


* Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, and
Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Barcelona, 08108 Barcelona, Spain
Correspondence: Dr. Montserrat Nogueira Alvarez, Departamento de Bioquímica e Bioloxía Molecular, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Bioloxía, Campus Sur., 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. E-mail: bnlmna{at}usc.es
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Key Words: ectoenzymes protein translocation pathways CD26 interleukins immunoregulatory mechanisms Brefeldin A
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Human ADA exists in at least three isoforms: ADA1, ADA2, and ADA1 + ADA-complexing protein (ADAcp). ADA1 is a monomer of 41 kDa with gene assignment on chromosome 20. ADA2 is coded by a different gene locus of unknown chromosomal position; it can be detected only in monocytes, and it is the predominant isoenzyme in the sera of normal individuals [5 ]. Although the ADA1 location is mainly cytosolic, the enzyme has been found on the surface of a high percentage of B lymphocytes and macrophages and in some T lymphocytes from peripheral blood [6 ]. In this new location, two ADA1 molecules, renamed ecto-ADA, are connected via a dimer of ADAcp. Additionally, ADA activity is found in some biological fluids with diagnostic relevance for many diseases [7 ].
ADAcp from human kidney tissue [8 ] and from lymphocytes [9 ] has been identified as dipeptidyl peptidase IV (E.C. 3.4.14.5.), a serine protease present as ectoenzyme in a variety of mammalian cells and also known as the CD26 T cell activation antigen (Ag). Although the physiological role of CD26 is not yet clear, it appears that this ectoenzyme might have at least five modes of action which are not mutually exclusive: (1) degradation of hemoregulatory factors, (2) signal transduction, (3) adhesion to substrates such as fibronectin and collagen, (4) transendothelial migration, and (5) regulation of ecto-ADA activity [10 ].
The functional importance of the CD26 Ag [10 ] in the T cell activation cascade, together with the essential role of ADA in the development of normal immunological responses, suggests a direct involvement of ecto-ADA in T cell activation [9 , 11 ]. In fact, we and others found that ADA and CD26 surface expression increases on treatment of lymphocytes with mitogens [9 , 10 , 12 ], and ADA binding to CD26 produces a costimulatory response in T cell activation events [12 ].
Another role of ecto-ADA could be the regulation of extracellular Ado levels. Ado can interact with specific membrane receptors of thymocytes and cells involved in the inflammatory response, regulating cytokine release, proliferation, and apoptosis [13 , 14 ]. Therefore, extracellular Ado can also be implicated in SCID [3 ]. Moreover, it has been suggested that ecto-ADA is capable of reducing the local concentration of Ado in CD26-transfected Jurkat T cell cultures [15 ].
We have reported that IL-12, an inflammatory cytokine
[16
], and IL-2 but not IL-1ß, interferon (IFN)-
,
IL-4, or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)
enhance CD26 expression and
dipeptidyl peptidase IV function [17
] on both activated
CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets [18
]. CD26 can be considered
for this reason a TH1 response marker [17
,
18
], although the physiological role of its
cytokine-dependent up-regulation remains unknown. We looked for a
possible relationship with membrane ADA regulation in the search of new
purine metabolism mechanisms responsible for clinical diseases.
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(rhTNF-
), rhIL-2, rhIL-4, and
rhIFN-
were from PeproTech (London, United Kingdom), and rhIL-12 was
from R&D Systems (Abingdon, United Kingdom) or Sigma (Madrid, Spain).
The ADA1 inhibitor 9-erythro-2-(hydroxy-3-nonyl) adenine hydrochloride
(EHNA), Brefeldin A (BFA), bovine ADA types V and VII, Ado, NBTI
(5-(4-nitrobenzyl)-6-thioinosine), lectin from Phaseolus
vulgaris (PHA-P), and mouse anti-human CD3 [immunoglobulin (Ig)
G, clone UCTH-1] were obtained from Sigma. Two different anti-ADA
antibodies (Abs) were used: a rabbit polyclonal Ab against a
15-amino-acid peptide identical to the COOH terminus of human ADA,
kindly provided by J. W. Belmont (Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, TX) [19
] and a rabbit antisera against purified
calf intestine ADA [20
], pure or fluorescein
isothiocyanate (FITC) labeled. Three anti-human CD26 Abs were used:
mouse IgG1 monoclonal Ab [mAb (TA5.9, clone LY12, CC1); pure or FITC
labeled; Alexis Corp., Läufelfingen, Switzerland],
anti-CD26-FITC/tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate (TRITC) Ta1 mAb
(murine IgG1) from Coulter (Hialeah, FL), and 134-2C2 mAb (murine IgM),
donated by Eduardo Muñoz (Universidad de Córdoba, Spain)
[17
]. F(ab')2 goat anti-mouse or anti-rabbit
(GAR) Igs labeled with FITC or phycoerythrin (PE) and ascitic fluid
containing IgG2a or IgG1 isotype
control mAbs (UPC10 or MOPC21, respectively) were all from Sigma.
Immuno-Fluore mounting medium was from ICN Biomedicals, Inc. (Costa
Mesa, CA), and FITC-labeled anti-CD3 was from Becton-Dickinson (San
Jose, CA).
Cell isolation and culture
Buffy coats from healthy donors were kindly provided by the
Centro de Transfusiones de Galicia, Santiago, or Banco de Sangre,
Hospital General Vall dHebrón, Barcelona, Spain. Peripheral
blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated by Ficoll Paque PLUS
(Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden) density gradient centrifugation
[21
] and cultured at 106 cells/mL in RPMI
1640 (Sigma) supplemented with 10% inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS;
Gibco BRL, Grand Island, NY), 100 µg/mL of streptomycin, and
100 IU/mL of penicillin (Sigma) in a 5% CO2 humidified
atmosphere. PBMCs were activated with 1 µg/mL of PHA-P or with 0.5
µg/mL of anti-CD3 in the presence or absence of cytokines.
Immunostaining and immunofluorescence
Extracellular staining
Ecto-ADA and CD26 expression was measured by direct or
indirect immunofluorescence as previously described
[17
]. In the indirect protocol, the percentage of
positive cells was established by setting negative controls as the
omission of primary Ab, the inclusion of rabbit preimmune serum, or
labeling with a mouse isotype Ab instead of the anti-ADA or anti-CD26
mAbs, whereas fluorochrome-conjugated isotype Abs were used in direct
assays. Two-color experiments with conjugated and unconjugated specific
mAbs were performed as follows: samples were sequentially labeled with
the primary and the secondary Abs. Finally, after blocking free binding
sites with mouse or rabbit serum, FITC- or PE-conjugated mAb was added
for a last incubation. Samples were analyzed on a Coulter Epics Profile
or a Becton Dickinson FACScaliburTM cytometer. WinMDI software (a kind
gift from J. Trotter, Scripps Institute, LaJolla, CA) was used
to analyze data.
To study the influence of ADA on binding of anti-CD26 TA5.9 and 134-2C2 mAbs to 5-day phytohemagglutinin (PHA) blasts or PHA blasts costimulated with IL-12, different amounts of bovine ADA were added for the times indicated below. The lymphocytes were washed twice before their direct or indirect staining with anti-CD26 mAbs.
Confocal microscopy
For confocal microscopy, cells were stained as previously
described [22
] with anti-ADA-FITC and CD26-TRITC mAbs,
and, after they were washed three times, mounted with Immuno-Fluore
mounting medium. Microscope observations were made with a Leica TCS 4D
confocal scanning laser microscope adapted to an inverted Leitz DMIRBE
microscope (Leica Lasertechnik GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany). The light
source was an Argon Kripton laser, and FITC and TRITC were
respectively excited at 488 and 568 nm. The colocalization analyses
were achieved by means of Multi Color software (version 2.0; Leica
Lasertechnik GmbH).
Studies of activated T cell exposure to Ado or BFA
T cell receptor-triggered PBMCs (106) were cultured
for different times in the presence or absence of 50500 µM Ado,
1100 µM EHNA (ADA1 inhibitor), 20 µM NBTI (nucleoside plasma
membrane transporter blocker), and cytokines. Endogenous or exogenous
Ado effects were measured by flow cytometry with anti-CD25 mAb
(Becton-Dickinson) as previously described [23
]. Viable
lymphocytes were identified according to their forward and right-angle
scattering.
In BFA studies, PBMCs were stimulated with PHA (1 µg/mL), alone or combined with IL-12 (2 ng/mL) for 5 days. Cells were then resuspended, incubated in 24-well plates (106 cells/mL) with dimethyl sulfoxide (control cultures) or 10 µg/mL of BFA for 45 h at 37°C, washed, and stained with anti-CD3, anti-human ADA, or anti-CD26 mAbs.
Northern and dot blot analysis
Total RNA was isolated from 15 x 106 cells,
according to the guanidium isothiocyanate-based method of Stratagene
(LaJolla, CA). Briefly, cells were lysed, the RNA was extracted with
phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol and quantified (Ultrospec2000;
Pharmacia Biotech) at 260 nm, and its purity was calculated as the
260/280 ratio. For Northern blots, 1015 µg of RNA were denatured,
separated by electrophoresis in a 1% agarose-formaldehyde gel, blotted
by capillary transfer onto nylon membrane (Immobilon-s, Millipore
Corp., Bedford, MA), and fixed with UV (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech).
Blots were prehybridized for 1 h at 68°C in 6x saline sodium
citrate (SSC), 5x Denhardts reagent, 0.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate
(SDS), and 100 µg/mL of denatured salmon sperm DNA (all from Sigma).
The hybridization was carried out in the same solution for 6 h to
o/n at 68°C with a denatured DNA probe [2x106
counts per minute (cpm)/mL] random-priming labeled with an NEBlot kit
(New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA) and [
32P]dCTP
(3,000 Ci/mmol, 50 µCi; NEN Life Science, Zaventem, Belgium). Probes
were the human ADA-coding sequence (1,091-bp) cDNA from a normal T cell
line, kindly provided by F. Arredondo (Duke University Medical School,
Durham, NC) [24
] and a 165-bp PCR probe specific for
human ADA. Filters were washed once with 1x SSC-0.1% SDS for 15 min
at room temperature and three times with 0.1x SSC/0.1% SDS at 68°C
for 15 min. XAR-5 films (Kodak, Rochester, NY) were exposed for 13
days at -80°C. The size of the ADA mRNA was estimated from rRNA and
ß-actin mRNA, or the same rRNA was used as internal controls. For dot
blot experiments, serial dilutions of RNA were dotted onto nylon filter
sheets using a Shleicher & Schuell (Dassel, Germany) minifold apparatus
and fixed using a UV source. The filter was washed three times with
10x SSC and hybridized as above.
Determining protein concentration
Protein concentrations of samples were determined by the
Bradford procedure (Sigma), based on Coomassie brilliant blue G-250
dye. Bovine serum albumin was used as the standard.
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and Western blot
Cells were lysed by incubation on ice for 30 min in 10 mM Tris
(pH 7.6), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 140 mM NaCl, 0.5% Nonidet P-40,
and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and nuclei were removed by
centrifugation at 13,000 g for 15 min. Seventy micrograms
from each supernatant were run on SDS-10% PAGE under reducing
conditions at a constant voltage of 200 V (Pharmacia Biotech). Gels
were electrotransferred onto nitrocellulose (Schleicher & Schuell) for
Western blot analysis. Blots were blocked with 5% nonfat dried milk in
phosphate-buffered saline-0.03% Tween 20 and sequentially incubated
with primary antibody and horseradish peroxidase-labeled secondary
antibody. Detection was performed using enhanced chemiluminescence
(Amersham, Bucks, United Kingdom). When needed, blots were stripped by
incubation for 30 min at 50°C in a 100 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 2% SDS,
62.5 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.7) buffer and, after several washes, blocked and
probed again.
ADA enzymatic activity
An ADA kit (UV enzymatic kinetic test; Boehringer Mannheim,
Mannheim, Germany) and a Cobas Mira automatic analyzer (Hoffmann-La
Roche Inc., Nutley, NJ) were used to assay ADA activity in culture
medium and digested plasma membrane samples. Addition of 100 µM EHNA
to the assay system permitted measurement of ADA2 activity, which is
insensitive to EHNA [25
]. Values were given as units per
liter, with 1 U being the amount of enzyme that releases 1 µmol of
ammonia from Ado per minute at standard conditions.
Membrane preparation
Cells were resuspended in hypotonic lysis buffer (25 mM
Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 25 mM sucrose, 0.1 mM EDTA, 5 mM MgCl2, 5
mM dithiothreitol, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 10 µg/mL of
leupeptin, and 10 µg/mL of aprotinin, all from Sigma) at 3 x
106 PBMCs/mL and then sonicated, and nuclei were removed
(1,000 g for 10 min at 4°C). The turbid supernatant was
collected, and the membranes were sedimented at 100,000 g
for 60 min at 4°C using a Beckman L8-M ultracentrifuge (Beckman
Instruments, Nyon, Switzerland). Finally, the pellet was disrupted in
200 µL of hypotonic lysis buffer by sonication, and its protein
content was determined.
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30 µg/mL of ADA only partially reduced the epitopes available
for anti-CD26 mAbs on lymphoblasts cultured in the presence or absence
of IL-12, and the same results were observed in kinetics experiments
(Fig. 2
). These results point out that IL-12 up-regulated CD26 and ADA
levels on the T cell surface, which could account for the poor
inhibition of TA5.9 binding on IL-12-costimulated lymphocytes when
median fluorescence intensity (MFI) was measured (Fig. 1B)
. Thus, we
inferred that the more endogenous ADA there is, the less exogenous ADA
binds to IL-12-induced CD26. On the other hand, these results cannot
reflect internalization of CD26 because it has been shown that ADA does
not modulate surface CD26 in human lymphocytes [26
].
![]() View larger version (15K): [in a new window] |
Figure 1. Partial reduction of TA5.9 epitope expression by exogenous ADA in
dose-response experiments. (A) PHA- and (B) IL-12-treated lymphoblasts
(2x106 cells/test) were incubated in the presence of
increasing ADA concentrations for 30 min at room temperature.
Thereafter, binding of anti-TA5.9 or 134-2C2 mAbs (results not shown)
was examined by direct (or indirect) immunofluorescence. Percentages of
CD26+ cells and MFIs are shown for clarity. In panel C, one
representative histogram out of three belonging to PHA-treated blasts
incubated without (positive control) or with 10 µg/mL of ADA is
shown. Negative control represents PHA-treated blasts labeled with
isotype FITC-antibody.
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Figure 2. Partial reduction of TA5.9 epitope expression by exogenous ADA in
kinetics assays. Blasts (2x106 cells/test) were incubated
at room temperature without (control +) or with ADA (10 µg/mL) for 0,
0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 h in complete medium. Cell surface free CD26
was revealed by immunofluorescence using anti-CD26 TA5.9 mAb and
F(ab')2 FITC-labeled goat anti-mouse IgG. Nonspecific
fluorescence was detected with the proper isotype (control -). One
representative example (n=5), measured by an Epics Profile
cytometer, is shown.
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Figure 3. Different Ag sensitivities of polyclonal antibodies against ADA when
evaluated in flow cytometry experiments. Lymphocytes from a single
donor were stained (A) indirectly, with the polyclonal
anti-carboxyterminal part of human ADA and revealed by FITC-labeled
GAR, or (B) directly, with polyclonal anti-calf intestine ADA and also
FITC labeled. Histograms, measured with a Becton-Dickinson
FACScaliburTM cytometer and representative of many with similar
results, are shown.
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independent because IFN-
costimulation of PHA-activated blasts did not increase the levels of
this ectoenzyme (data not shown).
![]() View larger version (60K): [in a new window] |
Figure 4. Enhancement of ecto-ADA expression in the larger and more complex
lymphocytes by IL-12. (A) Dot plot showing the forward-scatter (FSC,
cell size; x-axis) versus side-scatter (SSC, complexity;
y-axis) properties of unstimulated PBMCs (a) and 5-day
anti-CD3-activated lymphoblasts cultured in the absence (b) or presence
(c) of 2 ng/mL of IL-12. Gate R2 (green) shows cells with a more
blastic appearance than lymphocytes selected with gate R1 (red). In the
panels in B, FCS versus ecto-ADA expression (e, f), corresponding to
anti-CD3-preactivated lymphocytes (panels b and c above), revealed that
IL-12 costimulation (f) presents higher ecto-ADA levels than cells
belonging to the R2 gate. Ecto-ADA expression (n=5) was
measured by indirect immunofluorescence, and a negative control was
established with rabbit preimmune serum plus PE-GAR Ig
(d).
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View this table: [in a new window] |
Table 1. Expression of Ecto-ADA on PHA-Activated Lymphocytes in the Presence or
Absence of IL-12a
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doses of
10
ng/mL did not affect membrane ADA levels (Fig. 5 A
and B
). In the experiments with IL-4, the number of ecto-ADA
molecules fell below those of PHA-activated cells when low doses were
used, although this inhibitory effect was not reproducible with higher
concentrations (Fig. 5A
and 5C)
.
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Figure 5. Cell surface ADA expression is regulated by IL-12, IL-2, and IL-4 on
activated lymphocytes. (A) Dose-response of IL effect on ecto-ADA
levels. PBMCs were cultured with PHA (1 µg/mL) in the absence or
presence of the indicated concentrations of IL-12, IL-2, IL-4, and
TNF- . After 5 days, lymphoblasts were washed and indirectly labeled
with the anti-human ADA Ab. The mean of duplicates from one experiment
out of five with similar results is presented. In panels B and C, an
experiment corresponding to PHA lymphoblasts in the presence of 2 ng/mL
of each cytokine is shown. The dashed line in C corresponds to a
negative control histogram.
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Figure 6. Different kinetics of IL-12- and IL-2-dependent ecto-ADA up-regulation
and IL-4-dependent ecto-ADA down-regulation. PBMCs were cultured for
the indicated time points with PHA (1 µg/mL) in the absence or
presence of 2 ng/mL of IL-12, 5 ng/mL of IL-2, 2 ng/mL of IL-4, and 4
ng/mL of TNF- . Thereafter, cells were washed and indirectly labeled
with anti-human ADA Ab. Means of duplicates with similar percentages of
positive cells (left) and MFIs (right) from a representative experiment
are shown. The kinetics curve from cells treated with TNF- was
excluded for clarity.
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.
Confocal microscopy assays (Fig. 7)
demonstrated that the degree of
ecto-ADA/CD26 colocalization in IL-12-treated PHA-activated blasts was
higher than in cells activated with PHA alone or with PHA +
TNF-
. Nevertheless, these results also show that the distribution
patterns observed at the lymphocyte surface for CD26 and ADA were not
exactly the same because, under all activation conditions, a percentage
of ADA molecules, which did not colocalize with CD26, was always
detected (Fig. 7)
. Furthermore, in double-flow cytometry experiments, a
subset of ADA+ CD26- cells was present [Fig. 7
(table)], supporting the conclusion that cell surface ADA binds not
only to CD26 but also to an unknown molecule.
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Figure 7. Human activated lymphocytes do not show a high correlation between
ecto-ADA and CD26. PHA-activated PBMCs were cultured without or with
IL-12 (2 ng/mL) or TNF- (4 ng/mL), fixed, and stained with rabbit
anti-bovine ADA-FITC (50 µg/mL, green) and Ta1-TRITC (100 µg/mL,
red). Colocalization (yellow) in B was higher than in A or C, and there
was always a percentage of ADA1 molecules that did not colocalize with
CD26. Table
: expression of ecto-ADA and CD26 was measured in the same
cells by flow cytometry. Cells were sequentially stained with rabbit
anti-bovine ADA, F(ab')2 PE-labeled GAR IgG Ab, and Ta1
Ab-FITC. The donor with the highest CD26-ADA expression correlation in
5-day PHA blasts is shown. Even in this case, an ADA+
CD26- subpopulation was found. The means of replicates are
shown in the table.
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Figure 8. Down-regulation of ecto-ADA expression by IL-4. Cells were cultured and
analyzed as in Fig. 7
except when IL-4 (2 ng/mL) was added. (A)
Dot plots showing the IL-4-dependent ecto-ADA (y-axis) but not
CD26 (x-axis) down-regulation. (B) The degree of colocalization with
IL-4 was lower than in control (cytofluorograms in the bottom right
square). Ecto-ADA (green) and CD26 (red).
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IL-12, IL-2, and IL-4 regulation of ADA translocation toward the
cell surface
To analyze the regulation levels involved in ecto-ADA control by
interleukins without increase of ADA in the medium, we evaluated the
amounts of both protein and mRNA for ADA. First we simultaneously
measured the intra- and extracellular ADA by flow cytometry using
saponin-permeabilized lymphocytes, and we did not find the expected
up-regulation (IL-12) or down-regulation (IL-4) of total ADA (data not
shown). Also, our results showed that such cytokines did not affect the
total pool of ADA protein as determined by Western blotting in whole
lysates (Fig. 9 A
). However, we found a clear cytokine-dependent regulation of ADA
protein in purified plasma membrane (Fig. 9B) , although ADA mRNA
expression was unaffected by these cytokines, both in 5-day cultures
(Fig. 10 A
) and at earlier stages (Fig. 10B) . A fundamental question was
whether ecto-ADA regulation by these cytokines involves protein
transport. BFA is a fungal heterocyclic lactone, which reversibly
inhibits the Golgi-dependent transport of proteins [31
].
Five-day PHA- or PHA+ IL-12-treated blasts were treated with BFA, and
membrane ADA, CD26, and CD3 levels were evaluated. We observed that
surface ADA, in contrast to the other markers, was not affected by
Golgi blocking (Fig. 11
). From these results, it easily follows that the cytosolic ADA was the origin of surface ADA through a Golgi-independent
mechanism.
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Figure 9. Regulation of ecto-ADA but not total ADA by cytokines. Human ADA
protein was detected by reducing SDS-PAGE followed by Western blotting,
in whole lysates (A) or in purified membranes (B) of nonstimulated
PBMCs or PBMCs activated for 5 days with 1 µg/mL of PHA in the
absence or presence of: IL-12 (2 ng/mL), IL-2 (5 ng/mL), IL-4 (2
ng/mL), and TNF- (4 ng/mL). In part A, the 41-kDa ADA band was
detected under all conditions with the anti-human ADA polyclonal Ab.
ß-Actin controls shown below. In part B, densitometry of ADA bands is
shown. Bars represent IOD ADA from each
lane/IOD ADA from the IL-4 lane, expressed as percentages
of relative intensities. Panels A and B show results from an experiment
representative of five with similar results.
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Figure 10. Northern and dot blot analyses show no ADA mRNA regulation by cytokines
in human activated lymphocytes. In A, total RNA (15 µg per lane) from
PBMCs or lymphoblasts generated at the same concentrations as in Fig. 9
was transferred to nylon membrane and hybridized with
32P-labeled ADA cDNA. 28S and 18S are respectively the
heavy- and light-subunit rRNA, whereas ADA mRNA levels in Jurkat and
HL-60 cells are high- and low-expression controls. Negative image for
ethidium bromide staining of 28S and 18S rRNA is shown below. (B) Dot
blot hybridization to check the initial stages of ADA gene
transcription in activated lymphocytes.
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Figure 11. Absence of ADA transport by CD26 to cell surface. In A, B, and C, PBMCs
were activated for 5 days with 1 µg/mL of PHA in the presence or
absence of 2 ng/mL of IL-12. Cells were harvested from flasks,
incubated with 10 µg/mL of BFA or dimethyl sulfoxide (control) for
45 h, washed, and stained with fluorochrome-conjugated Abs against
CD26 (A), CD3 (B; positive control), or ADA (C) Ags. MFIs were measured
by flow cytometry and the influence of BFA expressed as the percentage
change from nontreatment. Results from two donors (#1 and #2),
representative of five experiments, are presented. In part D, 2 µg/mL
of anti-CD26 TA5.9 mAb were added at the beginning of PHA stimulation
of PBMCs. Control culture was established in parallel without mAbs in
medium. Ecto-ADA expression on TA5.9-treated (dashed-line) or control
(solid-line) lymphoblasts after 5 days was revealed with unconjugated
anti-human ADA-and FITC-labeled GAR polyclonal antibodies. A
representative experiment out of three is presented.
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Modulation of the effects of exogenous and endogenous extracellular
Ado on T cell proliferation by cytokine-dependent regulation of
ecto-ADA expression
Ado is a potent proapoptotic and anti-inflammatory agent,
although its role in T cell activation is not well understood
[14
, 15
]. Equally, the ecto-ADA function is
a vexing question, although a possible role could be the regulation of
extracellular Ado levels. Taking into account our previous results, we
planned to analyze in PHA-treated lymphoblasts the role of
cytokine-dependent ecto-ADA in both viability and activation level
(CD25 expression), by flow cytometry after 5 days of culture. The
experiments were performed in the absence or presence of EHNA, and
always included NBTI to avoid cellular uptake of nucleosides.
Table 2
shows that IL-2- or IL-12-treated lymphocytes
(ecto-ADAbright) were more protected from death
than cells activated only with PHA and that this viability markedly
decreased in the presence of EHNA. In contrast, viability of cells
treated with IL-4 (ecto-ADAlow) was not affected by this
ADA inhibitor. Likewise, EHNA did not modify CD25 expression in live
IL-4-blasts but clearly down-regulated CD25 Ag in the IL-2 or
IL-12-blasts (data not shown). All of these results point to a
relationship between ecto-ADA levels and the Ado amount secreted by
cells.
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Table 2. Effect of Extracellular Ado on Viability of Activated
Lymphocytesa
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Figure 12. The control of extracellular Ado concentration by cell surface ADA is
modulated by IL-12. (A) Dose-dependent exogenous Ado inhibition of CD25
expression in PHA-treated blasts. (B) CD25 levels in PHA +
IL-12-stimulated cells are poorly affected by high concentrations of
Ado (500 µM), because the more ecto-ADA they express, the more
effective is this Ado neutralization. In all experiments (A, B), a 20
mM NBTI concentration was used for blocking the entry of nucleosides
through the membrane transporter.
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These results have an important implication for the role of the
ADA-CD26 interaction. Because the cDNA sequence indicates that ADA
lacks a hydrophobic domain [34
], this ectoenzyme could
be expressed on the cell surface for several reasons: (1) ecto-ADA
might be derived from dead cells; (2) there might be another mRNA
encoding a secreted form of ADA1; (3) ADA1 might be transported to the
surface after binding to CD26 or another unknown molecule; and/or (4)
ADA1 might be translocated from intracellular sources by a mechanism
not requiring hydrophobic signal sequences. The first possibility is
excluded by our data on ecto-ADA expression regulation by cytokines,
particularly by IL-4, which down-regulated cell surface ADA in spite of
its high proliferative effect. Moreover, the presence of ADA in culture
medium was not enhanced by interleukins, being always >90%. In
addition, the presence of ADA activity in serum of patients with
different diseases did not correlate with the tissue damage produced in
these diseases [5
]. The second reason is excluded by our
findings that costimulation with cytokines did not induce higher ADA
gene transcription rates or the presence of new ADA mRNA species. These
results are in agreement with the previously described lack of effect
of phorbol ester on ADA mRNA levels [35
]. On the other
hand, the invariable level of total ADA evaluated by Western blotting
and flow cytometry and the different presence of ecto-ADA in purified
membranes pointed to the regulation of cytosolic enzyme translocation
towards the cell surface by these cytokines. Moreover, if we consider
now our findings of CD26 molecules not bound to ADA either on activated
CD4+ cells [12
] or PHA-treated blasts, the
presence of ADA+ CD26- T cells, the different
ADA and CD26 translocation pathways shown in Golgi-blocking
experiments, and the different cytokine-dependent regulation, we can
see that all indicate that CD26 does not transport ADA to the cell
surface. Thus, it is quite probable that ADA binds to CD26 after its
translocation from intracellular stores, which can be blocked with
TA5.9 mAb (Fig. 11D)
. This hypothesis might be further supported by our
ability to detect a small but significant release of ADA from
cytoplasmic stores (experiments in progress). Furthermore, in cells
whose CD26 expression is sufficiently higher, the release of ADA to the
medium is thought to be very small because CD26 retains much of the
translocated ADA. Finally, secretion not requiring hydrophobic domains
has been proposed for many proteins such as IL-lß, prothymosin
,
and fibroblast- and platelet-derived growth factors [36
]
so that ADA translocation from cytosol could be a new example of these
mechanisms.
The role of ecto-ADA in deamination of extracellular Ado, toxic for lymphocytes, is physiologically relevant because ADA retains its deaminase activity after binding to CD26, and the amount of ADA capable of blocking the effects of extracellular Ado under physiological conditions is low [15 , 37 ]. Thus, the intracellular and membrane presence of ADA provides cells with a versatile enzyme. Endogenous versus exogenous Ado might also modulate other cells involved in the inflammatory or autoimmune response [14 , 38 ]. Therefore, the control of extracellular Ado concentrations exercised by ecto-ADA might be quantitatively important in cases of down-regulation or inactivation of nucleoside transporters or under metabolic stress, in which a rapid depletion of intracellular ATP occurs. The action of interleukins like IL-12, produced by Ag-presenting cells, can induce Ado degradation and favor T cell proliferation. IL-4-dependent ecto-ADA down-regulation could be associated with macrophage-deactivating activities such as inhibition of IL-12 secretion and, consequently, to an anti-inflammatory effect [39 ].
Ecto-ADA displays effects that are irrespective of its behavior as enzyme, given that ADA1/CD26 interaction is directly involved in T cell activation [12 ]. We also have evidence that the ADA/CD26 interaction can activate integrins, thus providing a new role for cell surface ADA (experiments in progress). Our results of ecto-ADA regulation by cytokines suggest that ecto-ADA plays a role in human T cell activation and function and in thymus maturation and differentiation, by preventing Ado-dependent apoptosis [11 , 40 ]. In this sense, a coordinate regulation of Ado metabolism enzymes has been described [41 ], so it will be interesting to study whether the regulatory mechanism described here can be generalized.
Received April 2, 2001; revised July 15, 2001; accepted July 17, 2001.
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receptors on peripheral blood mononuclear cells FEBS Lett 341,23-27[Medline]
expression by adenosine: role of A3 adenosine receptors J. Immunol. 156,3435-3442[Abstract]This article has been cited by other articles:
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