Published online before print February 24, 2004
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Departments of Medicine and MicrobiologyImmunology, University of California, San Francisco
1Correspondence: Departments of Medicine and MicrobiologyImmunology, University of California, 533 Parnassus Ave., Room UB8B, San Francisco, CA 94143-0711. E-mail: egoetzl{at}itsa.ucsf.edu
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Key Words: lysophospholipids immunity chemotaxis FTY720
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Figure 1. Immune cellular generation and recognition of S1P and LPA. NK, Natural killer.
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Profiles of T cell LPA GPCRs (Rs), based initially on radioactive, semiquantitative PCR and Western blots, showed that human unactivated CD4 T cells and CD8 T cells from blood expressed predominately LPA2 Rs, a level of LPA1 Rs less than 10% that of LPA2 Rs, and no detectable LPA3 Rs. The levels of mRNA encoding LPA13 Rs were requantified subsequently by TaqMan real-time PCR, which confirmed the original results for human blood T cells and demonstrated the same levels for mouse spleen CD4 and CD8 T cells. The level of LPA2 Rs decreased 3050%, and the level of LPA1 Rs increased to a mean of 50100% that of the LPA2 Rs after activation by mitogen or adherent anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb [7 ]. The functional difference between isolated expression of LPA2 Rs in unactivated CD4 T cells and codominant expression of LPA2 Rs and LPA1 Rs in activated CD4 T cells was examined through interleukin (IL)-2 generation. Acute induction of IL-2 secretion from naïve, unactivated human blood or mouse spleen CD4 T cells over 24 h by anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb was suppressed up to 60% by 1010 M106 M LPA and anti-LPA2 R mouse mAb [7 ]. When LPA2 Rs were reduced and LPA1 Rs up-regulated by preactivation of CD4 T cells, IL-2 secretion evoked by anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb stimulation was enhanced up to twofold by 1010 M106 M LPA and by anti-LPA1 R mAb [7 ]. Similarly, the two major LPA Rs of CD4 T cells transduced opposite effects on chemotaxis in Transwell chambers with Matrigel-coated, 5-µm pore filters with LPA2 R elicitation and LPA1 R inhibition of chemotaxis [7 ]. The inhibitory effect of LPA1 Rs was confirmed in a Jurkat human T cell-transfected LPA1 R model [8 ]. JurkatTLPA1 R cells did not respond directly to LPA or anti-LPA1 R mAb, but chemokine-evoked chemotaxis was normal and was inhibited by 108 M106 M LPA and anti-LPA1 R mAb [8 ].
Systematic studies of T cell S1P GPCRs were initiated when preliminary results suggested that these were more important than LPA Rs in regulating several aspects of T cell movements required for thymic egress, lymphoid tissue distribution, and diverse responses to complex antigenic challenges. The quantitatively predominant S1P Rs of T cells are S1P1 and S1P4, as assessed by TaqMan real-time PCR and Western blots, and the former appears to transduce most functional signals from S1P to T cells. In contrast to LPA Rs, S1P1 and S1P4 are down-regulated by all T cell stimuli that have been examined, including many mitogens, anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb, superantigens, and phorbol esters [9 ]. CD4 T cell levels of S1P1 and S1P4 are higher than those of CD8 T cells and B cells, but the basic profiles are similar. The major effects of S1P on T cell functions are highly S1P concentration-dependent (Table 1 ) [9 , 10 ]. At levels of 1100 nM, which are found in tissues, S1P exerts principally supportive, permissive, and stimulatory effects on T cells (Table 1) . In this range, S1P evokes direct chemotaxis and enhances chemotaxis to chemokines optimally. At these same concentrations, S1P also suppresses apoptosis, permits optimal suppression of effector T cell activities by CD4+25+ Treg cells, and supports full activity of cytotoxic T cells. In contrast, blood and lymph concentrations of 0.33.0 µM S1P are uniformly inhibitory of T cell functions (Table 1) . In this range of concentrations, S1P inhibits chemokine-elicited chemotaxis by up to 90% [10 ]. In the context of a vast array of known lymphocyte chemotactic factors, the capacity of S1P but not LPA to inhibit chemotactic responses of naïve and possibly memory T cells to chemokines is a most unique and quantitatively striking effect. The chemotactic inhibitory activity of blood and lymph concentrations of S1P is one basis for a new, conceptual model of the T cell regulatory activities of S1P and explains the mechanism of action of an immunosuppressive drug designated 2-amino-2[2-(4-octylphenyl)ethyl]-propane-1,3-diol hydrochloride (FTY720) [13 , 14 ], which also acts on many S1P GPCRs.
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Table 1. Two Different Sets of T Cell Activities of the S1PS1P1 GPCR Axis
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(IFN-
) and IL-4 and proliferation of T cells (Table 1)
[11
]. Proliferation of mouse spleen CD4 T cells, assessed by uptake of 3H-thymidine and cell counts, was suppressed by 109 M106 M S1P, with mean maximal suppression at the highest concentration of 4850% when the stimuli were anti-CD3 mAb plus anti-CD28 mAb or IL-7. In contrast, 106 M LPA only suppressed proliferation by a mean of 16% (P<0.05) when the stimulus was anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb and had no effect when CD4 T cells were activated by anti-CD3 mAb plus IL-7 [11
]. An increase in [Ca++]i is an obligatory event in the pathway by which S1P suppresses CD4 T cell proliferation. Similar results were obtained with CD8 T cells. Studies then were extended to cytokine generation by activated CD4 T cells. Mean maximal inhibition of IL-2 secretion by 108 M106 M LPA exceeded 50%, but 1010 M106 M S1P had no effect on IL-2 secretion [7
, 11
]. Although levels of secretion of IL-4 and IFN-
were much lower after 624 h than at 72 h, partial persistence of the S1P Rs during the 24 h after stimulation permitted modulation by S1P. In contrast to the profile for IL-2, 108 M106 M S1P, but not LPA, suppressed secretion of IFN-
by stimulated CD4 cells up to 70%. S1P inhibition of IL-4 secretion by CD4 T cells depended on the stimulus. With anti-CD3 mAb plus IL-7, T cell secretion of IL-4 was suppressed significantly and progressively by 108 M106 M S1P, but with anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 mAb, inhibition was only significant at 106 M S1P [11
]. Only IL-4 secretion elicited by the former stimulus was slightly suppressed by LPA and only at 106 M. Although some aspects of the T cell immunoregulatory signals from S1P and LPA GPCRs have been elucidated, many critical questions remain unanswered or only partially answered. Certain specialized and very distinctive cellular mechanisms controlling down-regulation and re-expression of T cell S1P GPCRs have been identified recently in vitro, but most of the protein phosphorylation events remain to be delineated at the molecular level [15 ]. Further, the individual contributions of each T cell LPA and S1P GPCR to transduction of the respective net effects of LPA and S1P on T cell functions also have been only partially delineated in vitro. Little is known about regulation of expression or functional effects of any T cell S1P or LPA GPCR in vivo during immune responses. Nonetheless, the weight of present evidence favors a dominant role for T cell S1P1 GPCRs in S1P control of migration and specific functions of T cells [9 , 11 ].
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The first hypothesis is that FTY720 is phosphorylated, primarily by sphingosine kinases and perhaps other principally intracellular kinases. FTY720 phosphate then acts as an agonist for several lymphocyte S1P GPCRs to stimulate movement of blood and spleen lymphocytes into lymph nodes and maintain their intranodal sequestration, presumably by inducing a state of unresponsiveness to S1P or other chemotactic factors [16 , 17 ]. These effects require micromolar concentrations of FTY720 for optimal phosphorylation and lymphocyte stimulation in vitro. The most convincing supporting data for this first possibility are from in vivo studies, but few analyses of cellular mechanisms of action of FTY720 phosphate have been conducted with lymphocytes in vitro. The second hypothesis is that unaltered FTY720 acts at the nanomolar concentrations attained in patients on treatment to inhibit lymphocyte S1P1 GPCRs selectively, without any agonist or direct antagonist activity. FTY720 has been shown recently to induce internalization and consequently loss of signaling activity of S1P1 GPCRs but not S1P4 GPCRs. By the second hypothesis, FTY720 is designated a noncompetitive inhibitor of S1P1, S1P2, and S1P5 but not S1P3 or S1P4 GPCRs, based on results of studies in a series of model cell transductants and of S1P1 GPCRs alone in lymphocytes. FTY720 thereby suppresses S1P inhibition of lymphocyte chemotaxis to lymph node chemokines and thus accelerates lymphocyte migration from blood and spleen into lymph nodes (Fig. 2a and 2b ). Concurrently, FTY720 also blocks the lymph node lymphocyte chemotactic response to S1P required for their return into lymph and then blood (Fig. 2c) . Many aspects of the FTY720 effects on S1P regulation of lymphocyte traffic, which account for its highly selective and relatively safe immunosuppressive profile, have not been fully delineated. Further, it is also likely that the mechanisms of the second hypothesis are exercised with cellular selectivity, as there is evidence against their applicability to some endothelial cell responses to FTY720. The relative contributions of different mechanisms of action of FTY720 thus may depend on the type of target cell. In addition, it remains to be established how TCR stimulation down-regulates S1P GPCRs and what natural factors in lymph down-regulate S1P1 Rs of the majority of T cells in HEVs, which do not have activating interactions with antigen or exposure to a drug such as FTY720 in the course of normal trafficking. Finally, investigations of the ability of FTY720 to influence activated effector T cells, which have much lower levels of S1P Rs than naïve and memory cells, have yielded conflicting results depending on their source, and more studies will be required.
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Figure 2. S1PS1P1 GPCR axis regulation of T cell traffic in primary and secondary immune organs. The solid arrows from spleen to blood and from blood to secondary lymphoid organs depict T cell movement and the inhibitory trapping of the S1PS1P1 R axis. The dashed arrows (a and b) show facilitation of T cell chemotaxis by FTY720, and the serpentine arrow (c) shows FTY720 inhibition of chemotactic responses to S1P. HEV, High endothelial venule.
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Numerous lines of evidence support a necessary role for S1P in T cell recruitment and effector activation. However, these data do not all convincingly implicate S1P1 GPCRs as the sole transducer of S1P signals, and some data suggest possible contributions of S1P4 GPCRs and of LPA GPCRs. Involvement of the S1P GPCRS1P systems in functions of other immune cells is less well-defined, and implications for human biology and diseases are consequently less clear. Mononuclear phagocytes express a profile of LPA and S1P GPCRs distinct from that of lymphocytes and demonstrate migration and cytokine responses, but differences among monocytes and tissue-specific sets of macrophages also remain to be elucidated. Developing and mature dendritic cells express not only the predominant S1P1 and S1P4 GPCRs of lymphocytes but similar levels of S1P2 and S1P3 as well. Currently, available data do not permit assignment of any of the S1P-evoked migratory or cytokine responses of dendritic cells to individual S1P GPCRs. Although it is currently impossible to accurately predict how S1P GPCR-selective agonists or antagonists will affect dendritic cell recruitment and activation, one or more such agents alone or in combination with other immunostimulants are expected to enhance dendritic cell mobilization and differentially alter their capacity to induce Th1 and Th2 responses to vaccines.
Future research designed to elucidate functions of LPLs and their GPCRs in natural immunity and in immune-therapeutic applications should proceed with the knowledge of elements which distinguish these systems from all immune cytokines and mediators described previously. Many of the regulatory roles of LPLs and their GPCRs in normal immunity result from constitutive signaling of lymphocytes and other immune cells by S1P1 and perhaps other S1P GPCRs, which are fully occupied at usual plasma and lymph concentrations of S1P. Effects of these systems during active, immune responses are almost solely mediated by changes in the levels of expression of S1P GPCRs by lymphocytes and other immune cells. Although fluid concentrations of S1P and LPA also may change in these responses, such alterations in ligands have relatively little influence on immunity. All major immunoregulatory activities of LPLs and their GPCRs are attributable directly or indirectly to effects on immune cell responses to antigens, cytokines, or other immune mediators. Thus, these systems and agents that act on them should be characterized in their immune context and to the extent possible with complete knowledge of other relevant immune factors.
Received November 14, 2003; accepted December 30, 2003.
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