Microbiology & Immunology - Research Publications

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    Induction of a CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte response by cross-priming requires cognate CD4(+) T cell help
    Bennett, SRM ; Carbone, FR ; Karamalis, F ; Miller, JFAP ; Heath, WR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1997-07-07)
    Class I-restricted presentation is usually associated with cytoplasmic degradation of cellular proteins and is often considered inaccessible to exogenous antigens. Nonetheless, certain exogenous elements can gain entry into this so-called endogenous pathway by a mechanism termed cross-presentation. This is known to be effective for class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) cross-priming directed against a variety of exogenous tumor, viral, and minor transplantation antigens. The related effect of cross-tolerance can also effectively eliminate responses to selected self components. In both cases, this presentation appears to require the active involvement of a bone marrow-derived antigen presenting cell (APC). Here, we show that CTL induction by cross-priming with cell-associated ovalbumin requires the active involvement of CD4+ helper T cells. Importantly, this CD4+ population is only effective when both the helper and CTL determinants are recognized on the same APC. Moreover, we would argue that the cognitive nature of this event suggests that the CD4+ T cell actively modifies the APC, converting it into an effective stimulator for the successful priming of the CTL precursor.
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    CD4+ T cell help impairs CD8+ T cell deletion induced by cross-presentation of self-antigens and favors autoimmunity
    Kurts, C ; Carbone, FR ; Barnden, M ; Blanas, E ; Allison, J ; Heath, WR ; Miller, JFAP (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1997-12-15)
    Self-antigens expressed in extrathymic tissues such as the pancreas can be transported to draining lymph nodes and presented in a class I-restricted manner by bone marrow-derived antigen-presenting cells. Such cross-presentation of self-antigens leads to CD8+ T cell tolerance induction via deletion. In this report, we investigate the influence of CD4+ T cell help on this process. Small numbers of autoreactive OVA-specific CD8+ T cells were unable to cause diabetes when adoptively transferred into mice expressing ovalbumin in the pancreatic beta cells. Coinjection of OVA-specific CD4+ helper T cells, however, led to diabetes in a large proportion of mice (68%), suggesting that provision of help favored induction of autoimmunity. Analysis of the fate of CD8+ T cells indicated that CD4(+) T cell help impaired their deletion. These data indicate that control of such help is critical for the maintenance of CD8+ T cell tolerance induced by cross-presentation.
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    PROFOUND ATROPHY OF THE BONE-MARROW REFLECTING MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX CLASS II-RESTRICTED DESTRUCTION OF STEM-CELLS BY CD4+ CELLS
    SPRENT, J ; SURH, CD ; AGUS, D ; HURD, M ; SUTTON, S ; HEATH, WR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1994-07-01)
    The effector functions of CD4+ cells in vivo are presumed to reflect a combination of lymphokine-mediated bystander reactions and direct cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity. To assess the relative importance of these two mechanisms, we studied the effects of transferring small doses of purified unprimed CD4+ cells to lightly irradiated (600 cGy) recipients expressing major histocompatibility complex class II (Ia) differences. Within the first week after transfer, the host marrow was rapidly repopulated with hemopoietic cells. Thereafter, however, the donor CD4+ cells caused massive destruction of hemopoietic cells, both in marrow and spleen. Marrow aplasia did not affect stromal cells and was prevented by coinjecting donor but not host bone marrow. The use of allotypic markers and fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis indicated that the destructive effects of CD4+ cells were directed selectively to host Ia+ hemopoietic cells, including stem cells; donor hemopoietic cells and Ia- host T cells were spared. No evidence could be found that the ongoing destruction of host cells impaired the capacity of donor stem cells to repopulate marrow, spleen, or thymus. Moreover, CD4+ cells failed to destroy host-type hemopoietic cells from Ia-deficient mice. Tissue destruction by CD4+ cells thus did not seem to reflect a bystander reaction. We conclude that, under defined conditions, CD4+ cells can manifest extremely potent Ia-restricted CTL activity in vivo, probably through recognition of covert Ia expression on stem cells and/or their immediate progeny.
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    Cross-tolerance: A pathway for inducing tolerance to peripheral tissue antigens
    Heath, WR ; Kurts, C ; Miller, JFAP ; Carbone, FR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1998-05-18)
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    B cells directly tolerize CD8+ T cells
    Bennett, SRM ; Carbone, FR ; Toy, T ; Miller, JFAP ; Heath, WR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1998-12-07)
    This report investigates the response of CD8(+) T cells to antigens presented by B cells. When C57BL/6 mice were injected with syngeneic B cells coated with the Kb-restricted ovalbumin (OVA) determinant OVA257-264, OVA-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) tolerance was observed. To investigate the mechanism of tolerance induction, in vitro-activated CD8(+) T cells from the Kb-restricted, OVA-specific T cell receptor transgenic line OT-I (OT-I cells) were cultured for 15 h with antigen-bearing B cells, and their survival was determined. Antigen recognition led to the killing of the B cells and, surprisingly, to the death of a large proportion of the OT-I CTLs. T cell death involved Fas (CD95), since OT-I cells deficient in CD95 molecules showed preferential survival after recognition of antigen on B cells. To investigate the tolerance mechanism in vivo, naive OT-I T cells were adoptively transferred into normal mice, and these mice were coinjected with antigen-bearing B cells. In this case, OT-I cells proliferated transiently and were then lost from the secondary lymphoid compartment. These data provide the first demonstration that B cells can directly tolerize CD8(+) T cells, and suggest that this occurs via CD95-mediated, activation-induced deletion.
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    Class I-restricted cross-presentation of exogenous self-antigens leads to deletion of autoreactive CD8(+) T cells
    Kurts, C ; Kosaka, H ; Carbone, FR ; Miller, JFAP ; Heath, WR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1997-07-21)
    In this report, we show that cross-presentation of self-antigens can lead to the peripheral deletion of autoreactive CD8(+) T cells. We had previously shown that transfer of ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD8(+) T cells (OT-I cells) into rat insulin promoter-membrane-bound form of OVA transgenic mice, which express the model autoantigen OVA in the proximal tubular cells of the kidneys, the beta cells of the pancreas, the thymus, and the testis of male mice, led to the activation of OT-I cells in the draining lymph nodes. This was due to class I-restricted cross-presentation of exogenous OVA on a bone marrow-derived antigen presenting cell (APC) population. Here, we show that adoptively transferred or thymically derived OT-I cells activated by cross-presentation are deleted from the peripheral pool of recirculating lymphocytes. Such deletion only required antigen recognition on a bone marrow-derived population, suggesting that cells of the professional APC class may be tolerogenic under these circumstances. Our results provide a mechanism by which the immune system can induce CD8(+) T cell tolerance to autoantigens that are expressed outside the recirculation pathway of naive T cells.
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    Initiation of autoimmune diabetes by developmentally regulated presentation of islet cell antigens in the pancreatic lymph nodes
    Höglund, P ; Mintern, J ; Waltzinger, C ; Heath, W ; Benoist, C ; Mathis, D (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1999-01-18)
    Little is known about the events triggering lymphocyte invasion of the pancreatic islets in prelude to autoimmune diabetes. For example, where islet-reactive T cells first encounter antigen has not been identified. We addressed this issue using BDC2.5 T cell receptor transgenic mice, which express a receptor recognizing a natural islet beta cell antigen. In BDC2.5 animals, activated T cells were found only in the islets and the lymph nodes draining them, and there was a close temporal correlation between lymph node T cell activation and islet infiltration. When naive BDC2.5 T cells were transferred into nontransgenic recipients, proliferating cells were observed only in pancreatic lymph nodes, and this occurred significantly before insulitis was detectable. Surprisingly, proliferation was not seen in 10-day-old recipients. This age-dependent dichotomy was reproduced in a second transfer system based on an unrelated antigen artificially expressed on beta cells. We conclude that beta cell antigens are transported specifically to pancreatic lymph nodes, where they trigger reactive T cells to invade the islets. Systemic or extrapancreatic T cell priming, indicative of activation via molecular mimicry or superantigens, was not seen. Compromised presentation of beta cell antigens in the pancreatic lymph nodes of juvenile animals may be the root of a first "checkpoint" in diabetes progression.
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    Constitutive class I-restricted exogenous presentation of self antigens in vivo
    Kurts, C ; Heath, WR ; Carbone, FR ; Allison, J ; Miller, JFAP ; Kosaka, H (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1996-09-01)
    Ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD8+ T cells from the T cell receptor-transgenic line OT-I (OT-I cells) were injected into unirradiated transgenic RIP-mOVA mice, which express a membrane-bound form of OVA (mOVA) in the pancreatic islet beta cells and the renal proximal tubular cells. OT-I cells accumulated in the draining lymph nodes (LN) of the kidneys and pancreas and in no other LN. They displayed an activated phenotype and a proportion entered cell cycle. Unilateral nephrectomy 7-13 d before inoculation of OT-I cells into RIP-mOVA mice allowed the injected T cells to home only to the regional LN of the remaining kidney (and pancreas), but when the operation was performed 4 h before injecting the T cells, homing to the LN of the excised kidney was evident. When the bone marrow of RIP-mOVA mice was replaced with one of a major histocompatibility haplotype incapable of presenting OVA to OT-I cells, no homing or activation was detectable. Therefore, OT-I cells were activated by OVA presented by short-lived antigen-presenting cells of bone marrow origin present in the draining LN of OVA-expressing tissue. These results provide the first evidence that tissue-associated "self" antigens can be presented in the context of class I via an exogenous processing pathway. This offers a constitutive mechanism whereby T cells can be primed to antigens that are present in nonlymphoid tissues, which are not normally surveyed by recirculating naive T cells.
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    EXPRESSION OF 2 ALPHA-CHAINS ON THE SURFACE OF T-CELLS IN T-CELL RECEPTOR TRANSGENIC MICE
    HEATH, WR ; MILLER, J (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1993-11-01)
    CD8+ T cells taken directly from mice expressing a Kb-specific T cell receptor (TCR) transgene expressed the transgenic TCR in a bimodal profile as detected by flow cytometric analysis using a clonotype-specific monoclonal antibody. Those cells expressing the lower density of the transgenic TCR expressed the transgenic beta chain and two different alpha chains on their surface. One alpha chain was the product of the alpha transgene, whereas the other was derived by endogenous rearrangement. This report provides the first demonstration that T cells isolated directly from mice may express two different TCR clonotypes on their surface. The potential consequences of this finding for studies using TCR transgenic mice and for the induction of autoimmunity are discussed.
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    The peripheral deletion of autoreactive CD8+ T cells induced by cross-presentation of self-antigens involves signaling through CD95 (Fas, Apo-1)
    Kurts, C ; Heath, WR ; Kosaka, H ; Miller, JFAP ; Carbone, FR (ROCKEFELLER UNIV PRESS, 1998-07-20)
    Recently, we demonstrated that major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted cross-presentation of exogenous self-antigens can induce peripheral T cell tolerance by deletion of autoreactive CD8+ T cells. In these studies, naive ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD8+ T cells from the transgenic line OT-I were injected into transgenic mice expressing membrane-bound OVA (mOVA) under the control of the rat insulin promoter (RIP) in pancreatic islets, kidney proximal tubules, and the thymus. Cross-presentation of tissue-derived OVA in the renal and pancreatic lymph nodes resulted in activation, proliferation, and then the deletion of OT-I cells. In this report, we investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying this form of T cell deletion. OT-I mice were crossed to tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 (TNFR2) knockout mice and to CD95 (Fas, Apo-1) deficient mutant lpr mice. Wild-type and TNFR2-deficient OT-I cells were activated and then deleted when transferred into RIP-mOVA mice, whereas CD95-deficient OT-I cells were not susceptible to deletion by cross-presentation. Furthermore, cross-presentation led to upregulation of the CD95 molecule on the surface of wild-type OT-I cells in vivo, consistent with the idea that this is linked to rendering autoreactive T cells susceptible to CD95-mediated signaling. This study represents the first evidence that CD95 is involved in the deletion of autoreactive CD8+ T cells in the whole animal.