Published online before print May 31, 2007
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Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
1 Correspondence: George Washington University, Ross Hall 738, 2300 Eye St., N.W., Washington, DC 20037, USA. E-mail: mtmslc{at}gwumc.edu
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Key Words: chemokines inflammation
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Indirect evidence that extracellular cyclophilins might be a contributing factor during disease pathology is provided by several human inflammatory conditions in which the presence of increased levels of CypA and CypB has been observed. These include rheumatoid arthritis [6 , 7 ], vascular smooth muscle cell disease [8 ], and severe sepsis [9 ]. For example, the level of CypA in synovial fluid isolated from rheumatoid arthritis patients has been reported to correlate directly with the number of neutrophils present within synovial spaces, as well as with disease severity [6 ]. Furthermore, recruited and circulating leukocytes have an up-regulated expression of CD147 [10 11 12 ] in arthritic patients. Such findings strongly implicate a role for extracellular cyclophilins, via interaction with CD147, on the recruitment of circulating leukocytes to sites of inflammation and suggest that cyclophilin-CD147 interactions might contribute directly to the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. In support of this, we reported recently that treatment with anti-CD147 mAb could reduce leukocyte influx significantly to inflamed lungs in mouse models of acute lung injury [13 ] and allergic asthma [14 ].
In vitro studies, looking at the capacity of extracellular cyclophilins to promote integrin-mediated adhesion of T lymphocytes to extracellular matrix proteins, have demonstrated significant differences in responsiveness to cyclophilins, correlating with the differentiation status of the T cells [15 ]. These findings suggest that extracellular cyclophilins might interact preferentially with specific populations of T cells and therefore, induce the recruitment of these subsets preferentially during inflammatory responses. Unlike naive lymphocytes, memory and activated T cells in blood can migrate to peripheral, nonlymphoid organs, and this migration is enhanced greatly byinflammatory conditions in tissue (reviewed in ref. [16 ]). Furthermore, activated T lymphocytes have been shown to contribute directly to the progression of tissue inflammation by release of proinflammatory cytokines, which activate bystander leukocytes, or by direct cytolytic activity [17 , 18 ]. Such findings led us to investigate whether extracellular cyclophilins might have the capacity to interact more readily with activated populations of lymphocytes and whether such activity might be CD147-mediated. Thus, in the current study, we have examined the capacity of CypA to induce the migration of human CD4+ T cells and establish how the responses relate to CD147 expression. Our findings demonstrate that the extent of cyclophilin-induced migration correlates with the activation status of a CD4+ T cell and is associated with increased expression of CD147 receptors.
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Flow cytometric analysis
PBMCs or PBLs were costained with TriColor (TC)-conjugated anti-CD4 or APC-conjugated anti-CD14 and FITC anti-human CD147 (Research Diagnostics, Flanders, NJ, USA) or FITC-IgG1 isotype control mAb. For studies looking at activation markers, PE-labeled anti-CD25 or PE-labeled anti-HLA-DR was included. Staining was conducted on ice for 30 min, followed by fixation in 1% paraformaldehyde. Flow cytometric analysis was done using a FACSCalibur instrument and CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson, San Jose, CA, USA).
In vitro activation of T lymphocytes
PBMCs were suspended in tissue-culture medium (Clicks medium containing 5% FCS) at 3 x 106 per ml in the presence of 1 µg/ml PHA (Sigma-Aldrich) or 1 ng/ml Staphylococcal enterotoxin (SEA; Sigma-Aldrich). The cultures were incubated at 37°C for 24–48 h. Cells recovered from PHA or SEA cultures were centrifuged over LSM to remove dead cells and debris and then used immediately for flow cytometric staining or were enriched for CD4+ T cells by MACS separation for chemotaxis assays or Western blot analysis. For studies comparing activated versus nonactivated CD4+ T cells, a fresh blood draw from the same donor was used as the source of nonactivated cells on the day of the assay. For studies in which heparan sulfate receptors were removed, populations of PHA-activated and nonactivated PBMCs were treated for 3 h at 37°C with Heparinase I (Sigma-Aldrich) at two units per 106 cells prior to CD4+ T cell purification.
Chemotaxis assays
All chemotaxis assays were conducted using purified CD4+ T cells. The assays were set up using 48-well-modified Boyden chambers (Neuro Probe Inc., Gaithersbug, MD, USA) with the two compartments separated by a 5-µm polycarbonate membrane (Neuro Probe Inc.). CD4+ T cells (104 cells/well) in RPMI-1640 culture medium, supplemented with 1% BSA, were added to the upper compartments, and medium containing different dilutions of recombinant human CypA (Calbiochem, La Jolla, CA, USA) or recombinant human RANTES (Endogen, Woburn, MA, USA) at 1 ng/ml or medium alone was added to the lower compartments. For blocking experiments, anti-human CD147 mAb (Ancell, Bayport, MN, USA) or IgG1 isotype control mAb were added at an optimal concentration of 10 µg/ml to the upper and lower compartments. The chambers were incubated for 1 h at 37°C, after which the membrane was removed, the nonmigrated cells scraped off, and the membranes then stained with Wright-Giemsa (Camco, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA) to discriminate bound cells. A chemotactic index was calculated for each test well by dividing the number of cells counted for that well by the number of cells counted in media wells. In some studies, equivalent numbers of activated and nonactivated CD4+ T cells were compared side-by-side, or activated CD4+ T cells were diluted 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, and 1:8 with nonactivated CD4+ T cells to establish a serial dilution.
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Figure 1. CD147 expression is up-regulated on circulating, activated CD4+ T cells. PBMCs obtained from human peripheral blood were stained with TC-conjugated anti-CD4 and FITC-conjugated anti-CD147 mAb or isotype control mAb plus PE-conjugated anti-CD25 or anti-HLA-DR. Dot plots show expression of CD147 or isotype versus CD25 expression (A) or HLA-DR (B) after gating on lymphoid CD4+ cells. Circled regions denote populations of cells showing CD147bright expression.
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Figure 2. CD147 expression is up-regulated on in vitro-activated CD4+ T cells. PBMCs obtained from human peripheral blood were stimulated in vitro with PHA for 48 h. These activated cells, as well as circulating PBMCs from the same donor, were stained with TC-conjugated anti-CD4 and FITC-conjugated anti-CD147 plus PE-conjugated anti-CD25 or PE-conjugated anti-HLA-DR. Dot plots show expression of CD147 versus CD25 (A) and CD147 versus HLA-DR (B) on circulating and PHA-activated CD4+ T cells. Circled regions denote populations of cells showing CD147bright expression.
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Figure 3. Activated CD4+ T cells migrate more readily to CypA than nonactivated cells. The capacity of recombinant CypA to induce migration of nonactivated versus activated CD4+ T cells was examined using 48-well Boyden chemotaxis chambers. Populations of activated cells were generated by stimulating human PBMCs with PHA or SEA, followed by MACS separation to isolate CD4+ T cells. These activated CD4+ T cells were compared with circulating CD4+ T cells isolated from the same donor. The migratory response of PHA-activated (A) or SEA-activated (B) CD4+ T cells versus nonactivated (circulating) CD4+ T cells to 100 ng/ml CypA is shown. (C) Serial dilutions of activated CD4+ T cells mixed with nonactivated CD4+ T cells were stimulated in the presence of 100 ng/ml CypA. Bar graphs in all panels show mean (±SE) chemotactic index (number of cells migrating in response to chemotactic agent/number of cells migrating to medium alone) for each group, and n = 4 wells per group. Dashed lines delineate significant chemotaxis (>1.2).
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Figure 4. CD147 expression on activated CD4+ T cells is comparable with expression on neutrophils and monocytes. PBMCs obtained from human peripheral blood were stimulated in vitro with PHA for 24 h. The next day, a fresh blood draw was used to obtain PBLs, which served as a source of nonactivated T cells, neutrophils, and monocytes. Cells were stained with FITC-conjugated anti-CD147 or isotype control mAb plus TC-conjugated anti-CD4 or APC-conjugated CD14 to gate on neutrophils (CD14-negative) and monocytes (CD14-positive). Histograms show expression of CD147 on individual populations of leukocytes after gating on their representative markers.
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Figure 5. CypA-mediated migration of CD4+ T cells is CD147-dependent. (A) Activated and circulating (nonactivated) CD4+ T cells were stimulated with 100 ng/ml CypA, with or without 10 µg/ml anti-CD147 or isotype control mAb. (B) Activated CD4+ T cells were stimulated with 100 ng/ml CypA or 1 ng/ml RANTES, with or without 10 µg/ml anti-CD147. Graphs show mean (±SE) chemotactic index for each group, and n = 4 wells per group. Dashed lines delineate significant chemotaxis (>1.2). (A and B) Studies were performed using cells from different donors.
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Figure 6. CypA-mediated migration of activated CD4+ T cells does not require cell surface heparans. Groups of nonactivated and activated PBMCs were treated with Heparinase I prior to CD4+ T cell isolation. Each group was then tested for cyclophilin-mediated chemotaxis using 100 ng/ml CypA, with or without 10 µg/ml anti-CD147 mAb. (A) Bar graphs show the CypA-mediated chemotaxis of untreated versus heparinase-treated, nonactivated and activated CD4+ T cells. (B) Bar graphs show the CypA-mediated chemotaxis of activated CD4+ T cells and neutrophils, with and without heparinase treatment. (C) Same groups as A, with additional groups of heparinase-treated cells, which included anti-CD147 mAb during chemotaxis. All graphs show mean (±SE) chemotactic index for each groups, and n = 4–6 wells per group. Dashed lines delineate significant chemotaxis (>1.2). Studies were performed using cells from different donors.
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Our findings that the CypA-mediated chemotaxis of activated CD4+ T cells does not require an initial interaction with heparan sulfate proteoglycans are intriguing. To date, several leukocyte subsets, including neutrophils, resting memory CD4+ T cells, and naïve CD4+ T cells, have been reported to lose their capacity to respond to cyclophilins following treatment with Heparinase I, II, or III [3 , 15 ]. A potential contributing factor for heparan-independent responses to CypA in activated T cells is that CD147 molecules can cluster upon cell activation. For example, previous studies have shown that low-affinity mAb specific for CD147 were able to bind to PHA-activated but not resting T cells [23 ]. The investigators attributed this finding to clustered-upon-activation CD147 molecules, which facilitate a more stable, bivalent interaction of the low-affinity mAb. Clustering may enable a more potent and/or stable interaction between CD147 and CypA, thereby reducing the dependence on heparans for optimal CD147-mediated signaling. Studies are underway currently in our laboratory to establish whether such clustering is required for the changes in responsiveness of activated T cells or whether an elevated density of monomeric CD147 molecules is sufficient for enhanced responsiveness.
Although our data provide strong evidence that activated CD4+ T cells are recruited more readily by CypA than resting T cells, such findings need to be put in the context of an in vivo inflammatory response, where multiple cytokine- and chemokine-mediated signals will be ongoing. To address the contribution of extracellular cyclophilins, relative to other chemoattractants in vivo, we conducted studies using several different animal models of inflammatory disease in which elevated levels of extracellular cyclophilins are induced [13 , 14 ]. We observed that blocking cyclophilin-CD147 interactions using in vivo anti-CD147 mAb treatment significantly reduces the recruitment of proinflammatory leukocytes into inflamed tissues. It is interesting that in the case of asthma-mediated lung inflammation, the anti-CD147 treatment was most effective at reducing the influx of activated CD4+ T cells (>50% reduction), agreeing with our current findings that cyclophilin-CD147 interactions are likely to contribute more significantly to activated rather than resting T cell migration. In conclusion, we propose that targeting extracellular cyclophilins and/or their interaction with CD147 might be considered a novel, therapeutic approach for the alleviation of ongoing inflammatory responses as a result of the higher affinity of cyclophilins for proinflammatory leukocytes, which express high levels of CD147.
Received May 10, 2006; revised May 4, 2007; accepted May 4, 2007.
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