Administration to mouse of endotoxin from gram-negative bacteria leads to activation and apoptosis of T lymphocytes.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from gramnegative bacteria is a well-known T cell-independent B lymphocyte mitogen and macrophage/monocyte activator. While the conventional view holds that LPS is ignored by T cells, we report here that administration of LPS to mice activates all B cells, but also engages most CD4 and CD8 T cells, as measured by the expression of the activation markers CD69 and CD25 and by size increase. T cells recruited in endotoxin-treated mice showed, following in vitro stimulation by concanavalin A, altered patterns of cytokine production. In vivo, massive T cell apoptosis was evidenced in the days following LPS exposure. The present observation may contribute novel insights into the mechanisms of endotoxin shock and of the immunological consequences of gram-negative infections.

Isolation of a novel plant lectin with an unusual specificity from Calystegia sepium.

A novel plant lectin has been isolated from the rhizomes of Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed) and partially characterized. The lectin is a dimeric protein composed of two identical non-covalently linked subunits of 16 kDa. Hapten inhibition studies indicate that the novel lectin is best inhibited by maltose and mannose and hence exhibits a sugar binding specificity that differs in some respects from that of all previously isolated plant lectins. Mitogenicity tests have shown that the Calystegia lectin is a powerful T-cell mitogen. Affinity purification of human, plant and fungal glycoproteins on immobilized C. sepium lectin demonstrates that this novel lectin can be used for the isolation of glycoconjugates from various sources. Moreover, it can be expected that by virtue of its distinct specificity, the new lectin will become an important tool in glycobiology.

Colchicum autumnale agglutinin activates all murine T-lymphocytes but does not induce the proliferation of all activated cells.

Plant lectins with mitogenic properties for T-lymphocytes have been particularly useful for the study of T-cell activation and effector functions. In the search for mitogenic lectins possessing activation features different from the ones associated with the already known mitogens, we found that an agglutinin isolated from Colchicum autumnale tubers, Colchicum autumnale agglutinin (CAA), possesses interesting properties. First, contrasting with the classical mitogens, CAA induces the proliferation of a fraction of the CD4+ and CD8+ mouse T-lymphocytes. Second, the CAA-induced proliferation requires MHC class II and CD4 molecules. Third, although only a fraction of T-cells enters into the cell cycle, all T-lymphocytes are activated and express high levels of the activation markers CD69 and CD44. Finally, CAA-stimulation is characterized by a particular pattern of the cytokine gene expression, reflected by the transcription of the IL2, IL5, and IFN-gamma genes, while the IL4 and IL10 genes remained silent. Taken together these data demonstrate that CAA activation does not conform to the pathway of T-cell triggering observed with classical mitogenes and represents a new tool for the analysis of T-cell activation.

T cell activation by concanavalin A in the presence of cyclosporin A: immunosuppressor withdrawal induces NFATp translocation and interleukin-2 gene transcription.

Cyclosporin A (CSA), an immunosuppressive agent used in organ transplantation and to treat some autoimmune diseases, blocks the Ca2+-dependent steps involved in T cell receptor triggering leading to interleukin (IL)-2 production. Considering that the early steps of T cell activation are insensitive to CSA, we asked whether the initial activation achieved in presence of this immunosuppressor could affect the capacity of the T cell to respond to a mitogenic restimulation. We found that T cells activated by concanavalin A (ConA) for 48 h in the presence of CSA retain the capacity to proliferate in response to ConA once the immunosuppressor is removed. These cells are able to transcribe anew the IL-2 gene, without the requirement of new protein synthesis, and to up-regulate the alpha chain of the IL-2 receptor. Furthermore, we present the first direct evidence that the nuclear factor AP-1 is present in the nucleus of the T cells primed for 48 h in presence of CSA and that withdrawal of the immunosuppressor leads to the translocation of NFATp from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.

Opposite effects of interleukin-4 on memory T helper cell development depend on interleukin-2.

We previously reported that cyclosporin A (CSA) promotes the generation of T helper memory cells during antigenic priming of murine spleen cells in vitro. More recently, we have demonstrated that interleukin-2 (IL2) has a downmodulating effect on T helper memory cell generation. The present data address the role of the other T cell growth factor, IL4, upon induction of these cells. The data presented here show that IL4 can interfere with this process: addition of rIL4 to immunosuppressed priming cultures leads to a considerable decrease in the helper activity of the recovered cells. However, in standard cultures, in which IL2 is normally produced, no effect of IL4 on T helper memory cell generation was found. Addition of IL4 has important consequences for cytokines produced upon antigenic restimulation. In standard cultures, IL4 primes for cells expressing high levels of IL2 and IL4 mRNA. Strikingly, in immunosuppressed priming cultures, IL4 counterbalances the CSA-induced blockade of the IFN gamma gene. Taken together, our results suggest that the unique role of IL4 is to drive T helper memory precursors into an IL4 production differentiation pathway. However, IL4 has a downmodulating effect on memory T helper cell induction when IL2 is not produced. These results confirm that synergy between IL2 and IL4 is mandatory for the directive role of IL4 upon IL4-producing cells. Furthermore, the finding that IL4 promotes the induction of IFN gamma in a CSA-resistant pathway represents a new tool for analysis of regulation of the IFN gamma gene.

Interleukin-2 down-modulates memory T helper lymphocyte development during antigenic stimulation in vitro.

Using an in vitro antigenic stimulation model of murine spleen cells in the presence of the immunosuppressor cyclosporin A (CSA) we have previously reported that not only does this drug not interfere with the differentiation of T lymphocytes into memory cells it appears to favor this differentiation (Motta, I. et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 1991. 21:551). Because CSA blocks interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene expression, we have analyzed the effect of this cytokine on memory T helper cell development. Murine splenic cells were primed for 6 days with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) in protocols in which either IL-2 was not produced or its biological activity was neutralized by anti-IL-2 receptor (R) antibodies. The helper function of the recovered T cells was revealed by their capacity to help virgin B splenocytes produce anti-SRBC antibodies upon challenge in vitro. We found that CD4+ cells primed in the absence of IL-2, provoked either by IL-2 gene transcription blockade by CSA or by treatment with anti-IL-2R antibodies, afford the best helper functions. These cells exhibit a memory-type phenotype characterized by the low expression of the MEL-14 marker and the high expression of the CD44 marker. Evidence is also presented that memory T helper cells originate in part from naive subset displaying the MEL-14hi phenotype. The pattern of expression of the genes encoding different cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-5 and interferon-gamma) following a secondary antigenic stimulation shows that the helper function of the cells primed in the absence of IL-2 correlates with the up-regulation of the IL-2 and the IL-5 genes. From these data, we conclude that IL-2 plays a major role in the control of memory T helper cell induction.

A lectin and a lectin-related protein are the two most prominent proteins in the bark of yellow wood (Cladrastis lutea).

Using a combination of cDNA cloning and protein purification it is demonstrated that bark of yellow wood (Cladrastis lutea) contains two mannose/glucose binding lectins and a lectin-related protein which is devoid of agglutination activity. One of the lectins (CLAI) is the most prominent bark protein. It is built up of four 32 kDa monomers which are post-translationally cleaved into a 15 kDa and a 17 kDa polypeptide. The second lectin (CLAII) is a minor protein, which strongly resembles CLAI except that its monomers are not cleaved into smaller polypeptides. Molecular cloning of the Cladrastis lectin family revealed also the occurrence of a lectin-related protein (CLLRP) which is the second most prominent bark protein. Although CLLRP shows sequence homology to the true lectins, it is devoid of carbohydrate binding activity. Molecular modelling of the three Cladrastis proteins has shown that their three-dimensional structure is strongly related to the three-dimensional models of other legume lectins and, in addition, revealed that the presumed carbohydrate binding site of CLLRP is disrupted by an insertion of three extra amino acids. Since it is demonstrated for the first time that a lectin and a non-carbohydrate binding lectin-related protein are the two most prominent proteins in the bark of a tree, the biological meaning of their simultaneous occurrence is discussed.