Most adaptive immune responses require the activation of specific T cells through the T cell antigen receptor–CD3 complex (TCR). Here we show that cholesterol sulfate (CS), a naturally occurring analog of cholesterol, inhibits CD3 ITAM phosphorylation, a crucial first step in T cell activation. Biochemical studies show that CS disrupted TCR multimers, apparently by displacing cholesterol, known to bind TCRβ. Moreover, CS-deficient mice displayed a heightened sensitivity to a self-antigen, whereas increasing CS content by intrathymic injection inhibited thymic selection, indicating that this molecule is an intrinsic regulator of thymocyte development. These results reveal a regulatory role for CS in TCR signaling and thymic selection, highlighting the importance of the membrane microenvironment in modulating cell surface receptor activation.
In the last decade an increasing number of plasma membrane (PM) proteins have been shown to be non-randomly distributed but instead forming submicron-sized oligomers called nanoclusters. Nanoclusters exist independently of the ligand-bound state of the receptors and their existence implies a high degree of lateral organisation of the PM and its proteins. The mechanisms that drive receptor nanoclustering are largely unknown. One well-defined example of a transmembrane receptor that forms nanoclusters is the T cell antigen receptor (TCR), a multisubunit protein complex whose nanoclustering influences its activity. Membrane lipids, namely cholesterol and sphingomyelin, have been shown to contribute to TCR nanoclustering. However, the identity of the membrane microdomain in which the TCR resides remains controversial. Using a GFP-labeled TCR we show here that the resting TCR localized in the disordered domain of giant PM vesicles (GPMVs) and PM spheres (PMSs) and that single and nanoclustered TCRs are found in the high-density fractions in sucrose gradients. Both findings are indicative of non-raft localization. We discuss possible mechanisms of TCR nanoclustering in T cells. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Nanoscale membrane organisation and signalling.
The Bcl-2 family protein Bim triggers mitochondrial apoptosis. Bim is expressed in nonapoptotic cells at the mitochondrial outer membrane, where it is activated by largely unknown mechanisms. We found that Bim is regulated by formation of large protein complexes containing dynein light chain 1 (DLC1). Bim rapidly inserted into cardiolipin-containing membranes in vitro and recruited DLC1 to the membrane. Bim binding to DLC1 induced the formation of large Bim complexes on lipid vesicles, on isolated mitochondria, and in intact cells. Native gel electrophoresis and gel filtration showed Bim-containing mitochondrial complexes of several hundred kilodaltons in all cells tested. Bim unable to form complexes was consistently more active than complexed Bim, which correlated with its substantially reduced binding to anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins. At endogenous levels, Bim surprisingly bound only anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 but not Bcl-2 or Bcl-X, recruiting only Mcl-1 into large complexes. Targeting of DLC1 by RNAi in human cell lines induced disassembly of Bim-Mcl-1 complexes and the proteasomal degradation of Mcl-1 and sensitized the cells to the Bcl-2/Bcl-X inhibitor ABT-737. Regulation of apoptosis at mitochondria thus extends beyond the interaction of monomers of proapoptotic and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members but involves more complex structures of proteins at the mitochondrial outer membrane, and targeting complexes may be a novel therapeutic strategy.
vesicles (MLVs). More recently, giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) have been used, which are excellent to study lipid phase separation, especially by fluorescence confocal microscopy, but do not easily lend themselves to calorimetry. However, the heat capacity of DPPC across the main phase transition is similar in GUVs and in large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) but quite different from that in MLVs. Much of the attention in the thermodynamics of the phase transition in DPPC/cholesterol has been concerned with understanding the heat capacity in MLVs. Here we turn our attention to the DPPC/cholesterol binary system in LUVs, which we think is a much more relevant type of vesicle to understand the molecular interactions between DPPC and cholesterol. We compare the experimental heat capacity (melting) curves in LUVs with the results of Monte Carlo calculations using various models of the interaction between these lipids, including complex formation and simple pairwise interactions.
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