No abstract

More than one-half of the ~50 human chemokines have been associated with or implicated in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes, yet their actual expression patterns in the islet environment of type 1 diabetic patients remain, at present, poorly defined. Here, we have integrated a human islet culture system, murine models of virus-induced and spontaneous type 1 diabetes, and the histopathological examination of pancreata from diabetic organ donors with the goal of providing a foundation for the informed selection of potential therapeutic targets within the chemokine/receptor family. Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand (CCL) 5 (CCL5), CCL8, CCL22, chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL) 9 (CXCL9), CXCL10, and chemokine (C-X3-C motif) ligand (CX3CL) 1 (CX3CL1) were the major chemokines transcribed (in an inducible nitric oxide synthase–dependent but not nuclear factor-κB–dependent fashion) and translated by human islet cells in response to in vitro inflammatory stimuli. CXCL10 was identified as the dominant chemokine expressed in vivo in the islet environment of prediabetic animals and type 1 diabetic patients, whereas CCL5, CCL8, CXCL9, and CX3CL1 proteins were present at lower levels in the islets of both species. Of importance, additional expression of the same chemokines in human acinar tissues emphasizes an underappreciated involvement of the exocrine pancreas in the natural course of type 1 diabetes that will require consideration for additional type 1 diabetes pathogenesis and immune intervention studies.

NK cells are innate lymphoid cells important for immune surveillance, identifying and responding to stress, infection, and/or transformation. While conventional NK (cNK) cells circulate systemically, many NK cells reside in tissues where they appear to be poised to locally regulate tissue function. Here we tested the contribution of tissue-resident NK (trNK) cells to tissue homeostasis by studying ischemic injury in the mouse kidney. Parabiosis experiments demonstrate that the kidney contains a significant fraction of trNK cells under homeostatic conditions. Kidney trNK cells developed independent of NFIL3 and Tbet, and expressed a distinct cell surface phenotype as compared to cNK cells. Among these, trNK cells had reduced asialo-GM1 (AsGM1) expression relative to cNK cells, a phenotype observed in trNK cells across multiple organs and mouse strains. Strikingly, anti-AsGM1 antibody treatment, commonly used as NK cell-depleting regimen, resulted in a robust and selective depletion of cNKs, leaving trNKs largely intact. Using this differential depletion, we tested the relative contribution of cNK and trNK cells in ischemic kidney injury. Whereas anti-NK1.1 antibody effectively depleted both trNK and cNK cells and protected against ischemic-reperfusion injury, anti-AsGM1 antibody preferentially depleted cNK cells and failed to protect against injury. These data demonstrate unanticipated specificity of anti-AsGM1 antibody depletion on NK cell subsets and reveal a new approach to study the contributions of cNK and trNK cells in vivo. In total, these data demonstrate that trNK cells play a key role in modulating local responses to ischemic tissue injury in the kidney and potentially other organs.

The chemokines are a large family of mainly secreted molecules involved in the regulation of numerous physiological and pathophysiological processes. Despite many years of investigation, the precise cellular sources of most chemokines have remained incompletely defined as a consequence of the limited availability of suitable reagents to visualize the expression of chemokine proteins at the single-cell level. Here, we developed a simple flow cytometry-based assay using commercially available chemokine-specific antibodies for efficient cell-associated detection of 37 of 39 murine chemokines. To demonstrate the utility of this methodology, we used it to reevaluate the nature of homeostatic chemokines in the hematopoietic compartment, to delineate the complete chemokine profiles of NK cells and B cells in response to major polyclonal stimuli, and to assess the chemokine response of DCs to bacterial infection. The versatility of this analytical methodology was further demonstrated by its application to selected human chemokines and should greatly facilitate any future investigation into chemokine biology at large.

Lysophospholipids have emerged as biologically important chemoattractants capable of directing lymphocyte development, trafficking and localization. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a major lysophospholipid found systemically and whose levels are elevated in certain pathological settings such as cancer and infections. Here, we demonstrate that BCR signal transduction by mature murine B cells is inhibited upon LPA engagement of the LPA5 (GPR92) receptor via a Gα12/13 – Arhgef1 pathway. The inhibition of BCR signaling by LPA5 manifests by impaired intracellular calcium store release and most likely by interfering with inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor activity. We further show that LPA5 also limits antigen-specific induction of CD69 and CD86 expression and that LPA5-deficient B cells display enhanced antibody responses. Thus, these data show that LPA5 negatively regulates BCR signaling, B cell activation and immune response. Our findings extend the influence of lysophospholipids on immune function and suggest that alterations in LPA levels likely influence adaptive humoral immunity.

Aging of established antiviral T cell memory can foster a series of progressive adaptations that paradoxically improve rather than compromise protective CD8+ T cell immunity. We now provide evidence that this gradual evolution, the pace of which is contingent on the precise context of the primary response, also impinges on the molecular mechanisms that regulate CD8+ memory T cell (TM) homeostasis. Over time, CD8+ TM generated in the wake of an acute infection with the natural murine pathogen lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus become more resistant to apoptosis and acquire enhanced cytokine responsiveness without adjusting their homeostatic proliferation rates; concurrent metabolic adaptations promote increased CD8+ TM quiescence and fitness but also impart the reacquisition of a partial effector-like metabolic profile; and a gradual redistribution of aging CD8+ TM from blood and nonlymphoid tissues to lymphatic organs results in CD8+ TM accumulations in bone marrow, splenic white pulp, and, particularly, lymph nodes. Altogether, these data demonstrate how temporal alterations of fundamental homeostatic determinants converge to render aged CD8+ TM poised for greater recall responses.

The choreography of complex immune responses, including the priming, differentiation, and modulation of specific effector T cell populations generated in the immediate wake of an acute pathogen challenge, is in part controlled by chemokines, a large family of mostly secreted molecules involved in chemotaxis and other patho/physiological processes. T cells are both responsive to varied chemokine cues and a relevant source for certain chemokines themselves. Yet the actual range, regulation, and role of effector T cell-derived chemokines remains incompletely understood. Here, using different in vivo models of viral and bacterial infection as well as protective vaccination, we have defined the entire spectrum of chemokines produced by pathogen-specific CD8+ and CD4+T effector cells, and delineated several unique properties pertaining to the temporospatial organization of chemokine expression patterns, synthesis and secretion kinetics, and cooperative regulation. Collectively, our results position the “T cell chemokine response” as a notably prominent, largely invariant yet distinctive force at the forefront of pathogen-specific effector T cell activities, and establish novel practical and conceptual approaches that may serve as a foundation for future investigations into role of T cell-produced chemokines in infectious and other diseases.

The lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) system constitutes one of the most widely used models for the study of infectious disease and the regulation of virus-specific T cell immunity. However, with respect to the activity of costimulatory and associated regulatory pathways, LCMV-specific T cell responses have long been regarded as relatively independent and thus distinct from the regulation of T cell immunity directed against many other viral pathogens. Here, we have reevaluated the contribution of CD28-CD80/86 costimulation in the LCMV system by use of CD80/86-deficient mice, and our results demonstrate that a disruption of CD28-CD80/86 signaling compromises the magnitude, phenotype, and/or functionality of LCMVspecific CD8 ؉ and/or CD4 ؉ T cell populations in all stages of the T cell response. Notably, a profound inhibition of secondary T cell immunity in LCMV-immune CD80/86-deficient mice emerged as a composite of both defective memory T cell development and a specific requirement for CD80 but not CD86 in the recall response, while a related experimental scenario of CD28-dependent yet CD80/86-independent secondary CD8 ؉ T cell immunity suggests the existence of a CD28 ligand other than CD80/ 86. Furthermore, we provide evidence that regulatory T cells (T REG s), the homeostasis of which is altered in CD80/86 ؊/؊ mice, contribute to restrained LCMV-specific CD8 ؉ T cell responses in the presence of CD80/86. Our observations can therefore provide a more coherent perspective on CD28-CD80/86 costimulation in antiviral T cell immunity that positions the LCMV system within a shared context of multiple defects that virus-specific T cells acquire in the absence of CD28-CD80/86 costimulation.T he generation of specific T cell immunity is governed by multiple determinants that shape the proliferative expansion and functional maturation of effector T cells (T E ) as well as their subsequent differentiation into memory T cells (T M ). Conceptualization of these processes permits the straightforward demarcation of T cell receptor (TCR)-peptide/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) interactions ("signal 1"), yet the simple notion of a defined "costimulus" required for the optimization of specific T cell responses, historically referred to as "signal 2," has been eroded by the realization that a multiplicity of diverse receptor-ligand interactions between T cells and antigen-presenting cells (APCs), soluble factors (e.g., cytokines), and specific temporospatial constraints operate in concert to control the eventual magnitude as well as the molecular, phenotypic, and functional properties of responding T E populations. Thus, it is the integration of signals derived from a large complex of stimulatory and inhibitory interactions that permits activated T cells the translation of minimal kinetic alterations into profound modifications of the ensuing T cell response (26,84). Insofar as these interactions produce a kinetic, quantitative, and/or qualitative enhancement of specific T cell immunity, individual components with...