IgA antibodies against CD74 are associated with structural damage in the axial skeleton in patients with axial spondyloarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between the presence of antibodies against CD74 and structural damage in the sacroiliac joints and spine in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). METHODS: Antibodies against CD74 were measured in the sera of patients with axSpA from 2 cohorts: 1. An observational cohort from Damp in Northern Germany and 2. from a clinical trial (ENRADAS), in which the modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondylitis Spine Score (mSASSS) had been evaluated by two readers blinded to the time point at baseline and two years later. The presence of antibodies against CD74 was correlated with the presence and grade of radiographic sacroiliitis in the observational cohort, and with baseline mSASSS in the ENRADAS cohort. RESULTS: The sensitivity of IgA anti-CD74 antibodies for axSpA was 50% in the Damp cohort and 42% in ENRADAS. The presence of IgA antibodies against CD74 was associated with a higher grade of sacroiliitis (observational cohort) and a higher baseline mSASSS in the ENRADAS cohort. CONCLUSIONS: IgA antibodies against CD74 are not only markers of AS, but are associated with structural damage development in the sacroiliac joints and in the spine.

CD74 is a T cell antigen in spondyloarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. Previously, we identified autoantibodies against CD74 in sera of SpA patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate CD74 as a T cell antigen in SpA. METHODS: Recombinant CD74 protein and a panel of selected peptides representing its amino acid residues were examined for their capability to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with SpA. In particular, cytokine production by CD4+ T cells was evaluated with flow cytometric detection of intracellular TNF-α, IFNγ, TGFß and IL-17A. Patients' sera were tested for antibodies against CD74 using ELISA. Samples from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy blood donors were similarly tested as controls. RESULTS: Significantly more CD4+ T cells from SpA patients produced TNF-α, IFNγ and IL-17A in response to recombinant CD74 than patients with rheumatoid arthritis or healthy blood donors. Among evaluated epitopes, the most promiscuous one lies within the peptide of the amino acid residues 142-185, which appeared more immunogenic. Further, the proportion of cytokine producing CD4+ T cells was significantly higher among SpA patients with autoantibodies against CD74. CONCLUSIONS: CD74 is a T cell antigen in SpA, eliciting Th1 and Th17 responses, which may be relevant in disease pathogenesis. Recognition of the highly immunogenic amino acid residues of CD74 may contribute to our understanding of autoimmune responses of T helper cells in SpA.

Sensitivity and Specificity of Autoantibodies Against CD74 in Nonradiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis.

OBJECTIVE: Autoantibodies against CD74 (anti-CD74) are associated with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The present multicenter study, the International Spondyloarthritis Autoantibody (InterSpA) trial, was undertaken to compare the sensitivity and specificity of anti-CD74 and HLA-B27 in identifying patients with nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). METHODS: Patients ages 18-45 years with inflammatory back pain of ≤2 years' duration and a clinical suspicion of axSpA were recruited. HLA-B27 genotyping and magnetic resonance imaging of sacroiliac joints were performed in all patients. One hundred forty-nine patients with chronic inflammatory back pain (IBP) not caused by axSpA served as controls, and additional controls included 50 AS patients and 100 blood donors whose specimens were analyzed. RESULTS: One hundred patients with inflammatory back pain received a diagnosis of nonradiographic axSpA from the investigators and fulfilled the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) criteria. The mean age was 29 years, and the mean symptom duration was 12.5 months. The sensitivity of IgA anti-CD74 and IgG anti-CD74 for identifying the 100 axSpA patients was 47% and 17%, respectively. The specificity of both IgA anti-CD74 and IgG anti-CD74 was 95.3%. The sensitivity of HLA-B27 was 81%. The positive likelihood ratios were 10.0 (IgA anti-CD74), 3.6 (IgG anti-CD74), and 8.1 (HLA-B27). Assuming a 5% pretest probability of axSpA in chronic back pain patients, the posttest probability, after consideration of the respective positive test results, was 33.3% for IgA anti-CD74, 15.3% for IgG anti-CD74, and 28.8% for HLA-B27. A combination of IgA anti-CD74 and HLA-B27 results in a posttest probability of 80.2%. CONCLUSION: IgA anti-CD74 may be a useful tool for identifying axSpA. The diagnostic value of the test in daily practice requires further confirmation.

Role of N-glycosylation in renal betaine transport.

The osmolyte and folding chaperone betaine is transported by the renal Na(+)-coupled GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) symporter BGT-1 (betaine/GABA transporter 1), a member of the SLC6 (solute carrier 6) family. Under hypertonic conditions, the transcription, translation and plasma membrane (PM) insertion of BGT-1 in kidney cells are significantly increased, resulting in elevated betaine and GABA transport. Re-establishing isotonicity involves PM depletion of BGT-1. The molecular mechanism of the regulated PM insertion of BGT-1 during changes in osmotic stress is unknown. In the present study, we reveal a link between regulated PM insertion and N-glycosylation. Based on homology modelling, we identified two sites (Asn(171) and Asn(183)) in the extracellular loop 2 (EL2) of BGT-1, which were investigated with respect to trafficking, insertion and transport by immunogold-labelling, electron microscopy (EM), mutagenesis and two-electrode voltage clamp measurements in Xenopus laevis oocytes and uptake of radiolabelled substrate into MDCK (Madin-Darby canine kidney) and HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cells. Trafficking and PM insertion of BGT-1 was clearly promoted by N-glycosylation in both oocytes and MDCK cells. Moreover, association with N-glycans at Asn(171) and Asn(183) contributed equally to protein activity and substrate affinity. Substitution of Asn(171) and Asn(183) by aspartate individually caused no loss of BGT-1 activity, whereas the double mutant was inactive, suggesting that N-glycosylation of at least one of the sites is required for function. Substitution by alanine or valine at either site caused a dramatic loss in transport activity. Furthermore, in MDCK cells PM insertion of N183D was no longer regulated by osmotic stress, highlighting the impact of N-glycosylation in regulation of this SLC6 transporter.

Mutation of a single threonine in the cytoplasmic NH2 terminus disrupts trafficking of renal betaine-GABA transporter 1 during hypertonic stress.

Betaine is an important osmolyte and is, compared with other organs, much more abundant in the kidneys, where it enters cells in the medulla by betaine-GABA transporter 1 (BGT1) to balance osmoregulation in the countercurrent system. In wild-type (wt-)BGT1-expressing oocytes, GABA-mediated currents were diminished by preincubation of oocytes with 100 nM PMA or 5 µM dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol, activators of PKC, whereas the application of staurosporine before the application of dioctanoyl-sn-glycerol restored the response to GABA. Four potential phosphorylation sites on BGT1 were mutated to alanine by site-directed mutagenesis. Three mutants (T235A, S428A, and S564A) evoked GABA currents comparable in magnitude to currents observed in wt-BGT1-expressing oocytes, whereas GABA currents in T40A were barely detectable. Uptake of [(3)H]GABA was also determined in human embryonic kidney-293 cells expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-tagged BGT1 with the same mutations. T235A, S428A, and S564A showed upregulation of GABA uptake after hypertonic stress and downregulation by PMA similar to EGFP-wt-BGT1. In contrast, T40A did not respond to either hypertonicity or PMA. Confocal microscopy of the EGFP-BGT1 mutants expressed in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells revealed that T40A was present in the cytoplasm after 24 h of hypertonic stress. whereas the other mutants and EGFP-wt-BGT1 were in the plasma membrane. All mutants, including T40A, comigrated with wt-BGT1 on Western blots, suggesting that they are full-length proteins. T40A, however, cannot be phosphorylated, as revealed using a specific anti-phosphoantibody, and, therefore, T40 may be important for the trafficking and insertion of BGT1 in the plasma membrane.

Structural evidence for functional lipid interactions in the betaine transporter BetP.

Bilayer lipids contribute to the stability of membrane transporters and are crucially involved in their proper functioning. However, the molecular knowledge of how surrounding lipids affect membrane transport is surprisingly limited and despite its general importance is rarely considered in the molecular description of a transport mechanism. One reason is that only few atomic resolution structures of channels or transporters reveal a functional interaction with lipids, which are difficult to detect in X-ray structures per se. Overcoming these difficulties, we report here on a new structure of the osmotic stress-regulated betaine transporter BetP in complex with anionic lipids. This lipid-associated BetP structure is important in the molecular understanding of osmoregulation due to the strong dependence of activity regulation in BetP on the presence of negatively charged lipids. We detected eight resolved palmitoyl-oleoyl phosphatidyl glycerol (PG) lipids mimicking parts of the membrane leaflets and interacting with key residues in transport and regulation. The lipid-protein interactions observed here in structural detail in BetP provide molecular insights into the role of lipids in osmoregulated secondary transport.

Amino acid secondary transporters: toward a common transport mechanism.

Solute carriers (SLC) that transport amino acids are key players in health and diseases in humans. Their prokaryotic relatives are often involved in essential physiological processes in microorganisms, e.g. in homeostasis and acidic/osmotic stress response. High-resolution X-ray structures of the sequence-unrelated amino acid transporters unraveled a striking structural similarity between carriers, which were formerly assigned to different families. The highly conserved fold is characterized by two inverted structural repeats of five transmembrane helices each and indicates common mechanistic transport concepts if not an evolutionary link among a large number of amino acid transporters. Therefore, these transporters are classified now into the structural amino acid-polyamine-organocation superfamily (APCS). The APCS includes among others the mammalian SLC6 transporters and the heterodimeric SLC7/SLC3 transporters. However, it has to be noted that the APCS is not limited entirely to amino acid transporters but contains also transporters for, e.g. amino acid derivatives and sugars. For instance, the betaine-choline-carnitine transporter family of bacterial activity-regulated Na(+)- and H(+)-coupled symporters for glycine betaine and choline is also part of this second largest structural superfamily. The APCS fold provides different possibilities to transport the same amino acid. Arginine can be transported by an H(+)-coupled symport or by antiport mechanism in exchange against agmatine for example. The convergence of the mechanistic concept of transport under comparable physiological conditions allows speculating if structurally unexplored amino acid transporters, e.g. the members of the SLC36 and SLC38 family, belong to the APCS, too. In the kidney, which is an organ that depends critically on the regulated amino acid transport, these different SLC transporters have to work together to account for proper function. Here, we will summarize the basic concepts of Na(+)- and H(+)-coupled amino acid symport and amino acid-product antiport in the light of the respective physiological requirements.

Structure and function of the universal stress protein TeaD and its role in regulating the ectoine transporter TeaABC of Halomonas elongata DSM 2581(T).

The halophilic bacterium Halomonas elongata takes up the compatible solute ectoine via the osmoregulated TRAP transporter TeaABC. A fourth orf (teaD) is located adjacent to the teaABC locus that encodes a putative universal stress protein (USP). By RT-PCR experiments we proved a cotranscription of teaD along with teaABC. Deletion of teaD resulted in an enhanced uptake for ectoine by the transporter TeaABC and hence a negative activity regulation of TeaABC by TeaD. A transcriptional regulation via DNA binding could be excluded. ATP binding to native TeaD was shown by HPLC, and the crystal structure of TeaD was solved in complex with ATP to a resolution of 1.9 A by molecular replacement. TeaD forms a dimer-dimer complex with one ATP molecule bound to each monomer, which has a Rossmann-like alpha/beta overall fold. Our results reveal an ATP-dependent oligomerization of TeaD, which might have a functional role in the regulatory mechanism of TeaD. USP-encoding orfs, which are located adjacent to genes encoding for TeaABC homologues, could be identified in several other organisms, and their physiological role in balancing the internal cellular ectoine pool is discussed.