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Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877
| Abstract |
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cI repressor, or rabbit immunoglobulin G internalized as antigens by B cell antigen receptors or transfected Fc receptors. This defect did not reflect a block in antigen endocytosis or degradation, and transfected cells remained completely capable of presenting exogenously added ovalbumin and
repressor peptides. Most remarkably, rab4N121I-expressing cells were undiminished in their ability to present each of these antigens when whole proteins were internalized at high concentration by fluid-phase endocytosis. Thus, expression of the rab4N121I selectively inactivated a portion of the endocytic pathway required for the processing of receptor-bound, but not nonspecifically internalized, antigens. These results suggest that elements of the early endosome-recycling pathway play an important and selective role in physiologically relevant forms of antigen processing in B cells.
Key Words: endocytosis endosomes B cell major histocompatibility complex class II recycling
Abbreviations used: BCR, B cell receptor; DNP, dinitrophenyl; HRP, horseradish peroxidase; TfnR, transferrin receptor; WT, wild-type.
Presentation of immunogenic peptides bound to MHC class II molecules to CD4+ T cells typically involves the endocytosis of exogenous Ag. Internalized Ags are proteolyzed and the resulting peptides are loaded onto MHC class II
BCR–Ag complexes first enter early endosomes via clathrin-coated vesicles. A fraction of these complexes return, within recycling endosomes, to the surface, while another fraction is targeted to late endosomes and lysosomes where the majority of Ag is degraded to amino acids (8, 9). MHC class II molecules are contained throughout these endocytic compartments in varying quantities. This broad distribution of class II and associated molecules suggests that peptide–class II complexes can be formed at multiple sites, collectively termed MIIC (MHC-containing compartments; 1–3). However, intracellular accumulation of immunogenic complexes may not reflect physiologically relevant sites of Ag processing or peptide loading. For example, immature dendritic cells form peptide–class II complexes in late endosomes or lysosomes, but few of these complexes are recruited to the plasma membrane (3). A related issue is whether APCs contain specialized compartments for Ag processing. Cell fractionation has revealed the existence of distinct endosome-related class II vesicles that may serve this function (9, 10).
To dissect the relative contributions of various endocytic compartments to Ag processing, we have used a novel strategy using rab proteins. Monomeric GTPases of the rab protein family have proven useful as tools for studying the functions of vesicular traffic in a variety of cell types (12). Rabs are believed to assist in the assembly of large protein complexes needed for vesicle–vesicle fusion (12). Since every family member has a characteristic organelle distribution, expression of mutant rab proteins can selectively target individual membrane transport steps (12–15). For the early endocytic pathway, rab5 appears to regulate entry of incoming clathrin-coated vesicles into early endosomes, whereas rab4 and rab11 assist in later steps of receptor recycling (13–15). By expressing a dominant-negative mutant of rab4, we demonstrate a critical role for early endocytic compartments in receptor-mediated, but not nonspecific, Ag processing.
Western Blotting.
Flow Cytometry.
Confocal Microscopy.
Endocytosis and Degradation.
Ag Presentation.
/β dimers, either newly synthesized or internalized from the plasma membrane (1–3). Although these events can occur in most cell types, professional APCs have a number of specializations that contribute to their Ag processing efficiency. For example, B cells express Ag receptors that bind and internalize only that Ag for which an individual B cell receptor (BCR)1 is specific (2, 4–6). Endocytosis via the BCR not only greatly increases the sensitivity of processing but also helps ensure that B cells stimulate only T cells that are specific for the processed Ag (2, 4–9).
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Materials and Methods
Top
Abstract
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Establishment of Stable Transfectants.
A6B9 is a stable cell line derived from the IIA1.6 B cell lymphoma, a cell that lacks endogenous FcR
RII-B1 expression, transfected with a pCB6 expression vector (G418-resistance) containing the cDNA for FcR
RII-B2 (16). For expression of rab4, A6B9 cells were electroporated (Bio-Rad Gene Pulser, 300 volts and 960 µF; Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) with the plasmid pMCFRpac (puromycin resistance) containing an EcoRI fragment derived from the human rab4a cDNA (15). The pMCFR vector, provided by Tom Novack and Lisa Denzin (Yale University, New Haven, CT), provides high expression levels in lymphocytes (17). The wild-type (WT) rab4 was tagged for Ab detection with an epitope from influenza virus (HA) to distinguish the transfected from endogenous proteins. Epitope tagging has been shown to affect neither the localization nor function of rab4 (17). Drug-resistant cells were screened initially for rab4 expression by Western blotting. Expression was verified routinely by flow cytometry (FcR
RII-B2) or immunofluorescence microscopy and Western blotting (rab4). Clonal populations were maintained as stable lines for these studies; typically 80–90% of each cell line coexpressed the transfected genes. Cells were grown in IMDM with 10% FCS, 50 µM β-mercaptoethanol, 600 µg/ml geneticin (GIBCO BRL, Gaithersburg, MD), and 2.5 µg/ml puromycin (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) with 5% CO2 at 37°C.
Cell pellets were lysed in 0.5% Triton X-100 detergent and clarified. Protein was quantitated with the Bio-Rad protein assay and normalized. Laemmli buffer–solubilized cell lysates (10 µg) were run on 14% polyacrylamide SDS-gels and transferred to nitrocellulose using a carbonate buffer system as previously described (15). Western blot analysis using rabbit serum specific for a peptide sequence derived from the COOH-tail of rab4 (8091) or a glutathione S-transferase–modified rab4 protein and chemiluminescent detection (Pierce Chemical Co., Rockford, IL) was followed by densitometric scanning of the fluorographs.
After washing in PBS without Ca2+ or Mg2+, cells were incubated with fluorescent Abs (1 µg Ab/106 cells; PharMingen, San Diego, CA) in PBS with 2% BSA, 0.5% sodium azide on ice for 1 h. After labeling, cells were washed and fixed in 1% paraformaldehyde for flow analysis. Nonspecific binding was determined using purified rat IgG, isotype-specific Abs, or secondary Ab alone; nonspecific binding to the FcR was blocked with 2.4G2. A FACSVantage® (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA) was used to visualize cell surface fluorescent labeling. Data analysis was performed using CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson). MKD6-PE was a generous gift from Marilyn Kehrey at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Log phase B cells were harvested, washed with PBS2+, and then allowed to settle on Alcian blue-coated coverslips. Cells were fixed in 3.5% paraformaldehyde in PBS, quenched with 20 mM glycine, and blocked/permeabilized in IMDM containing 10% FCS, 10 mM Hepes, pH 7.4, and 0.02% saponin. Primary Abs used to visualize each marker were as follows: for rab4, an affinity purified polyclonal 8091; for lgpA, supernatants of the GL2A7 mAb; for MHC class II, the M5114 mAb; and for transferrin receptor (TfnR), the TIB219 mAb. Optical sections (0.2 µm) were viewed using a microscope (MRC 650; Bio-Rad) with an x63 objective and a magnification of 1.5.
Endocytosis assays were performed as previously detailed (17, 18). In brief, cells were incubated with Ags (107 cells/ml) for 1 h at 0°C. After multiple washes, cells were warmed to 37°C for various chase times, cooled again and the cell- and media-associated Ags were quantified by assaying the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) activity in the presence of Triton X-100. In all cases, immune complexes were formed by incubating (30 min at 37°C) affinity pure anti-dinitrophenyl (DNP) polyclonal serum with DNP-modified chicken OVA (DNP-OVA). In all experiments immune complexes were composed of Ab–Ag complexes with a molar ratio of 2.5:1, respectively. HRP was assayed using o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (Sigma Chemical Co.) as substrate. DNP-modifications of OVA, HRP, and BSA were as previously described (17). DNP-BSA was iodinated as previously described (18).
Presentation assays comprised an incubation of B cells (105 cells/well), T cell hybridomas (105 cells/well), and varying concentrations of Ag in 96-well dishes at 37°C with 5% CO2 overnight. Supernatants were assayed for the presence of IL-2 using either a [3H]thymidine proliferation assay with an IL-2– dependent CTLL-2 cell line (42, 50) or an IL-2 ELISA (PharMingen). The 2R.50 T cell hybridoma was a gift from Rick Mitchell (Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA) (4, 11); DO-11.10 T cell hybridoma was provided by Philippa Marrack (Colorado University, Denver, CO) (19). In the case of presentation using fixed APCs, B cells were fed Ag for 3–4 h, fixed in 0.5% paraformaldehyde at room temperature for 20–30 min, and washed extensively with 20 mM glycine before incubation with T cell hybridomas (4).
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Results
Top
Abstract
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Production of B Cell Lines Expressing WT and Mutant rab4.
For A20 B cells, membrane fractionation studies suggest that only early endosomal compartments are required for BCR-dependent processing (9–11), consistent with observations that relatively little class II accumulates at later endocytic sites (17). To study the role of rab4 and the recycling pathway in B cell presentation, we produced stable transfectants of mouse B cells overexpressing either a WT rab4 protein or a dominant negative mutant form, rab4N121I, which contains an asparagine to isoleucine point mutation known to inhibit nucleotide binding (15). Stable cell lines were produced using A6B9, a derivative of A20 cells transfected with an internalization-competent isoform of the mouse macrophage Fc receptor II (Fc
RII-B2), thus allowing for endocytic uptake of antigenic immune complexes (16). WT rab4 and rab4N121I were expressed at levels 20- and 8-fold, respectively, above the endogenous protein levels (Fig. 1 A).
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/β dimers (20 and data not shown), suggesting that peptide loading of some Ags was normal in the stable lines. Additionally, the levels of surface expression of both BCR and FcRII
-B2 were similar in all transfectants (Fig. 1 B). Thus, overexpression of either WT or mutant rab4 had no major effect on the surface expression of several functional membrane proteins. We next determined the intracellular distribution of several different endosomal markers relative to that of WT or mutant rab4 using confocal microscopy. Immunofluorescent labeling of saponin-permeabilized cells for MHC class II, lgp-A/lamp-1, and TfnR showed no dramatic differences between the control, WT, and rab4N121I cells as found in other cell types (15, 21). Rab4 itself appeared as small punctate structures whose labeling showed partial overlap with Tfn, a recycling endosomal marker (15, 21). As expected, neither the WT nor mutant rab4s colocalize with lgp-A, indicating that their distribution did not include late endosomes or lysosomes (Fig. 2 B). Only a minor degree of colocalization between rab4 and MHC class II molecules was observed.
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RII-B2, the same assays were conducted except using immune complexes composed of HRP and anti-HRP IgG. Expression of either WT rab4 or rab4N121I did not significantly alter the rates of internalization of BCR-bound F(ab')2 fragments relative to mock-transfected control cells (Fig. 3 A). Similar results were obtained for FcR-bound immune complexes (Fig. 3 B).
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Expression of rab4 N121I Selectively Blocks FcR-mediated Ag Processing.
In the absence of any obvious alterations in the endocytosis or lysosomal delivery of Ag via BCR or FcR, it seemed likely that the expression of WT or mutant rab4 would similarly have no effect upon Ag processing and presentation. However, we found that expression of the dominant negative rab4 N121I mutant significantly inhibited the processing of several different Ags.
We first tested the ability of the transfected A20 cells to process and present OVA to the DO.11.10 T cell hybridoma. Immune complexes of DNP-OVA and rabbit anti-DNP IgG (16, 18) were incubated overnight together with the Ag-specific T cell hybridoma and control B cells (expressing Fc
RII-B2); FcR-expressing B cells transfected with WT rab4 or rab4N121I; or the FcR-negative IIA1.6 B cell. As shown in Fig. 4 A, cells overexpressing WT rab4 exhibited processing and presentation activities, as measured by IL-2 quantities, only slightly lower than control cells containing solely endogenous rab4. Maximum presentation was reached at
1 µg/ml OVA. Most interestingly, rab4N121I-expressing cells were negative for presentation of the Ag concentrations used (0.1–2 µg/ml), and were almost indistinguishable from the parental IIA1.6 cells.
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These results were then extended to a second FcR-internalized Ag. Immune complexes of the cI fragment of
repressor were generated by incubating the Ag together with two different cI fragment–specific mAbs. Studies have shown previously that these immune complexes can be processed and presented to the 24.4 T cell hybridoma (16). Overexpression of WT rab4 had little effect on the processing and presentation of the cI-containing immune complexes; however, rab4N121I expression almost completely blocked cI processing (Fig. 5 A). Similar to OVA, the block seemed to be at the level of Ag processing since all cell types equally presented the synthetic peptide corresponding to the 24.4 T cell epitope (residues 12–26; Fig. 5 B) as well as the intact cI fragment 1–102 (data not shown). In the experiments shown, the IL-2 responses reached for immune-complexed Ag were suboptimal (Fig. 5 A) owing to the variability in T cell hybridoma response, and are not a reflection of the highest 24.4 T cell response that we have observed for this Ag.
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RII (10). Our results suggest that B cells may possess at least one additional feature that helps ensure the efficiency and, therefore, specificity of receptor-mediated Ag processing; namely the existence of a rab4-dependent step that is required for the presentation of receptor-bound, but not nonspecifically internalized, Ags. One or more explanations might account for the ability of rab4N121I expression to selectively inactivate receptor-mediated Ag processing. First, it is possible that receptor-bound and nonspecifically internalized Ags are processed and loaded onto class II molecules at different sites. Thus, expression of rab4N121I may prevent delivery of BCR- or FcR-bound Ags, or the delivery of critical Golgi complex– derived components (e.g., MHC class II, HLA-DM, proteases), to a specialized site(s) for receptor-mediated Ag processing. Conceivably, such a site may correspond to the class II vesicle compartment previously identified in A20 cells (9, 10). Second, rab4N121I may block delivery of Ag or class II to otherwise conventional endocytic compartments. Third, it is possible that peptide–class II complexes form normally, but are prevented from being routed to the plasma membrane by rab4N121I expression. Although these questions would be best addressed by subcellular fractionation, it has thus far proved impossible to adopt this approach. Rab4N121I-expression is sufficiently unstable so as to prevent the propagation of sufficient quantities of homogeneously expressing cells to permit fractionation experiments.
Much remains to be learned about the intracellular compartments responsible for Ag processing and peptide loading. Different compartments may be used by APCs depending upon the cell's primary mode of Ag delivery and proteolytic susceptibility, as each organelle is unique in both pH and enzyme content (1–3). Early processing events would rapidly generate a repertoire of class II–peptide complexes from those Ags that require minimal proteolysis, perhaps skewing the immune response towards Ags with characteristically low dependencies on invariant chain or class II–associated molecules such as HLA-DM (22, 25). This is likely true for both OVA and
repressor cI fragment (21, 24). Indeed, delivery of such Ags to later compartments, richer in proteolytic enzymes, might result in the loss of such early epitopes due to degradation. Although we have not yet been able to define the precise step or pathway affected by expression of mutant rab4, our results demonstrate that the early endosome-recycling pathway, rather than the late endosome-lysosome pathway, plays a disproportionately important role in the productive processing of at least several receptor-bound Ags.
| Acknowledgments |
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Submitted: 5 December 1997
Revised: 31 August 1998
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