Bacterial toxins affect early events of T lymphocyte activation.

The effects of pertussis toxin and cholera toxin on early events of T lymphocyte activation were examined in the T lymphocyte cell line, Jurkat. Pertussis toxin treatment of these T cells increased inositol phosphates production and led to increases in intracellular free calcium concentration. These effects were produced by the isolated B (binding) subunit of pertussis toxin, alone. Inositol phosphates production resulting from perturbation of the T cell antigen receptor-CD3 complex by MAb was not affected by pertussis toxin treatment but was markedly inhibited by cholera toxin. This effect of cholera toxin paralleled elevations in cAMP content. However, forskolin, in concentrations equipotent for cAMP production, was a weaker inhibitor of inositol phosphates production. Cholera toxin inhibition of inositol phosphates production did not result from inhibition of baseline incorporation of inositol into phosphoinositide substrates of phospholipase C. These studies underline the complexity of toxin effects on cellular systems and suggest that other approaches will be required to implicate guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory proteins in control of the early events of T lymphocyte activation. However, the data presented here provide a molecular basis for the clinical observations of lymphocytosis and the in vitro observations of lymphocyte mitogenesis after pertussis toxin stimulation.

Production of inositol pentakisphosphate in a human T lymphocyte cell line.

The human T lymphocyte cell line, Jurkat, produced five distinct water soluble, inositol-containing compounds following a period of labeling with 3H-myo-inositol and several hours of incubation in non-radioactive complete medium. The less polar four peaks had been previously shown to be inositol phosphates, InsP through InsP4. Here, we demonstrate that the prominent fifth, very polar, peak was inositol pentakisphosphate, InsP5. The pattern of incorporation of 3H-myo-inositol into InsP5 differed from that of incorporation into other inositol phosphates. InsP5, unlike the second messengers, InsP3 and InsP4, was not increased by perturbation of the T cell receptor/T3 complex.

Perturbation of the human T-cell antigen receptor-T3 complex leads to the production of inositol tetrakisphosphate: evidence for conversion from inositol trisphosphate.

Antibodies directed against the T-cell antigen receptor-T3 complex mimic antigen and lead to cellular changes consistent with activation. When cells of the human T-cell line Jurkat were stimulated with a monoclonal antibody directed against T3, inositol phosphates were produced. In addition to inositol trisphosphate, which is the product of phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate cleavage, a second inositol polyphosphate was formed. This compound was more polar than inositol trisphosphate but less polar than inositol pentakisphosphate. It cochromatographed with inositol tetrakisphosphate from ostrich erythrocytes. In permeabilized Jurkat cells, this compound was shown to be formed from inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, but only in the presence of ATP, and 32P was incorporated into it from [gamma-32P]ATP. There also was coincident formation of inositol 1,3,4-trisphosphate. We conclude that the more polar compound is inositol tetrakisphosphate, which is formed by phosphorylation of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and may be the precursor of inositol 1,3,4-trisphosphate.