PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

D L Thiele

Publications and source records attributed to D L Thiele.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Apoptosis is induced in cells with cytolytic potential by L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester.

Previous studies have demonstrated that the selective toxicity of leucyl-leucine methyl ester (Leu-Leu-OMe) for cytotoxic lymphocytes and myeloid cells is dependent on intracellular conversion to membranolytic metabolites by the acyl transferase activity of the granule enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI) that is enriched in these cells. The mechanism of cell death remained unclear, however, and was the subject of the experiments reported here. When human U937, HL60, or THP-1 myeloid tumor cell lines or murine CTLL-2 cells were treated with Leu-Leu-OMe, early release of both cytosolic 51Cr and soluble [3H]TdR labeled DNA fragments was observed, whereas antibody + C treatment of these cells caused only 51Cr release. Killing of U937 or THP-1 cells by incubation with the lysosomotropic amino acid methyl ester, Phe-OMe also induced only 51Cr release without evidence of DNA fragmentation. Preincubation with Zn2+, a known inhibitor of endonuclease activity prevented Leu-Leu-OMe-induced 51Cr or [3H]TdR release from these cell lines, but had no effect on antibody + C or Phe-OMe-induced 51Cr release. Zn2+ also prevented Leu-Leu-OMe-mediated killing of normal human CD16+ NK cells. Zn2+ had no inhibitory effect on Leu-Leu-OMe uptake or intracellular conversion to (Leu-Leu)n-OMe metabolites by these cell lines. Moreover, Zn2+ did not inhibit 51Cr release from nonnucleated E or nucleated U937 targets induced by extracellular production of DPPI-generated metabolites of Leu-Leu-OMe. Thus, killing of cytotoxic lymphocytes and myeloid cells by Leu-Leu-OMe appears to be dependent on generation of metabolites with membranolytic properties, but cell death induced by this process does not involve simple lysis of the plasma membrane. Rather, intracellular production of DPPI generated (Leu-Leu)n-OMe metabolites appears to trigger, an additional Zn(2+)-sensitive process that is associated with induction of apoptosis in cells with cytolytic potential.

Cell Death

Spectrum of toxicities of amino acid methyl esters for myeloid cells is determined by distinct metabolic pathways.

L-leucine methyl ester (Leu-OMe), Leu-Leu-OMe, Phe-OMe, and Glu-(OMe)2 are toxic to mononuclear phagocytes (M phi) and neutrophils. In the present studies, the mechanism of this toxicity was examined. A concentration of NH4Cl known to neutralize lysosomal pH and to block conversion of Leu-OMe to the dipeptide condensation product Leu-Leu-OMe inhibited Leu-OMe- or Glu-(OMe)2- but not Leu-Leu-OMe-mediated M phi toxicity. Leu-OMe-, Glu-(OMe)2-, or Leu-Leu-OMe-mediated killing of M phi was prevented by Gly-Phe-CHN2, a specific inhibitor of the thiol protease, dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI). Neither NH4Cl nor Gly-Phe-CHN2 prevented Phe-OMe-mediated M phi toxicity. In contrast, inhibition of M phi serine esterase activity prevented Phe-OMe- but not Leu-OMe- or Glu-(OMe)2-mediated killing of M phi. The myeloid tumor lines U937, HL60, and THP-1 were found to be uniformly enriched in DPPI and susceptible to Leu-Leu-OMe but not Leu-OMe toxicity. Whereas HL60 were resistant to Phe-OMe, THP-1 cells were killed by this agent. Incubation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with Leu-OMe resulted in loss of natural killer (NK) functions and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) precursors, a process that requires the DPPI-dependent generation of membranolytic polymerization products. Phe-OMe had no toxic effects on NK cells or CTL precursors. These results indicate that Leu-OMe and Glu-(OMe)2 toxicity for M phi is related to the production of higher molecular weight hydrophobic polymerization products via the sequential action of two nonserine esterase lysosomal enzymes. In contrast, Phe-OMe toxicity for myeloid cells was found to correlate with serine esterase-mediated intracellular trapping of high concentrations of the free amino acid Phe. These distinct enzymatic mechanisms may provide a unique means of targeting agents capable of selectively deleting cells of myeloid lineage.

Adult

Purification and characterization of dipeptidyl peptidase I from human spleen.

The lysosomal hydrolase, dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI), was purified from human spleen and its enzymatic activity characterized. The enzyme was purified to apparent homogeneity by a combination of differential pH solubility, heat-treatment, affinity chromatography on concanavalin A-agarose and p-hydroxymercuribenzoate-agarose, and gel filtration chromatography on Sephacryl S-300. This procedure resulted in a 1100-fold purification of DPPI protein with a yield of approximately 2% of the total DPPI activity. The enzyme was characterized as a glycoprotein with a pI of 5.4, a molecular mass of 200,000 Da as determined by gel filtration under nondenaturing conditions, and a subunit size of 24,000 Da. Amino acid sequence analysis of peptides isolated from cyanogen bromide and trypsin digests of the 24,000-Da subunit revealed extensive sequence similarity between human and rat DPPI. Purified DPPI exhibited both hydrolytic and transpeptidase (polymerase) activity. DPPI exhibited activity against a variety of dipeptide substrates including peptides with either non-polar or polar residues in the P1 position. In contrast to the reported substrate specificity of bovine and murine DPPI, the human enzyme exhibited a modest preference for peptides with nonpolar residues in the P1 position. DPPI content was found to be highest among cytotoxic lymphocytes and myeloid cells. The high level of DPPI expression in these cell populations correlates with their sensitivity to the toxic effects of leucyl-leucine methyl ester, a substrate for DPPI.

Amino Acid Sequence

The role of leucyl-leucine methyl ester-sensitive cytotoxic cells in skin allograft rejection.

Treatment of murine spleen cells (SpC) with L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester (Leu-Leu-OMe) depletes L3T4(+) and Lyt2(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursors and the capacity to generate lethal graft-versus-host disease in semiallogeneic class I + II MHC and multiple non-MHC-disparate recipient mice, whereas T helper cell function is preserved. In the present studies the role of Leu-Leu-OMe-sensitive CTL in skin graft rejection was examined. C57BL/6J (B6) mice were serially thymectomized, lethally irradiated, reconstituted with T cell-depleted bone marrow, and treated with intraperitoneal injections of anti-L3T4 and anti-Lyt2 monoclonal antibodies. These adult thymectomized, bone marrow-reconstituted, T cell-depleted (ATXBM, TCD) mice were unable to reject B6xDBA/2F1 (B6D2F1) skin grafts. When such ATXBM, TCD mice were reconstituted with 7 x 10(7) control B6 SpC, acute rejection of B6D2F1 skin was observed. When B6 donor SpC were Leu-Leu-OMe-treated prior to transfer to ATXBM, TCD mice, uniform rejection of B6D2F1 skin grafts was still observed, although a significant delay in the time to rejection was observed. More rigorous T cell depletion of ATXBM, TCD host mice by infusion of antithymocyte globulin did not prevent delayed rejection of B6D2F1 skin initiated by transfer of Leu-Leu-OMe-treated B6 SpC. Despite the lack of complete prevention of skin allograft rejection, Leu-Leu-OMe treatment of B6 donor cells prevented lethal GVHD even in thymectomized B6D2F1 recipients. Precursors of anti-B6D2F1-specific CTL were greatly reduced or undetectable in unreconstituted ATXBM, TCD mice or in irradiated B6D2F1 recipients of Leu-Leu-OMe-treated B6 SpC. By contrast, ATXBM, TCD recipients of Leu-Leu-OMe-treated B6 SpC were found to contain a population of anti-class I MHC-specific CTL precursors of host origin within 28 days of reconstitution. These findings have indicated a number of features of the cells involved in skin graft rejection. First, Leu-Leu-OMe-sensitive CTL play a major role in acute rejection of class I + II MHC and multiple non-MHC antigen-disparate skin grafts. Moreover, the thymus-independent expansion of host-derived CTL precursors in ATXBM, TCD mice reconstituted with syngeneic Leu-Leu-OMe-resistant T helper cells also appears to play a role in mediating rejection of allogeneic skin grafts.

Animals

Effects of the immunosuppressive dipeptide L-leucyl-L-leucine O-methyl ester on epidermal Langerhans cells.

Pretreatment of newborn human foreskin epidermal cells (EC) with L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester (Leu-Leu-OME) was found to dramatically inhibit their ability to serve as alloantigen-presenting cells in a primary, one-way, allogeneic mixed epidermal cell-lymphocyte reaction (MECLR) without significantly affecting EC viability. The Leu-Leu-OME-induced MECLR inhibition could not be accounted for by a cytotoxic effect on epidermal Langerhans cells (LC), the class II major histocompatibility (MHC) antigen-bearing EC type that is fully responsible for alloantigen presentation in a primary allogeneic MECLR. Pretreatment with Leu-Leu-OME was found to inhibit the culture-induced increase in surface expression of HLA-DR molecules on LC. These findings suggest that in addition to its cytotoxic effect on cells containing high levels of dipeptidyl peptidase I, Leu-Leu-OME can also perturb alloantigen-presenting cells that are not killed by this agent by modulating HLA-D region antigen expression, perhaps through its capacity to neutralize acid compartments within cells. In addition, these studies support the notion that the culture-induced upregulation of class II MHC antigens on epidermal LC is functionally associated with the enhanced alloantigen-presenting capabilities that these cells display after short-term culture and suggest that newly synthesized class II antigens might be critical to the alloantigen-presenting cell capabilities of LC.

Adjuvants, Immunologic

A calibration comparison of mammographic kVp meters.

Modern screen-film mammography employs a molybdenum target and molybdenum filtration to obtain both high image contrast and low patient dose. Typical x-ray emission spectra are therefore dominated by molybdenum's characteristic radiation. The form of such spectra makes the accurate measurement of mammographic kVp difficult. Non-invasive digital kVp meters provide the simplest method of measuring mammographic kVp routinely, with a typical uncertainty of greater than +/- 1 kVp. With the expansion of breast screening, more stringent demands have been placed on these meters and recent calls for accuracies of better than +/- 1 kVp have been made. The responses of six popular mammographic kVp meters were compared in the range 22 to 32 kVp. Agreement between four of these meters above 24 kVp was within 1.8 kVp. The responses of the two remaining meters differed from the other meters by up to 5 kVp over the range. The results have highlighted the need for regular calibration checks on mammographic kVp meters and the provision of a national standard to which these calibrations can be traceable. Such a standard is currently not available in Australia.

Calibration

Quality assurance results from a breast screening pilot study.

A mammography quality assurance programme has been established as part of the breast cancer screening pilot project based in south-east Queensland. Prospective radiology clinics are required to participate in the quality assurance programme as part of the project's accreditation requirements. The programme follows the ACPSEM position paper on quality assurance in mammography and is divided into radiographer and physicist tests. Radiographer tests include film processor sensitometry (daily), image quality (weekly) and focal spot measurements (monthly). Physicist tests occur annually. The programme has been running successfully for 12 months on 17 machines from 6 manufacturers. Of the radiographer tests, sensitometry has proved the most beneficial with a number of chemistry problems detected early. Physicist tests have found x-ray/light field misalignment and poor automatic exposure control performance as the most common machine problems. Results also show that our kVp measuring system requires recalibration.

Breast Neoplasms

The action of leucyl-leucine methyl ester on cytotoxic lymphocytes requires uptake by a novel dipeptide-specific facilitated transport system and dipeptidyl peptidase I-mediated conversion to membranolytic products.

The mechanism of toxicity for cytolytic lymphocytes of Leu-Leu-OMe and related dipeptide derivatives was examined. Selective inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase I (DPPI), a lysosomal thiol protease highly enriched in cytotoxic lymphocytes, prevented all natural killer (NK) toxic effects of such agents. However, many DPPI substrates were found to possess no NK toxic properties. For some such agents, this lack of NK toxicity appeared to be related to the lack of uptake by lymphocytes. In this regard, Leu-Leu-OMe was found to be incorporated by lymphocytes and monocytes via a saturable facilitated transport mechanism with characteristics distinct from previously characterized mammalian dipeptide transport processes. This novel transport process was found to be specific for dipeptides composed of selective L-stereoisomer amino acids and enhanced by hydrophobic ester or amide additions to the COOH terminus of dipeptides. Maximal rates of Leu-Leu-OMe uptake by T8 and NK cell-enriched peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were four- to sixfold higher than for T4-enriched PBL or PBL depleted of Leu-Leu-OMe-sensitive cytotoxic lymphocytes. All dipeptide amides or esters with NK toxic properties were found to act as competitive inhibitors of [3H]Leu-Leu-OMe uptake by PBL. However, some NK nontoxic DPPI substrates were found to be comparable with Leu-Leu-OMe in avidity for this transport process. Such agents were noted to possess one or more hydrophilic amino acid side chains and were found not to mediate red blood cell lysis when subjected to the acyl transferase activity of DPPI. Thus, uptake by a dipeptide-specific facilitated transport mechanism and conversion by DPPI to hydrophobic polymerization products with membranolytic properties were found to be common features of NK toxic dipeptide derivatives. The presence of a previously unreported dipeptide transport mechanism within blood leukocytes and the selective enrichment of the granule enzyme, DPPI, within cytotoxic effector cells of lymphoid or myeloid lineage appear to afford a unique mechanism for the targeting of immunotherapeutic reagents composed of simple dipeptide esters or amides.

Acyltransferases

Pretreatment of murine donor grafts with L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester: elimination of graft-versus-host disease without detrimental effects on engraftment.

Incubation of murine bone marrow and splenocytes with the dipeptide methyl ester, L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester (Leu-Leu-OMe), which results in the selective depletion of cytotoxic T cells and their precursors, natural killer cells, and monocytes, completely protected 30 recipients of fully allogeneic donor grafts from lethal graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). These results were comparable with those obtained in 30 recipients of anti-Thy 1.2 plus complement (C')-treated donor marrow. However, in contrast to antibody- and C'-dependent T-cell depletion, which reduces the level of donor cell engraftment in our model system, we did not observe such effects using Leu-Leu-OMe marrow pretreatment. As compared with the 24 H-2 typed recipients of anti-Thy 1.2 + C'-treated donor grafts, the 29 H-2 typed recipients of Leu-Leu-OMe-treated donor grafts had significantly (P less than .001) higher percentages of donor cells (mean = 93% v 74%) and significantly (P less than .001) lower percentages of host cells (mean = 6% v 15%) posttransplantation. In vitro limiting dilution assay (LDA) was performed to assess the comparative efficacy of cytolytic T-lymphocyte (CTL) precursor depletion by Leu-Leu-OMe or anti-Thy 1.2 + C' pretreatment. We observed greater levels of CTL precursor depletion in Leu-Leu-OMe treated as compared with anti-Thy 1.2 + C'-treated bone marrow plus spleen cells (BMS) obtained from nontransplanted mice. This suggests that the in vivo results cannot simply be attributed to a less efficacious functional inactivation of cytolytic T-cell precursors by Leu-Leu-OMe treatment as compared with anti-Thy 1.2 + C' treatment. Immunoreconstitution was similar in recipients of Leu-Leu-OMe-treated grafts and anti-Thy 1.2 + C'-treated grafts 100 days posttransplant. In our opinion, Leu-Leu-OMe marrow pretreatment deserves further investigation as a methodology to achieve GVHD prevention without significantly reducing the propensity toward host cell repopulation.

Animals

Mechanism of L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester-mediated killing of cytotoxic lymphocytes: dependence on a lysosomal thiol protease, dipeptidyl peptidase I, that is enriched in these cells.

Exposure of murine or human lymphocytes to L-leucyl-L-leucine methyl ester (Leu-Leu-OMe) results in selective killing of cytotoxic lymphocytes, whereas helper T cells and B cells remain functionally intact. Cytolytic lymphocytes incubated in the presence of toxic concentrations of Leu-Leu-OMe were found to contain membranolytic metabolites of the structure (Leu-Leu)n-OMe, where n greater than or equal to 3. The sensitivity of cytotoxic lymphocytes to Leu-Leu-OMe was found to be dependent upon production of these metabolites by a lysosomal thiol protease, dipeptidyl peptidase I, which is present at far higher levels in cytotoxic lymphocytes than in cells without cytolytic potential or not of bone marrow origin. Thus, this granule enzyme is required for the unique effects of Leu-Leu-OMe and may provide a target for the development of other immunotherapeutic agents designed to delete cytotoxic lymphocyte responses.

Ammonium Chloride

Histologic similarity of murine colonic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) to human colonic GVHD and inflammatory bowel disease.

In a study designed to determine which T-cell subsets are involved in the development of murine graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a prospective histologic analysis of gastrointestinal involvement was performed. In C57BL/6JXDBA/2F1 (B6D2F1) recipients of DBA/2 donor spleen and bone marrow cells, the colonic histologic findings were found to be similar in many respects to the histologic findings reported in human colonic GVHD and were much more severe and diffuse than were the abnormalities of the small intestine. Host irradiation before transplantation was found to play an additive or synergistic role in the development of GVHD. Furthermore the histologic features noted in DBA/2----B6D2F1 murine colonic GVHD suggest that bone marrow and spleen cell transplantation in this strain combination may be a useful model for studying the immunologic mechanisms involved in human inflammatory bowel disease. Thus severe colonic disease noted during the course of DBA/2----B6D2F1 murine GVHD was found to have significant histopathologic similarities to both human GVHD enteropathy and other inflammatory diseases of the human colon.

Animals

Analysis of the functional capabilities of CD3+CD4-CD8- and CD3+CD4+CD8+ human T cell clones.

The functional capabilities of human peripheral blood CD3+CD4-CD8- and CD3+CD4+CD8+ T cell clones were examined. The clones were generated by culturing purified populations of CD3+CD4-CD8- and CD3+CD4+CD8+ T cells at limiting dilution (0.3 cell/well) in the presence of PHA, rIL-2, and irradiated PBMC as feeders. Twelve CD3+CD4-CD8- and 5 CD3+CD4+CD8+ clones were generated. Clonality was documented by analyzing TCR gamma- and beta-chain rearrangement patterns. All CD3+CD4-CD8- clones were stained by the TCR-delta 1 mAb that identifies a framework epitope of the TCR delta-chain, but not by mAb WT31 that identifies the TCR-alpha beta on mature T cells. In contrast, the CD3+CD4+CD8+ clones were all stained by WT31 and not by TCR-delta 1. All 17 clones were screened for various functional activities. Each secreted IL-2, IFN-gamma, and lymphotoxin/TNF-like factors when stimulated with immobilized mAb to CD3 (64.1), albeit in varying quantities. These clones secreted far less IL-2 and IFN-gamma than CD3+CD4+CD8- or CD3+CD4-CD8+ alpha beta expressing clones, but comparable amounts of lymphotoxin/TNF. All clones also functioned as MHC-unrestricted cytotoxic cells. This activity was comparable to that mediated by the CD3+CD4+CD8- or CD3+CD4-CD8+ alpha beta clones. Nine of 12 CD3+CD4-CD8- and 4 of 5 CD3+CD4+CD8+ clones were able to support B cell differentiation when activated by immobilized anti-CD3, but usually not as effectively as the CD3+CD4+CD8- or CD3+CD4-CD8+ alpha beta clones. The differences in the functional capabilities of the various clones could not be accounted for by alterations in the signaling capacity of the CD3 molecular complex as mAb to CD3 induced comparable increases in intracellular free calcium in each clone examined. When clones were stimulated with PWM, each suppressed B cell differentiation supported by mitomycin C-treated fresh CD4+ T lymphocytes. Suppression was dependent on the number of clone cells added to culture, but could be observed with as few as 12,500 cells per microtiter well. Phenotypic analysis of the clones revealed that all expressed CD29, CD11b, and the NKH1 surface Ag. These results demonstrate that the CD3+CD4-CD8- and CD3+CD4+CD8+ T cell clones exhibit many of the functional characteristics of mature T cells, although they produce IL-2 and IFN-gamma and provide help for B cell differentiation less effectively than CD3+CD4+CD8- and CD3+CD4-CD8+ alpha beta T cell clones.

Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte