|
||
Articles |
and Igβ Cytoplasmic Domains Are Independently Sufficient to Signal B Cell Maturation and Activation in Transgenic Mice
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
/Igβ heterodimer plays a critical role in mediating B cell development and responses to antigen. The cytoplasmic tails of Ig
and Igβ differ substantially but have been well conserved in evolution. Transfection experiments have revealed that, while these tails share an esssential tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM), they perform differently in some but not all assays and have been proposed to recruit distinct downstream effectors. We have created transgenic mouse lines expressing chimeric receptors comprising an IgM fused to the cytoplasmic domain of each of the sheath polypeptides. IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras (but not an IgM/β with mutant ITAM) are each independently sufficient to mediate allelic exclusion, rescue B cell development in gene-targeted Igµ– mice that lack endogenous antigen receptors, as well as signal for B7 upregulation. While the (IgM/
) x (IgM/β) double-transgenic mouse revealed somewhat more efficient allelic exclusion, our data indicate that each of the sheath polypeptides is sufficient to mediate many of the essential functions of the B cell antigen receptor, even if the combination gives optimal activity.
The B cell antigen receptor (BCR)1, which is composed of membrane immunoglobulin sheathed by the Ig
Various chimeric receptors have been used to dissect the relative contributions of the Ig
Experiments to ascertain whether there is a division of function between the Ig
/ Igβ heterodimer (CD79
/CD79β), mediates the response of the B cell to antigen by initiating transmembrane signaling and driving the internalization of antigen for presentation. The Ig
/Igβ sheath is not only necessary for allowing the surface transport of membrane IgM but is also critical for mediating the signaling of the BCR and endocytic activities (1, 2).
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains to BCR function. Because immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) (3) present in both sheath polypeptides are central to their signaling activity (4–8), Ig
and Igβ may be functionally redundant. Indeed, several transfection studies have failed to reveal significant differences in the signaling activities of Ig
and Igβ (6, 7, 9). However, others have found that whereas chimeras containing just the Ig
tail could mediate transmembrane signaling in B cell transfectants, analogous Igβ chimeras were impaired to variable extents (4, 10, 11, 12.). This, in addition to the suggestion that the Ig
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains bind different downstream effectors (13) and exhibit differences in antigen-presenting activity (14), is consistent with the two chains fulfilling distinct functions.
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains reveal that in vivo both IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras are able to induce the pro-B to pre-B transition and mediate allelic exclusion (8, 15). Here, we extend the transgenic analysis to the later stages of B cell development, to ask about the triggering of B cell maturation and activation.
![]()
Materials and Methods
Top
Abstract
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
DNA Constructs, Transfectants and Transgenic Mice.
Plasmids driving the expression of the hen egg lysozyme (HEL)–specific receptors are based on pSV2gpt and pSV2neo. The
transcription unit, in which the V
segment of the mouse D1.3 mAb (16, 17) is linked to rat C
, was assembled by exchanging the SacI–XhoI β-globin insert of L
-βG (18) for an analogous PCR-generated SacI–XhoI fragment containing D1.3 V
. The heavy (H) chain vectors derive from pSV–Vµ1 (19) but with the VNP VH segment replaced by a PCR-generated PstI–BstEII D1.3 VH segment. For the chimeric µ chains, the Cµ region was replaced by Cµ/β or Cµ/βY
L CH regions (20) or Cµ/
CH regions (20a) (Fig. 1 A).
|
L and IgM/
, only a single positive H+L founder was obtained in each case.
Flow Cytometry.
Analysis was performed on Becton Dickinson FACScan® or FACScalibur® using LYSYS II or CELLQuest software. FITC-conjugated and biotinylated goat anti-IgM, and PE-conjugated rat anti-IgD were from Southern Biotechnology (Birmingham, AL); FITC–RA3-6B2 (rat anti-B220[CD45R]), PE-conjugated B3B4 (rat anti-CD23), biotinylated 53-2.1 (rat anti-Thy1.2[CD90]) and purified 7G6 (rat anti-CD21/35[CR2/1]) were from PharMingen (San Diego, CA); PE-conjugated RA36B2 and RED670–streptavidin were from GIBCO BRL (Paisley, UK); FITC–streptavidin was from Amersham (Amersham, UK); and PE–streptavidin was from Jackson ImmunoResearch (West Grove, PA). Cells making the E5.2 monoclonal anti-D1.3 idiotype antibody (22) were a gift from R. Poljak. The flow cytometric analyses illustrated are representative of multiple individual animals aged 2–4 mo old.
B Cell Activation.
Production of IL-2 from A20 transfectants (105 cells in 200 µl) cultured for 24 h in medium containing various concentrations of HEL was monitored by providing the culture supernatant to IL-2–dependent HT2 cells (2.5 x 104 cells in 100 µl medium). The viability of the HT2 cells was determined after 24 h as previously described (20) and the assay calibrated with recombinant IL-2 standards.
To monitor proliferative responses, splenocytes that had been depleted of erythrocytes by hypotonic lysis were cultured in triplicate aliquots (2 x 105 in 200 µl) in RPMI, 10% FCS, 50 µM 2-ME in the presence of 1 µg/ml LPS (Sigma, Poole, UK) for 48 h before pulsing with 0.5 µCi [3H]thymidine for 15 h and scintillation counting.
To monitor CTLA4 binding, spleen cells depleted of erythrocytes were cultured (106 cells/ml) in medium in the presence or absence of 10 µg/ml F(ab')2 goat anti–mouse IgM (Jackson ImmunoResearch) for 24 h before staining with mCTLA4–H
1 fusion protein (gift from P. Lane) and FITC-conjugated goat anti– human IgG (Jackson ImmunoResearch).
BrdU Uptake.
Mice were given two intraperitoneal injections 4 h apart of 1 mg BrdU (5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine) (Sigma) in PBS and the drinking water supplemented with 1 mg/ml BrdU for 72 h following the protocol of Torres et al. (23). Spleens were removed and, after staining for CD45R(B220) and either D1.3 idiotype or IgM, the cells were fixed and permeabilized with 70% ethanol and 1% paraformaldehyde, 0.01% Tween-20 in PBS, treated with DNaseI and stained with FITC-conjugated antiBrdU antibody (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA) for cytofluorimetric analysis.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
and IgM/β but not IgM/βY
L Chimeras Signal in A20.
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains, we constructed a set of plasmids encoding either wild-type or chimeric HEL-specific receptors. The chimeras are composed of mouse µ and rat
Ig chains directly linked through a hydrophobic transmembrane segment to the cytoplasmic domains of either Ig
, Igβ, or a mutated Igβ whose ITAM tyrosines are substituted by leucines (IgM/
, IgM/β, or IgM/βY
L; Fig. 1 A). The transmembrane segment (which derives from the H-2Kb gene) confers sheath-independent surface transport (24) and the receptors do not show detectable association with endogenous Ig
or Igβ chains (20).
The plasmids encoding the various receptors were transfected into the A20 B cell lymphoma; the transfectants all stained for IgM although there were some differences in the brightness with the IgM/
chimera being the least well transported to the cell surface (Fig. 1 B). The IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras, as well as the wild-type IgM receptor, were able to initiate signaling after antigen binding as judged by the production of IL-2 from transfectants of the A20 lymphoma (Fig. 1 C). However, the signaling activity was abolished by mutation of the ITAM tyrosines in the Igβ cytoplasmic domain.
Receptor Expression in Transgenic Mice.
The transcription units encoding the various receptors were introduced into the germline of transgenic mice. Cytofluorimetric analysis of spleen cells with anti-D1.3 idiotype antibody (Fig. 2 A) as well as with anti-rat
and labeled HEL (data not shown) revealed that they were all expressed on the B cell surface, although the IgM/
staining was weaker than that of the other receptors. With the mice bearing the chimeric receptors, the receptors were also expressed on some CD45R(B220)– cells. These correspond to a subpopulation of T cells (Fig. 2 B), probably reflecting the expression pattern of the IgH enhancer in transgenic mice (25). (The absence of surface expression of the wild-type transgenic IgM receptor in this subpopulation is consistent with the fact that wild-type IgM, but not the IgM chimeras, requires endogenous Ig
/ Igβ for surface transport).
|
and IgM/β but not IgM/βY
L Drive B Cell Development.
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains of the IgM chimeras were sufficient to signal for B cell maturation, the various transgenic lines were bred into a homozygous µMT background. It was immediately evident that the HEL-specific IgM BCR as well as the IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras all had a significant effect on B cell development; their presence led to a substantial (around two log) increase in serum IgG levels as compared with nontransgenic µMT controls. (Serum IgG is routinely detected in reconstituted µMT mice and is presumably encoded by Ig-transgenic B cells that also carry productive VHDJH integrations on an endogenous µMT allele that has switched to a downstream isotype). The reconstitution of peripheral B cell development was confirmed by cytofluorimetric analysis of spleen cells: the presence of either the IgM/
or the IgM/β chimera was sufficient to yield splenic IgM+ B220+ cells with a functional ITAM being essential for this activity (Fig. 3).
|
|
and IgM/β Chimeras.
L receptor was signaling defective (data not shown).
|
and IgM/β Chimeras Give Partial Allelic Exclusion but the Combination is Optimal.
and IgM/β chimeras. The IgM/βY
L receptor is ineffective in exclusion with all D1.3 idiotype+ B cells coexpressing an endogenous rearrangement. We crossed the IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras to see whether coexpression of the two receptors yielded more complete exclusion. The double-transgenic mice exhibited greatly decreased expression of endogenous Ig gene rearrangements (Fig. 5 B) despite the fact that there was no significant increase in the abundance of transgenic IgM on the B cell surface (see Fig. 2 A). | Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
and IgM/β chimeras can broadly perform many of the major in vivo functions of the complete BCR. Furthermore, the ability to drive the maturation and activation of peripheral B cells is dependent upon the ITAM; this parallels previous findings on pre-B cell development (8, 15).
Transfection experiments using cell lines have revealed that both Ig
and Igβ are needed for surface transport of membrane Ig (26, 27). Thus, mice carrying targeted disruptions of Igβ cannot express surface Ig and are B cell deficient (28). In contrast, both the IgM/
and IgM/β chimeras described here allow extensive B cell maturation because, by virtue of their mutant transmembrane sequences, these chimeras can be transported to the B cell surface without an attendant Ig
/Igβ sheath. The IgM/β chimera performs slightly better than the IgM/
chimera in several of the assays but this may simply reflect the more efficient surface transport of the IgM/β chimera.
Therefore, our results so far do not lend significant support to the idea that Ig
and Igβ cytoplasmic domains perform distinct autonomous functions within the context of the intact BCR. Nevertheless, it is clear that the chimeras are not as effective as the complete BCR. Thus, the (IgM/
) x (IgM/β) double transgenic mouse is considerably more efficient than its single transgenic parents in effecting allelic exclusion of endogenous Ig gene rearrangement. This is consistent with cell line transfection experiments indicating cooperativity between the two cytoplasmic domains with the heterodimer giving a stronger signal than the component homodimers (29). Indeed, the structural conformation of the heterodimer could differ substantially from that of the homodimers and this could lead to differences in the kinetics of phosphorylation or efficacy of effector protein (e.g., Syk) recruitment, as well as in the sensitivity to antigen binding.
However, although the chimeric HEL-specific receptors do not perform as well as the wild-type IgM BCR in driving the reconstitution of a splenic B cell compartment in µMT mice, the difference is relatively small and the impaired B cell maturation is certainly not nearly as dramatic as that observed by Torres et al. (23) in mice carrying a targeted disruption of the mb-1 gene that leads to the synthesis of a BCR with a truncated Ig
tail. The different performance of the various compromised BCRs in driving pre-B and B cell development could well be accounted for by a requirement for differing qualities of signal at the various maturational checkpoints. It will obviously be interesting to correlate the differentiative potential of the various mutant BCRs with their biochemical signaling activities.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
This work was supported by an international research scholars award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Submitted: 31 January 1997
Revised: 13 March 1997
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
1 Pleiman CM, D'Ambrosio D & Cambier JC. The B-cell antigen receptor complex: structure and signal transduction, Immunol Today, 1994, 15, 393–399.[Medline]
2 DeFranco AL. Structure and function of the B cell antigen receptor, Annu Rev Cell Biol, 1993, 9, 377–410.
3 Reth M. Antigen receptor tail clue, Nature (Lond), 1989, 338, 383–384.[Medline]
4 Sanchez M, Misulovin Z, Burkhardt AL, Mahajan S, Costa T, Franke R, Bolen JB & Nussenzweig M. Signal transduction by immunoglobulin is mediated through Ig
and Igβ, J Exp Med, 1993, 178, 1049–1055.
5 Flaswinkel H & Reth M. Dual role of the tyrosine activation motif of the Ig-
protein during signal transduction via the B cell antigen receptor, EMBO (Eur Mol Biol Organ) J, 1994, 13, 83–89.[Medline]
6 Williams GT, Peaker CJ, Patel KJ & Neuberger MS. The
/β sheath and its cytoplasmic tyrosines are required for signaling by the B-cell antigen receptor but not for capping or for serine/threonine–kinase recruitment, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1994, 91, 474–478.
7 Taddie JA, Hurley TR, Hardwick BS & Sefton BM. Activation of B- and T-cells by the cytoplasmic domains of the B-cell antigen receptor proteins Ig-
and Ig-β, J Biol Chem, 1994, 269, 13529–13535.
8 Papavasiliou F, Misulovin Z, Suh H & Nussenzweig MC. The role of Igβ in precursor B cell transition and allelic exclusion, Science (Wash DC), 1995, 268, 408–411.
9 Law DA, Chan VWF, Datta SK & DeFranco AL. B-cell antigen receptor motifs have redundant signalling capabilities and bind the tyrosine kinases PTK72, Lyn and Fyn, Curr Biol, 1993, 3, 645–657.[Medline]
10 Kim KM, Alber G, Weiser P & Reth M. Differential signaling through the Ig-
and Ig-β components of the B cell antigen receptor, Eur J Immunol, 1993, 23, 911–916.[Medline]
11 Choquet D, Ku G, Cassard S, Malissen B, Korn H, Fridman WH & Bonnerot C. Different patterns of calcium signaling triggered through two components of the B lymphocyte antigen receptor, J Biol Chem, 1994, 269, 6491–6497.
12 Cassard S, Choquet D, Fridman WH & Bonnerot C. Regulation of ITAM signaling by specific sequences in Ig-β B cell antigen receptor subunit, J Biol Chem, 1996, 271, 23786–23791.
13 Clark MR, Campbell KS, Kazlauskas A, Johnson SA, Hertz M, Potter TA, Pleiman C & Cambier JC. The B cell antigen receptor complex: association of Ig-
and Ig-β with distinct cytoplasmic effectors, Science (Wash DC), 1992, 258, 123–126.
14 Bonnerot C, Lankar D, Hanau D, Spehner D, Davoust J, Salamero J & Fridman WH. Role of B cell receptor Ig
and Igβ subunits in MHC class II–restricted antigen presentation, Immunity, 1995, 3, 335–347.[Medline]
15 Papavasiliou F, Jankovic M, Suh H & Nussenzweig MC. The cytoplasmic domains of immunoglobulin (Ig)
and Igβ can independently induce the precursor B cell transition and allelic exclusion, J Exp Med, 1995, 182, 1389–1394.
16 Amit AG, Mariuzza RA, Phillips SE & Poljak RJ. Three-dimensional structure of an antigen–antibody complex at 6 Å resolution, Nature (Lond), 1985, 313, 156–158.[Medline]
17 McCafferty J, Griffiths AD, Winter G & Chiswell DJ. Phage antibodies: filamentous phage displaying antibody variable domains, Nature (Lond), 1990, 348, 552–554.[Medline]
18 Yelamos J, Klix N, Goyenechea B, Lozano F, Chui YL, Gonzalez A, Fernandez, Pannell R, Neuberger MS & Milstein C. Targeting of non-Ig sequences in place of the V segment by somatic hypermutation, Nature (Lond), 1995, 376, 225–229.[Medline]
19 Neuberger MS. Expression and regulation of immunoglobulin heavy chain gene transfected into lymphoid cells, EMBO (Eur Mol Biol Organ) J, 1983, 2, 1373–1378.[Medline]
20 Patel KJ & Neuberger MS. Antigen presentation by the B cell antigen receptor is driven by the
/β sheath and occurs independently of its cytoplasmic tyrosines, Cell, 1993, 74, 939–946.[Medline]
20 Aluvihare, V.R., A.A. Khamlichi, G.T. Williams, L. Adorini, and M.S. Neuberger. 1997. Acceleration of intracellular targetting of antigen by the B cell antigen receptor: importance depends on the nature of the antigen/antibody interaction. EMBO (Eur. Mol. Biol. Organ.) J. In press.
21 Kitamura D, Roes J, Kuhn R & Rajewsky K. A B cell–deficient mouse by targeted disruption of the membrane exon of the immunoglobulin µ chain gene, Nature (Lond), 1991, 350, 423–426.[Medline]
22 Fields BA, Goldbaum FA, Ysern X, Poljak RJ & Mariuzza RA. Molecular basis of antigen mimicry by an anti-idiotope, Nature (Lond), 1995, 374, 739–742.[Medline]
23 Torres RM, Flaswinkel H, Reth M & Rajewsky K. Aberrant B cell development and immune response in mice with a compromised BCR complex, Science (Wash DC), 1996, 272, 1804–1808.[Abstract]
24 Williams GT, Dariavach P, Venkitaraman AR, Gilmore DJ & Neuberger MS. Membrane immunoglobulin without sheath or anchor, Mol Immunol, 1993, 30, 1427–1432.[Medline]
25 Cook GP, Meyer KB, Neuberger MS & Pettersson S. Regulated activity of the IgH intron enhancer (Eµ) in the T lymphocyte lineage, Int Immunol, 1995, 7, 89–95.
26 Hombach J, Tsubata T, Leclercq L, Stappert H & Reth M. Molecular components of the B-cell antigen receptor complex of the IgM class, Nature (Lond), 1990, 343, 760–762.[Medline]
27 Venkitaraman AR, Williams GT, Dariavach P & Neuberger MS. The B-cell antigen receptor of the five immunoglobulin classes, Nature (Lond), 1991, 352, 777–781.[Medline]
28 Gong S & Nussenzweig MC. Regulation of an early developmental checkpoint in the B cell pathway by Ig
, Science (Wash DC), 1996, 272, 411–414.[Abstract]
29 Luisiri P, Lee YJ, Eisfelder BJ & Clark MR. Cooperativity and segregation of function within the Ig-
/β heterodimer of the B cell antigen receptor complex, J Biol Chem, 1996, 271, 5158–5163.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|