The p38 and JNK stress-activated MAPK signal transduction pathways are activated by T cell receptor (TCR) signaling and are required for IFN-gamma production by TH1 effector cells. Here, we show that the expression of GADD45gamma is induced during T cell activation and that the level of expression is higher in TH1 cells than in TH2 cells. TH1 cells from GADD45gamma(-/-) mice are severely compromised in their abilities to activate p38 and JNK in response to TCR signaling, produce much less IFN-gamma upon restimulation, and are deficient in activation-induced cell death (AICD). Additionally, GADD45gamma deficiencies caused reduced contact hypersensitivity in mice. Thus, GADD45gamma mediates activation of the p38 and JNK pathways and effector function of TH1 cells.

The differentiation of naive CD4+ T cells into either proinflammatory Th1 or proallergic Th2 cells strongly influences autoimmunity, allergy, and tumor immune surveillance. We previously demonstrated that β1,6GlcNAc-branched complex-type (N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V (Mgat5)) N-glycans on TCR are bound to galectins, an interaction that reduces TCR signaling by opposing agonist-induced TCR clustering at the immune synapse. Mgat5−/− mice display late-onset spontaneous autoimmune disease and enhanced resistance to tumor progression and metastasis. In this study we examined the role of β1,6GlcNAc N-glycan expression in Th1/Th2 cytokine production and differentiation. β1,6GlcNAc N-glycan expression is enhanced by TCR stimulation independent of cell division and declines at the end of the stimulation cycle. Anti-CD3-activated splenocytes and naive T cells from Mgat5−/− mice produce more IFN-γ and less IL-4 compared with wild-type cells, the latter resulting in the loss of IL-4-dependent down-regulation of IL-4Rα. Swainsonine, an inhibitor of Golgi α-mannosidase II, blocked β1,6GlcNAc N-glycan expression and caused a similar increase in IFN-γ production by T cells from humans and mice, but no additional enhancement in Mgat5−/− T cells. Mgat5 deficiency did not alter IFN-γ/IL-4 production by polarized Th1 cells, but caused an ∼10-fold increase in IFN-γ production by polarized Th2 cells. These data indicate that negative regulation of TCR signaling by β1,6GlcNAc N-glycans promotes development of Th2 over Th1 responses, enhances polarization of Th2 cells, and suggests a mechanism for the increased autoimmune disease susceptibility observed in Mgat5−/− mice.

T helper 1 (TH1) cells mediate cellular immunity, whereas TH2 cells potentiate antiparasite and humoral immunity. We used a complementary DNA subtraction method, representational display analysis, to show that the small guanosine triphosphatase Rac2 is expressed selectively in murine TH1 cells. Rac induces the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) promoter through cooperative activation of the nuclear factor kappa B and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways. Tetracycline-regulated transgenic mice expressing constitutively active Rac2 in T cells exhibited enhanced IFN-gamma production. Dominant-negative Rac inhibited IFN-gamma production in murine T cells. Moreover, T cells from Rac2-/- mice showed decreased IFN-gamma production under TH1 conditions in vitro. Thus, Rac2 activates TH1-specific signaling and IFN-gamma gene expression.

Rac2 is a hematopoietic-specific GTPase acting as a molecular switch to mediate both transcriptional activation and cell morphological changes. We have examined the effect of Rac2 deficiency during T cell activation. In Rac2−/− T cells, proliferation was reduced upon stimulation with either plate-bound anti-CD3 or T cell receptor–specific antigen. This defect is accompanied with decreased activation of mitogen activated protein kinase extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and p38, and reduced Ca2+ mobilization. TCR stimulation–induced actin polymerization is also reduced. In addition, anti-CD3 cross-linking–induced T cell capping is reduced compared with wild-type T cells. These results indicate that Rac2 is important in mediating both transcriptional and cytoskeletal changes during T cell activation. The phenotypic similarity of Rac2−/− to Vav−/− cells implicates Rac2 as a downstream mediator of Vav signaling.

Cellular hypoxia response is regulated at the level of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activity. A number of recently identified oxygen sensors are HIF-modifying enzymes that respond to low oxygen by altering HIF modification and thus lead to its activation. In addition to the HIF proline hydroxylases and asparagine hydroxylases, ARD1 is recently described as a HIF-1␣ acetylase that regulates its stability. We found that ARD1 is downregulated in a number of cell lines in response to hypoxia and hypoxia mimic compounds. After surveying these lines for erythropoietin production and retroviral transfection efficiency, we chose to use HepG2 cells to study the function of ARD1. ARD1 short hairpin RNA delivered by a retroviral vector caused >80% reduction in ARD1 message. We observed decreases in erythropoietin and vascular endothelial growth factor protein production, whereas there was no change in the HIF-1␣ protein level. A gene chip analysis of HepG2 cells transduced with virus expressing ARD1 short hairpin RNA under normoxia and hypoxia conditions or with virus overexpressing recombinant ARD1 confirmed that inhibition of ARD1 does not cause activation of HIF and downstream target genes. However, this analysis revealed that ARD1 is involved in cell proliferation and in regulating a series of cellular metabolic pathways that are regulated during hypoxia response. The role of ARD1 in cell proliferation is confirmed using fluorescence labeling analysis of cell division. From these studies we conclude that ARD1 is not required to suppress HIF but is required to maintain cell proliferation in mammalian cells.

PGs play key regulatory roles in inflammation and immunity. PGD2, released from mast cells and Th2 cells during allergic responses, has recently been shown to target a novel receptor, chemoattractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed TH2 cells (CRTH2), in addition to the classic PGD (DP) receptor. CRTH2 is expressed on Th2 cells and eosinophils and mediates chemotaxis of these cells to PGD2. Thus, CRTH2 is thought to be a key receptor mediating eosinophil and Th2 cell recruitment during allergic responses. To examine the role of CRTH2 in this context in vivo, we generated CRTH2 knockout mice. Surprisingly, in an allergic inflammatory model of asthma, CRTH2 knockout mice showed enhanced eosinophil recruitment into the lung compared with wild-type littermate mice. This is consistent with our observation that CRTH2 knockout cells produce significantly higher amounts of IL-5 and IL-3 in vitro. These results suggest a nonredundant role of CRTH2 in restricting eosinophilia and allergic response in vivo.

The global gene expression profiling of early T helper (Th) 1 and Th2 differentiation reveals that this process can be divided into two stages, activation and differentiation. The activation stage is manifested in coordinated mobilization of the replication machinery, a process that we hypothesize may be responsible for establishing genomewide opening of transcription loci. The molecular programs underlying the differentiation stage consist of highly regulated expression of functional groups of genes that are important for the biological properties of Th1͞2 cells and transcription factors that are likely important in establishing terminal differentiation of these cells. The kinetics of expression pattern of a number of transcription factors shed new light on the molecular events that shape the outcome of Th1͞2 differentiation.

Differentiation of Th cells from naive precursors is a dynamic process that involves multiple transcription factors acting at specific time points to regulate gene expression. In this study we show that the homeobox transcription factor Hlx is up-regulated early in Th1 cell differentiation. Mice constitutively expressing an Hlx transgene driven by a CD4 promoter showed marked reduction in the CD4+CD8+ thymocyte population. The Hlx transgenic mice generated increased numbers of Th1 cells in response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin immunization. After differentiation under Th2-polarizing conditions in vitro, the transgenic CD4 T cells expressed high levels of IFN-γ. Intracellular cytokine staining revealed that in addition to Th2 cells, large numbers of Th0 and Th1 cells were generated from such in vitro differentiated transgenic CD4 T cells. Retrovirally overexpressed Hlx also induced the aberrant expression of IFN-γ in normal CD4 T cells differentiated under Th2-polarizing conditions. This effect was apparent only when Hlx was introduced into the cells by retroviral infection at an early time point that led to the expression of the retrovirally transferred Hlx gene at a time comparable to that of the up-regulation of the endogenous Hlx during Th1 cell differentiation. Later infection with Hlx-expressing retrovirus showed no effect. Thus, the induction of IFN-γ expression by Hlx depends on a permissive epigenetic state of the IFN-γ gene locus and/or the molecular context of the immature Th cells.