane optimize antigen collection, storage, processing, and presentation. Synovial tissue cells participate in lymphocyte recruitment and the formation of tissue architectures that amplify immune responses. Recent data support the concept that the tissue organization in the rheumatoid joint fosters a breakdown in self-tolerance by promoting a phase transition from self-limited immune responses to self-perpetuating autoimmune responses.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed2002

Inducing tolerance to MHC-matched allogeneic islet grafts in diabetic NOD mice by simultaneous islet and bone marrow transplantation under nonirradiative and nonmyeloablative conditioning therapy.

BACKGROUND: Human type 1 diabetes is associated with defects in the hematopoietic stem cells. Simultaneous donor islet and bone marrow transplantation may be an ideal therapeutic approach for inducing tolerance to islet allogeneic antigens and restoring self-tolerance to islet autoimmune antigens. METHODS: Using a nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of human type 1 diabetes, we investigated whether tolerance to MHC-matched allogeneic islet grafts from male nonobese diabetes-resistant (NOR) donors can be induced in female NOD recipients by simultaneous islet and bone marrow transplantation under fludarabine phosphate-based nonmyeloablative and irradiation-free conditioning therapy. Donor-specific chimerism in the peripheral blood of tolerant mice (n=7) was measured by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction for a male-specific marker (SRY). RESULTS: Donor-specific tolerance to NOR islet grafts was induced in all diabetic NOD mice after simultaneous islet and bone marrow transplantation and treated with fludarabine phosphate, cyclophosphamide, anti-mouse lymphocyte serum, and rapamycin. At 100 days and 200 days after transplantation, the average percentage of male NOR marker in DNA derived from the peripheral blood of NOD recipients that had long-term islet graft survival was over 10%. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that this approach may induce donor-specific tolerance in clinical islet transplantation and living-related donor solid organ transplantation.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Solid-phase epitope recovery: a high throughput method for antigen identification and epitope optimization.

Self tolerance to MHC class I-restricted nonmutated self Ags is a significant hurdle to effective cancer immunotherapy. Compelling evidence is emerging that altered peptide ligands can be far more immunogenic than their corresponding native epitopes; however, there is no way to reliably predict which modifications will lead to enhanced native epitope-specific immune responses. We reasoned that this limitation could be overcome by devising an empirical screen in which the nearly complete combinatorial spectrum of peptides of optimal length can be rapidly assayed for reactivity with a MHC class I-restricted cytotoxic T cell clone. This method, solid-phase epitope recovery, quantitatively ranks all reactive peptides in the library and allows selection of altered peptide ligands having desirable immunogenic properties of interest. In contrast to rationally designed MHC anchor-modified peptides, peptides identified by the present method are highly substituted in predicted TCR contact residues and can reliably activate and expand effector cell populations in vitro which lyse target cells presenting the wild-type epitope. We demonstrate that solid-phase epitope recovery peptides corresponding to a poorly immunogenic epitope of the melanoma Ag, gp100, can reliably induce wild-type peptide-specific CTL using normal donor T cells in vitro. Furthermore, these peptides can complement one another to induce these responses in an overwhelming majority of normal individuals in vitro. These data provide a rationale for the design of superior vaccines comprising a mixture of structurally diverse yet functionally convergent peptides.

Antigen Presentation↗
PubMed2000

Apoptosis and systemic autoimmunity: the dendritic cell connection.

Much effort has been devoted in recent years to the events linking recognition and disposal of apoptotic cells to sustained immunity towards the antigens they contain. Programmed death via apoptosis indeed provides most of the raw material the immune system exploits to establish self tolerance, i.e. to learn how to distinguish between self constituents and foreign antigens, belonging to invading pathogens. In parallel, events occurring during cell death may enable a restricted array of molecules endowed with diverse structure, function and intracellular distribution to satisfy the requirement to evoke and maintain autoimmune responses. Dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen presenting cells, appear to play a crucial role. Here we will discuss some of the constrains regulating the access of dying cells' antigens to DCs, as well as censorship mechanisms that prevent their maturation and the full explication of their antigen presenting function.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

[Demonstration and immunologic effect of an infection of the human thymus by the diabetogenic human Coxsackievirus B4].

Thymus exerts a prominent role in the establishment os central T-cell tolerance, as well as in the development of self major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted T lymphocytes. Like others autoimmune diseases, type 1 diabetes emergence implies central or peripheric self tolerance breakdown. Environmental factors, especially enterovirus infections, are supposed to be involved in diabetes pathophysiology. Epidemiological studies have highlighted a frequent association between enterovirus Coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) and type 1 diabetes. The aim of our work was to study whether a thymus infection by CVB4 could induce modifications of thymic function. In primary cultures of thymic epithelial cells (TEC), we detected viral proteins, positive- and negative- strand RNA, and infectious virus in the supernatants, meaning that TEC cultures were susceptible to CVB4 infection and that CVB4 induced a persistent infection in those cells. CVB4 also modulated TEC proliferation and cytokine, such as IL-6, GM-CSF and LIF secretions. Studies using fetal organ thymus culture (FTOC) showed that CVB4 induced a marked and progressive thymocytes depletion, in particular double positive (DP) and CD4+ cells. CVB4 replicated in those subpopulations, indeed positive- and negative-atrand RNA were detected. CVB4 also upregulated MHC class I expression on DP thymocytes. The upregulation of MHC expression required viral infection in DP cells. IL-6 and GM-CSF secretions were also involved in this phenomenom, but IFN-alpha was shown not to be involved. Taken together, our results showed the susceptibility of the human thymus to CVB4 infection, and an important thymic dysfuntion due to this infection. Our work is a novel approach in the understanding of the mechanisms of CVB4-induced type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes Mellitus↗
PubMed1996

Analysis of low zone tolerance induction in normal and B cell-deficient mice.

To investigate the role of B cells as APCs in acquired tolerance induced by low dose soluble protein Ags, normal and B cell-deficient adult mice were injected i.v. with repeated low doses (10 microgram) of deaggregated OVA, then challenged with OVA in CFA. In animals treated with deaggregated OVA, the in vitro proliferative responses of lymph node T cells to OVA were significantly reduced, and production of the Th1 cytokine, IFN-gamma, in response to OVA was reduced to undetectable levels. This occurred in both normal and B cell-deficient treated animals. B cells were also unnecessary for self tolerance of T cells to the transgenic self Ag, hen egg lysozyme, in a strain with a very low serum lysozyme concentration. Partial low zone tolerance induced by deaggregated, low dose OVA was selective for T cell responses as measured by in vitro proliferation and IL-2 and IFN-gamma production, because Ab responses of B cell-sufficient mice to this T cell-dependent Ag were largely unaffected. Both treated and untreated animals produced equivalent titers of anti-OVA Abs, predominantly of the IgG1 and IgG2b isotypes, following challenge with OVA in CFA.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Autoantigen-specific B cell activation in Fas-deficient rheumatoid factor immunoglobulin transgenic mice.

In systemic autoimmune disease, self-tolerance fails, leading to autoantibody production. A central issue in immunology is to understand the origins of activated self-reactive B cells. We have used immunoglobulin (Ig) transgenic mice to investigate the regulation of autoreactive B cells with specificity for self-IgG2a (the rheumatoid factor [RF] specificity) to understand how normal mice regulate RF autoantibodies and how this fails in autoimmune mice. We previously showed that normal mice do not tolerize the AM14 RF clone, nor do they appear to activate it. Here we show that in Fas-deficient autoimmune mice, the picture is quite different. RF B cells are activated to divide and secrete, but only when the autoantigen is present. Thus, B cells that are ignored rather than anergized in normal mice can be stimulated to produce autoantibody in Fas-deficient mice. This demonstrates a novel developmental step at which intact Fas-Fas ligand signaling is required to regulate B cells in order to prevent autoimmunity. These data also establish the relevance of ignorant self-specific B cells to autoantibody production in disease and prove that in the case of the RF specificity, the nominal autoantigen IgG2a is the driving autoantigen in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Autoantibody production in hepatitis B e antigen transgenic mice elicited with a self T-cell peptide and inhibited with nonself peptides.

Studies in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-expressing transgenic mice indicate that self tolerance to two T-cell determinants on the same transgenic self molecule can differ markedly. The dominant T-cell site on HBeAg is tolerogenic, whereas a proportion of T cells recognizing a second T-cell site evade tolerance induction, persist in the periphery, and can be activated in vivo by a single injection of a 12-residue T-cell self peptide. The self-reactive T cells mediate in vivo autoantibody production sufficient to neutralize detection of the autoantigen in serum. Furthermore, autoantibody production can be inhibited by nonself peptides that compete with the self peptide for binding to major histocompatibility complex molecules. This model illustrates that T cells specific for an immunogenic T-cell site on a nonsequestered autoantigen can escape tolerance induction and, more importantly, can mediate autoreactivity in vivo. Furthermore, these results suggest that synthetic T-cell sites may be useful as immunotherapeutic agents for the purpose of circumventing nonresponse to HBeAg during persistent hepatitis B virus infection.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Self-nonself discrimination and tolerance in T and B lymphocytes.

The immune system must not only fight off infections, but also ensure that it does not react against its own body tissues. Since clones of lymphocytes have predetermined reactivities, some will be self-reactive and have the potential to cause damage. They should therefore be neutralized in some way. In a system as complex and important as that governing self-tolerance, many mechanisms must exist to neutralize autoaggressive lymphocytes. They may be classified under two main groups. In one the tolerant state arises from the physical or functional silencing of potentially autoaggressive lymphocytes after antigen encounter. This may involve clonal deletion, clonal abortion or clonal anergy. In the second, regulatory mechanisms of the immune system itself may hold autoreactive lymphocytes in check, for example through the operation of idiotypic network interactions and the action of specialized suppressor cells. Much evidence has accumulated for the physical deletion of autoreactive T cells as they mature in the thymus. The fate of any that escape thymus censorship has been the subject of recent research and is discussed here. Under certain conditions, self-tolerance must also be imposed at the B-cell level to prevent the production of potentially damaging autoantibodies. Although the mechanisms which silence self-reactive lymphocytes are very efficient, self-tolerance can break down, and autoimmunity will thus ensue. The main factors responsible for this are briefly described here.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

HIV type 1 envelope glycoprotein 120 carboxy-terminal peptide-induced human T cell lines selectively suppress heterogeneous proliferative T cell responses to soluble antigens.

It has been proposed that the highly conserved human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope gp120 carboxy-terminal sequence, TKAKRRVVEREKR (CT120), may represent a functional mimic of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II DR beta-chain third hypervariable region (HVR3) sequence motif located at position 69-81. Presentation of this potentially pathogenic fragment by HLA class I and/or II molecules, in a manner analogous to the indirect pathway of allorecognition, may induce both widespread cellular activation and also break self-tolerance, resulting in the selective and progressive anti-self HLA class II-directed immune suppression, which is a central feature of HIV-1 infection and the associated acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). To investigate the functional role of the HIV-1 gp120 C-terminal fragment T cell lines (TCLs) were raised from three healthy HIV-1-seronegative subjects at low risk of HIV-1 exposure, by repeated stimulation with a short synthetic 13-mer CT120 peptide in vitro. Graded concentrations (10[3] to 5 x 10[4]) of CT120 TCLs suppressed the primary 6-day proliferation of autologous PBMCs in response to the soluble antigens tetanus toxoid (TT) and purified protein derivative (PPD). In contrast, CT120 TCLs demonstrated no suppressive effect on 3-day phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (ConA), and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) mitogenic responses. Fractionation of CT120 TCLs into highly purified CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets demonstrated that the CD8+ T cell fraction mediated the suppressor effector function. HLA restriction analysis revealed a complex pattern as both anti-HLA class II DR and anti-HLA class I (A, B, C) MAbs inhibited proliferation of oligoclonal CD8+ CT120 TCLs. Strategies aimed at specifically inhibiting such putative immunopathogenic HIV-1-encoded T cell epitopes may be an important consideration for development of future HIV-1 immunotherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1969

Relative inability to induce tolerance in adult NZB and NZB-NZW F1 mice.

Immunologic tolerance to ultracentrifuged bovine gamma globulin could not be induced in 6-wk old NZB or B/W mice, but developed readily in C3H, NZW, and C57Bl mice. NZB and B/W mice, as well as Balb/c mice, failed to become tolerant to ultracentrifuged human gamma globulin. The NZB and B/W mice also showed higher antibody titers to a standard antigenic challenge. This immunologic hyperreactivity and lack of experimental tolerance may be related to the lack of self-tolerance, autoimmunity, and lymphomas that develop in these mice at a later age.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Development and follicular localization of tolerant B lymphocytes in lysozyme/anti-lysozyme IgM/IgD transgenic mice.

To analyse mechanisms of immunological self-tolerance, a detailed comparison of the development and fate of lysozyme-specific B lymphocytes was carried out in transgenic mice expressing rearranged anti-lysozyme IgM/IgD Ig transgenes in the absence or presence of an additional transgene encoding lysozyme itself. In the absence of lysozyme, B cell development, localization, and differential expression of transgene-encoded IgM and IgD occurred in the normal sequence in Ig transgenic mice, establishing that these animals provide a physiological model for studies of B cell selection in vivo. By contrast, in lysozyme-expressing double-transgenic mice, tolerant lysozyme-reactive B cells persisted within the follicular mantle zones in the spleen, lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches, but were eliminated from the splenic marginal zones. It could be shown that lysozyme-binding and induction of tolerance occurred as soon as surface Ig was expressed on immature B cells in the bone marrow of the double-transgenic mice although this did not prevent maturation, emigration from the bone marrow, and localization in peripheral lymphoid follicles. These findings, together with recent examples of aborted maturation of self-reactive B cells, indicate two functionally distinct antigen receptor signalling events in immature B cells and suggest a unique role for the follicular microenvironment.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Thyrotropin receptor knockout mice: studies on immunological tolerance to a major thyroid autoantigen.

Graves' disease involves a breakdown in self-tolerance to the TSH receptor (TSHR). Central T cell tolerance is established by intrathymic deletion of immature T lymphocytes that bind with high affinity to peptides from autoantigens (like the TSHR) expressed ectopically in the thymus. In TSHR-knockout mice, tolerance cannot be induced to the TSHR, which should, therefore, be a foreign antigen for these animals. To test this hypothesis, TSHR-knockout mice and wild-type controls were vaccinated (three injections) with TSHR DNA or control DNA. TSHR antibodies, measured by ELISA, binding to TSHR-expressing eukaryotic cells, and TSH binding inhibition, developed in approximately 60% of TSHR-knockout mice, not significantly different from 80% in the wild-type mice. Antibody levels were also comparable in the two groups, and both strains recognized the same immunodominant linear antibody epitope at the amino terminus of the TSHR. Splenocyte responses to TSHR protein in culture, measured as interferon-gamma production, were similar in TSHR-knockout and wild-type mice. Moreover, T cells from both strains recognized the same two epitopes from a panel of 29 synthetic peptides encompassing the TSHR ectodomain and extracellular loops. This lack of difference in immune responses in TSHR-knockout and wild-type mice is unexpected and is contrary to observations in other induced animal models of autoimmunity. The importance of our finding is that the TSHR may not be similar to other model proteins used to define the concept of central immune tolerance.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

Dendritic cell function in vivo during the steady state: a role in peripheral tolerance.

The avoidance of autoimmunity requires mechanisms to actively silence or tolerize self reactive T cells in the periphery. During infection, dendritic cells are not only capturing microbial antigens, but also are processing self antigens from dying cells as well as innocuous environmental proteins. Since the dendritic cells are maturing in response to microbial and other stimuli, peptides will be presented from both noxious and innocuous antigens. Therefore it would be valuable to have mechanisms whereby dendritic cells, prior to infection, establish tolerance to those self and environmental antigens that can be processed upon pathogen encounter. In the steady state, prior to acute infection and inflammation, dendritic cells are in an immature state and not fully differentiated to carry out their known roles as inducers of immunity. These immature cells are not inactive, however. They continuously circulate through tissues and into lymphoid organs, capturing self antigens as well as innocuous environmental proteins. Recent experiments have provided direct evidence that antigen-loaded immature dendritic in vivo silence T cells either by deleting them or by expanding regulatory T cells. In this way, it is proposed that the immune system overcomes at least some of the risk of developing autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. It is proposed that dendritic cells play a major role in defining immunologic self, not only centrally in the thymus but also in the periphery.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Immunological self/nonself discrimination: integration of self vs nonself during cognate T cell interactions with antigen-presenting cells.

The hypothesis is presented that immunological integration of nonefficacious vs efficacious T cell antigen receptor (TCR) signals are foundational for self/nonself discrimination and that multiple integrative mechanisms are intrinsic to the molecular to molar organization of an adaptive immune response. These integrative mechanisms are proposed to adaptively regulate expression of costimulatory signals, such that foreign proteins are associated with the expression of costimulatory signals, whereas self-proteins are associated with the lack of costimulatory signaling. Overall, this model offers several unique contributions to the study of immunology. First, this model postulates that cognate TCR/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) interactions are sufficient to adaptively mediate immunological self/nonself discrimination. This model thereby offers a unique alternative to models that largely rely on innate immunity to prime immune discrimination. Second, the integrative model argues that the immune system can simultaneously reinforce self-tolerance and promote immunity to foreign organisms at the same time and in the same location. Many alternative models presume that pathogenic self-reactive T cells do not exist at the outset of an immune response against foreign agents. Third, the integrative model uniquely predicts relationships between immunodeficiency and autoimmune pathogenesis. Fourth, this model illustrates the regulatory advantages of cognate antigen presenting cell (APC) systems (i.e., T cell or B cell APC) compared to nonspecific APC. Cognate APC systems together with the respective clonotypic responders may comprise a fundamental "network" of lymphoid cells. Such networks would have clone-specific regulatory capabilities and may be central for immunological self/nonself discrimination. Fifth, this model provides an explanation for "infectious" tolerance without creating specialized subsets of "suppressor" or "regulatory" T cells. Each mature T cell retains the potential to reinforce tolerance or mediate immunity, depending on the specific antigenic cues present in the immediate environment.

Animals↗