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Biomedical subjects

A Hayday

Publications and source records attributed to A Hayday.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Corneodesmosin expression in psoriasis vulgaris differs from normal skin and other inflammatory skin disorders.

SUMMARY: Corneodesmosin (Cdsn) is a late differentiation epidermal glycoprotein putatively involved in keratinocyte adhesion. The Cdsn gene lies within the susceptibility region on chromosome 6p21.3 (PSORS1) for psoriasis, a common chronic disfiguring skin disease. A particular allelic variant of Cdsn has a strong association with psoriasis. Therefore, genetically and biologically, Cdsn is a possible candidate gene for psoriasis susceptibility. To investigate a potential role for Cdsn in psoriasis pathogenesis, protein expression studies were performed by quantitative immunohistochemistry on normal skin, psoriatic skin (lesional and nonlesional), and other skin disorders using monoclonal antibodies (G36-19 and F28-27). In normal and nonlesional skin, Cdsn was expressed in stratum corneum and one or two layers of superficial stratum granulosum. In lesional psoriasis, there was a significant increase in Cdsn expression, which was observed in multiple layers of stratum spinosum and in stratum corneum. The expression pattern varied from granular, cytoplasmic immunoreactivity to cell surface labeling with weakly immunoreactive cytoplasm. In chronic atopic dermatitis, lichen planus, mycosis fungoides, and pityriasis rubra pilaris, Cdsn immunoreactivity was confined to stratum corneum and upper stratum granulosum with no stratum spinosum immunoreactivity. Immunoelectron microscopy of normal and lesional psoriatic skin demonstrated Cdsn release concomitant with involucrin incorporation into cell envelopes and completed before mature envelope formation. Extracellular release of Cdsn occurred at a lower level of the epidermis in psoriasis than normal skin. These protein expression studies provide evidence of altered Cdsn expression in psoriasis consistent with a role of Cdsn in disease pathogenesis. Further functional and genetic studies of Cdsn are justified to determine its role as a potential psoriasis-susceptibility factor.

Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6↗

Intraepithelial lymphocytes: exploring the Third Way in immunology.

Locally resident intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) are primarily T cells with potent cytolytic and immunoregulatory capacities, which they use to sustain epithelial integrity. Here, we consider that most IEL compartments comprise a variable mixture of two cell types: T cells primed to conventional antigen in the systemic compartment and T cells with ill-defined reactivities and origins, whose properties seem to place them mid-way between the adaptive and innate immune responses. We review the capacity of IELs to limit the dissemination of infectious pathogens and malignant cells and to control the infiltration of epithelial surfaces by systemic cells. An improved characterization of IELs would seem essential if we are to understand how immune responses and immunopathologies develop at body surfaces.

Animals↗

CD4+ T helper 1 cells facilitate regression of murine Lyme carditis.

Murine Lyme borreliosis, caused by infection with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, results in acute arthritis and carditis that regress as a result of B. burgdorferi-specific immune responses. B. burgdorferi-specific antibodies can attenuate arthritis in mice deficient in both B cells and T cells but have no effect on carditis. Because macrophages comprise the principal immune cell in carditis, T-cell responses that augment cell-mediated immunity may be important for carditis regression. To investigate this hypothesis, we examined the course of Lyme carditis in mice selectively deficient in B cells or alphabeta T cells. Our results show that carditis regresses in B-cell-deficient B10.A(k) mice but not in alphabeta T-cell-deficient mice, independently of the mouse strain background. Despite prominent macrophage infiltrates, hearts from B. burgdorferi-infected alphabeta T-cell-deficient mice had less mRNA for tumor necrosis factor alpha as measured by reverse transcription-PCR compared to infected control mice. Anti-inflammatory cytokine mRNA levels were equivalent. Adoptive transfer of gamma interferon-secreting CD4+ T cells into infected alphabeta T-cell-deficient mice promoted carditis resolution. These results show that alphabeta T cells can promote resolution of murine Lyme carditis and are the first demonstration of a beneficial role for CD4+ T helper 1 cells in this disease.

Animals↗

The ins and outs of body surface immunology.

Rather than being confined to the secondary lymphoid tissue of the spleen and lymph nodes, large numbers of lymphocytes are intrinsically associated with the epithelial surfaces of the body. The best studied is gut-associated lymphoid tissue, but distinct epithelium-associated lymphoid tissue also exists in the reproductive tract, the lung, and the skin. The multiple cell types and functions composing these lymphoid tissues are increasingly seen as the key to how antigens delivered to body surfaces can elicit either immunogenic or tolerogenic responses. In some instances, these responses occur purely within the local body surface tissue, yet in other cases both local and systemic responses are elicited.

Animals↗

The generation of human gammadelta T cell repertoires during fetal development.

The nature of how human gammadelta T cells are normally generated is not clear. We have used an RT-PCR assay and DNA sequencing to identify and compare delta-encoded TCRs (TCRDs) that are generated de novo in the fetal gut, liver, and thymus and to determine when, where, and how the TCRD repertoire is established during normal embryonic development. Rearranged TCRDV genes are first expressed outside of the thymus in the liver and primitive gut between 6 and 9 wk gestation. Although DV1Rs and/or DV2Rs predominated, differences in the pattern of TCRDV gene rearrangement and transcription in each tissue during ontogeny were identified. Specific, DV2-encoded TCRs are highly conserved throughout ontogeny in the tissues from the same and between genetically distinct donors. Although the thymic and intestinal gammadelta T cell repertoires partially overlap early in development, they diverge and become nonoverlapping during the second trimester, and the generation of the intestinal gammadelta T cell repertoire is characterized by differences in the processing of DV1Rs and DV2Rs. Whereas the structural diversity of DV1Rs progressively increases during gut development up to birth, DV2Rs have limited structural diversity throughout ontogeny. Together, our findings provide evidence for the ability of different fetal tissues to support the development of gammadelta T cells.

Animals↗

Primary gamma delta cell clones can be defined phenotypically and functionally as Th1/Th2 cells and illustrate the association of CD4 with Th2 differentiation.

The division of CD4+ alpha beta T cells into Th1 and Th2 subsets has become an established and important paradigm. The respective activities of these subsets appear to have profound effects on the course of infectious and autoimmune diseases. It is believed that specific programs of differentiation induce the commitment of an uncommitted Th0 precursor cell to Th1 or Th2. A component of these programs is hypothesized to be the nature of MHC-peptide antigen presentation to the alpha beta T cell. It has heretofore remained uncertain whether a Th1/Th2 classification likewise defines, at the clonal level, gamma delta T cells. Such cells do not, as a general rule, express either CD4 or CD8 alpha beta, and they do not commonly recognize peptide-MHC. In this report, gamma delta cell clones are described that conform strikingly to the Th1/Th2 classification, both by cytokine expression and by functional activities of the clones in vitro and in vivo. Provocatively, both the gamma delta cell clones and primary gamma delta cells in vivo showed a strong association of the Th2 phenotype with CD4 expression. These results are discussed with regard to the immunoregulatory role that is increasingly emerging for gamma delta cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Gamma delta cells regulate autoimmunity.

Gamma delta cells are attractive candidates for mediators of autoimmune disease. They can expand in germ-free mice, probably through recognition of autoantigens, and gamma delta-cell-deficient mice, unlike mice deficient in alpha beta T cells or B cells, show no severe defects in the immune response to foreign antigen challenge. A capacity of gamma delta cells to effect or regulate tissue damage is also plausible, given their ready localization to tissues, and their myriad of effector functions. Added to this, attempts to reconstruct the physiological course of autoimmune diseases with only autoreactive alpha beta T cells seem invariably to fall short for lack of other unidentified players. Gamma delta cells and their putative ligands have been linked to autoimmune conditions, and recent experiments confirm that gamma delta cells play a significant role in autoimmune disease in vivo.

Animals↗

Syk tyrosine kinase required for mouse viability and B-cell development.

The Syk cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinase has two amino-terminal SH2 domains and a carboxy-terminal catalytic domain. Syk, and its close relative ZAP-70, are apparently pivotal in coupling antigen- and Fc-receptors to downstream signalling events. Syk associates with activated Fc receptors, the T cell receptor complex and the B-cell antigen-receptor complex (BCR) in immature and mature B lymphocytes. On receptor activation, the tandem SH2 domains of Syk bind dual phosphotyrosine sites in the conserved ITAM motifs of receptor signalling chains, such as the immunoglobulin alpha and beta-chains of the BCR, leading to Syk activation. Here we have investigated Syk function in vivo by generating a mouse strain with a targeted mutation in the syk gene. Homozygous syk mutants suffered severe haemorrhaging as embryos and died perinatally, indicating that Syk has a critical role in maintaining vascular integrity or in wound healing during embryogenesis. Analysis of syk-/- lymphoid cells showed that the syk mutation impaired the differentiation of B-lineage cells, apparently by disrupting signalling from the pre-BCR complex and thereby preventing the clonal expansion, and further maturation, of pre-B cells.

Animals↗

T cells with gamma/delta T cell receptors (TCR) of intestinal type are preferentially expanded in TCR-alpha-deficient lpr mice.

Fas-mediated apoptosis is essential for activation-induced cell death of alpha/beta T cells, but it is not clear what role, if any, it plays in regulating other components of the immune system. To study the role of Fas in gamma/delta T cell development, Fas-deficient lpr mice were bred with T cell receptor alpha gene-ablated (TCR-alpha-/-) mice to generate mice deficient in one or both genes. The TCR-alpha-/-, lpr/lpr mice had a nearly 10-fold increase in total lymph node cell (LNC) number compared with Fas-intact TCR-alpha-/- mice, because of expansion of TCR-gamma/delta+ and TCR-beta+ cells. In Fas-intact TCR-alpha-/- mice, approximately one third of the LNCs expressed TCR-gamma/delta. These were evenly divided between the CD4-, CD8-alpha+ and the CD4-, CD8- subsets, and rarely expressed the B220 epitope of CD45. In contrast, in TCR-alpha-/-, lpr/lpr mice, TCR-gamma/delta+ cells comprised half of the LNCs and were primarily CD4-, CD8-, and B220+. Moreover, Fas deficiency in TCR-alpha-/- mice caused a preferential expansion of gamma/delta T cells expressing variable region genes characteristic of intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes. These results demonstrate a role for Fas in regulating the gamma/delta T cell contribution to peripheral lymph nodes. This mechanism may be most important in limiting the access of activated intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes to the peripheral lymphoid system.

Animals↗

Identification of a dominant epitope of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-65) recognized by autoantibodies in stiff-man syndrome.

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is the enzyme that synthesizes the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in neurons and in pancreatic beta cells. It is a major target of autoimmunity in Stiff-Man syndrome (SMS), a rare neurological disease, and in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The two GAD isoforms, GAD-65 and GAD-67, are the products of two different genes. GAD-67 and GAD-65 are very similar to each other in amino acid sequence and differ substantially only at their NH2-terminal region. We have investigated the reactivity of autoantibodies of 30 Stiff-Man syndrome patients to GAD. All patient sera contained antibodies that recognize strongly GAD-65, but also GAD-67, when tested by immunoprecipitation on brain extracts and by immunoprecipitation or immunocytochemistry on cells transfected with either the GAD-65 or the GAD-67 gene. When tested by Western blotting, all patient sera selectively recognized GAD-65. Western blot analysis of deletion mutants of GAD-65 demonstrated that autoantibodies are directed predominantly against two regions of the GAD-65 molecule. All SMS sera strongly recognized a fragment contained between amino acid 475 and the COOH terminus (amino acid 585). Within this region, amino acids 475-484 and 571-585 were required for reactivity. The requirement of these two discontinuous segments implies that the epitope is influenced by conformation. This reactivity is similar to that displayed by the monoclonal antibody GAD 6, suggesting the presence of a single immunodominant epitope (SMS-E1) in this region of GAD-65. In addition, most SMS sera recognized at least one epitope (SMS-E2) in the NH2-terminal domain of GAD-65 (amino acids 1-95). The demonstration in SMS patients of a strikingly homogeneous humoral autoimmune response against GAD and the identification of dominant autoreactive target regions may help to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of GAD processing and presentation involved in GAD autoimmunity. Moreover, the reactivity reported here of GAD autoantibodies in SMS partially differs from the reactivity of GAD autoantibodies in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, suggesting a link between the pattern of humoral autoimmunity and the clinical condition.

Autoantibodies↗

Association of GAD-65, but not of GAD-67, with the Golgi complex of transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells mediated by the N-terminal region.

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is the enzyme responsible for synthesis of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid in neurons and pancreatic beta cells. It is represented by two isoforms, GAD-65 and GAD-67, which are the products of two different genes and differ substantially only at their N-terminal regions. GAD-65 is a dominant autoantigen in stiff-man syndrome and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. In neurons and beta cells, GAD is concentrated around synaptic vesicles and synaptic-like microvesicles, respectively, as well as in the area of the Golgi complex. The mechanisms responsible for specific targeting of GAD to these organelles are not yet understood. The elucidation of the mechanism of subcellular targeting of GAD may be relevant to understanding its role as an autoantigen. In this study, the cloned genes for GAD-65 and GAD-67 were expressed separately in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and COS cells. While GAD-67 had a diffuse cytoplasmic localization, GAD-65 had a punctate distribution, with most of the immunoreactivity being concentrated in the area of the Golgi complex. A chimeric protein in which the 88 N-terminal amino acids of GAD-67 were replaced by the 83 N-terminal amino acids of GAD-65 was targeted to the Golgi complex, indicating that the N-terminal region of GAD-65 contains a targeting signal sufficient for directing the remaining portion of the molecule, highly similar in GAD-65 and GAD-67, to the Golgi complex-associated structures.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Abnormal T cell development in CD3-zeta-/- mutant mice and identification of a novel T cell population in the intestine.

The T cell antigen receptor (TCR)-associated invariable membrane proteins (CD3-gamma, -delta, -epsilon and -zeta) are critical to the assembly and cell surface expression of the TCR/CD3 complex and to signal transduction upon engagement of TCR with antigen. Disruption of the CD3-zeta gene by homologous recombination resulted in a structurally abnormal thymus which primarily contained CD4- CD8- and TCR/CD3very lowCD4+CD8+ cells. Spleen and lymph nodes of CD3-zeta-/- mutant mice contained a normal number and ratio of CD4+ and CD8+ single positive cells that were TCR/CD3very low. These splenocytes did not respond to antibody cross-linking or mitogenic triggering. The V beta genes of CD4-CD8- and CD4+CD8+ thymocytes and splenic T cells were productively rearranged. These data demonstrated that (i) in the absence of the CD3-zeta chain, the CD4- CD8- thymocytes could differentiate to CD4+CD8+ TCR/CD3very low thymocytes, (ii) that thymic selection might have occurred, (iii) but that the transition to CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ cells took place at a very low rate. Most strikingly, intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) isolated from the small intestine or the colon expressed normal levels of TCR/CD3 complexes on their surface which contained Fc epsilon RI gamma homodimers. In contrast to CD3-zeta containing IELs, these cells failed to proliferate after triggering with antibody cross-linking or mitogen. In comparison to thymus-derived peripheral T cells in the spleen and lymph nodes, the preferential expression of normal levels of TCR/CD3 in intestinal IELs suggested they mature via an independent extrathymic pathway.

Animals↗

Is TCR beta expression an essential event in early thymocyte development?

The evolution of a T cell through the thymus is characterized by several distinct morphological changes. The underlying mechanisms allowing a double negative thymocyte to mature to a double positive one expressing both CD4 and CD8 are still hazy. Here, Donald Palmer, Adrian Hayday and Michael Owen discuss the latest development in the field and data that underscore the crucial role of TCR components in the transition of double negative to double positive thymocytes.

Animals↗

Influence of site of expression on the fetal gamma delta T-cell receptor repertoire.

The sequences of productive T-cell gamma/delta receptor transcripts were compared in different murine fetal tissues. Differences from tissue to tissue suggest that the sequence repertoires are at least in part the products of selection, presumably through interaction of T cells bearing the gamma delta receptor with fetal self-ligands.

Animals↗