CD40-CD40L interactions in atherosclerosis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Schoneveld.
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Infection of genetically susceptible C57BL/6 mice with the LP-BM5 isolate of murine retroviruses cause profound splenomegaly, hypergammaglobulinemia, lymphadenopathy, and an immunodeficiency syndrome which includes the development of terminal B-cell lymphomas. Because many of these and the other manifestations of LP-BM5 virus-induced disease are similar to those seen in AIDS, this syndrome has been named murine AIDS, or MAIDS. Previous reports have shown that the onset of MAIDS depends on the presence of both CD4+ T cells and B cells and have suggested that CD4+ T-cell-B-cell interactions are important to disease pathogenesis. Here, we assessed the possibility that interactions between CD40 and its ligand on activated CD4+ T cells, CD40 ligand/gp39, are involved in the development of MAIDS. To test this hypothesis, LP-BM5-infected B6 mice were treated in vivo with anti-gp39 monoclonal antibody. As a result, MAIDS-associated splenomegaly, hypergammaglobulinemia, germinal center formation, and the loss of in vitro responsiveness to the T- and B-cell mitogens concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide were inhibited. Anti-gp39 monoclonal antibody-treated LP-BM5-infected mice were also able to mount essentially normal alloantigen-specific cytolytic T-lymphocyte responses. These results support the possibility that molecular interactions between CD40 and gp39 are critical to the development of MAIDS.
The interactions between CD40 on B cells and its ligand gp39 on activated T helper cells are known to be essential for the development of thymus-dependent humoral immunity. However, CD40 is also functionally expressed on thymic epithelial cells and dendritic cells, suggesting that gp39-CD40 interactions may also play a role in thymic education, the process by which self-reactive cells are deleted from the T cell repertoire. Six systems of negative selection were studied for their reliance on gp39-CD40 interactions to mediate negative selection. In all cases, when the antigen/superantigen was endogenously expressed (in contrast to exogenously administered), negative selection was blocked by loss of gp39 function. Specifically, blockade of gp39-CD40 interactions prevented the deletion of thymocytes expressing V beta 3, V beta 11, and V beta 12, specificities normally deleted in BALB/c mice because of the endogenous expression of minor lymphocyte-stimulating determinants. Independent verification of a role of gp39 in negative selection was provided by studies in gp39-deficient mice where alterations in T cell receptor (TCR) V beta expression were also observed. Studies were also performed in the AND TCR transgenic (Tg) mice, which bear the V alpha 11, V beta 3 TCR and recognize both pigeon cytochrome c (PCC)/IEk and H-2As. Neonatal administration of anti-gp39 to AND TCR Tg mice that endogenously express H-2As or endogenously produce PCC prevented the deletion of TCR Tg T cells. In contrast, deletion mediated by high-dose PCC peptide antigen (administered exogenously) in AND TCR mice was unaltered by administration of anti-gp39. In addition, deletion by Staphylococcus enterotoxin B in conventional mice was also unaffected by anti-gp39 administration. gp39 expression was induced on thymocytes by mitogens or by antigen on TCR Tg thymocytes. Immunohistochemical analysis of B7-2 expression in the thymus indicated that, in the absence of gp39, B7-2 expression was substantially reduced. Taken together, these data suggest that gp39 may influence negative selection through the regulation of costimulatory molecule expression. Moreover, the data support the hypothesis that, for negative selection to some endogenously produced antigens, negative selection may be dependent on TCR engagement and costimulation.
The CD28/CTLA-4 costimulatory signal is required for TCR-mediated T cell activation resulting in increased IL-2 production in vitro, but its role in IL-4 production is unclear and few studies have examined the function of CTLA-4/CD28 in the in vivo immune response. We have examined the in vivo effects of blocking the interaction of B7 with its ligands, CTLA-4 and CD28, in an IL-4 dominant in vivo immune response to goat anti-mouse IgD. This response is characterized by elevations in serum Igs preceded by elevations in IL-2 and the Th2 cytokines: IL-4, IL-9, and IL-10. The fusion protein CTLA4-Ig administered during the in vivo immune response to goat anti-mouse IgD caused an inhibition in elevations of IL-2, IL-4, and IL-9 gene expression at both day 3 and day 6 after immunization. In contrast, IL-10 cytokine gene expression as late as day 6 after immunization was not decreased. Cell sorting analysis demonstrated that TCR-alpha beta +, CD4+ T cells were the primary source of the elevated IL-10, suggesting that T cell activation leading to IL-10 gene expression may not require CTLA-4 ligand interactions. Similarly CTLA4-Ig completely blocked elevations in the number of IL-4- but not IL-10-secreting cells, as measured by ELISPOT, in both unsorted splenic cells and sorted CD4+, TCR-alpha beta+ T cells. In situ staining of spleen sections also showed inhibition of IL-4-producing cells. These results suggest that, with the notable exception of IL-10, interaction, of B7 with its ligands is required for elevated Th2 cytokine gene expression and secretion during a primary systemic IL-4-dominant response.