Mucosal secretions of the human gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genital tracts contain significant quantities of IgG. The mechanism by which IgG reaches luminal secretions and the function of IgG in these locations are unknown. Here, we find that the human neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is the vehicle that transports IgG across the intestinal epithelial barrier into the lumen where the IgG can bind cognate antigen. The FcRn can then recycle the IgG/antigen complex back across the intestinal barrier into the lamina propria for processing by dendritic cells and presentation to CD4(+) T cells in regional organized lymphoid structures. These results explain how IgG is secreted onto mucosal surfaces and scavenges luminal antigens for recognition by the immune system.

SUMMARY The glycosphingolipid GM1 binds cholera toxin (CT) on host cells and carries it retrograde from the plasma membrane (PM) through endosomes, the trans-Golgi (TGN), and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to induce toxicity. To elucidate how a membrane lipid can specify trafficking in these pathways, we synthesized GM1 isoforms with alternate ceramide domains and imaged their trafficking in live cells. Only GM1 with unsaturated acyl chains sorted efficiently from PM to TGN and ER. Toxin binding, which effectively crosslinks GM1 lipids, was dispensable, but membrane cholesterol and the lipid raft-associated proteins actin and flotillin were required. The results implicate a protein-dependent mechanism of lipid-sorting by ceramide structure and provide a molecular explanation for the diversity and specificity of retrograde trafficking by CT in host cells.

The human MHC class I-related neonatal Fc receptor, hFcRn, mediates bidirectional transport of IgG across mucosal barriers. Here, we find that at steady state hFcRn distributes predominantly to an apical intracellular compartment and almost exclusively to the basolateral cell surface of polarized epithelial cells. It moves only transiently to the apical membrane. Ligand binding does not redistribute the steady state location of the receptor. Removal of the cytoplasmic tail that contains di-leucine and tryptophan-based endocytosis motifs or incubation at low temperature (18°C) redistributes the receptor apically. The rates of endocytosis of the full-length hFcRn from the apical or basolateral membrane domains, however, are equal. Thus, the strong cell surface polarity displayed by hFcRn results from dominant basolateral sorting by motifs in the cytoplasmic tail that nonetheless allows for a cycle of bidirectional transcytosis. INTRODUCTIONThe numerous studies on the cell biology of the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) and transferrin receptor (TfnR) as expressed in the Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line have provided a detailed characterization of the itineraries of these proteins undergoing such processes as basolateral recycling, basolateral to apical transcytosis, and apical recycling in MDCK cells (Mostov and Deitcher, 1986;Leung et al., 1999;Brown et al., 2000;. Comparatively little is known about trafficking in the apical to basolateral direction because of the lack of a model protein that physiologically harnesses this pathway, and whether the trafficking of pIgR and TfnR can be generalized to the trafficking of other proteins in polarized cells remains to be tested.The MHC class I-related neonatal Fc receptor, FcRn, is responsible for the absorption of maternal IgG across the rabbit and rodent yolk sac, the human placenta, and the proximal small intestine of the neonatal rodent (Rodewald, 1970;Simister and Mostov, 1989;Roberts et al., 1990;Medesan et al., 1996;Firan et al., 2001). Absorption of IgG depends on the ability of FcRn to bind IgG and traffic bidirectionally across the epithelial cells that line the lumen of these tissues (Jones and Waldmann, 1972;Abrahamson and Rodewald, 1981;Dickinson et al., 1999;McCarthy et al., 2000;Kobayashi et al., 2002). Almost nothing is known about the cellular mechanisms that explain how any membrane receptor can move bidirectionally across polarized epithelial cells.Like most other MHC class I-related molecules, FcRn is an obligate heterodimer consisting of a glycosylated heavy (␣) chain (40 -44 kDa in humans, 48 -50 kDa in rodents) that associates noncovalently with ␤2-microglobulin (␤ 2 m; Simister and Mostov, 1989). The association with ␤ 2 m is species dependent (Claypool et al., 2002), and the functional receptor is likely a dimer of heterodimers that binds one IgG molecule (Burmeister et al., 1994;Kim et al., 1994). The Fc fragment of IgG binds to FcRn at acidic pH (pH Յ6.5) and releases from the receptor at neutral pH (Rodewald, 1976). In cells...

Initiation of adaptive mucosal immunity occurs in organized mucosal lymphoid tissues such as Peyer’s patches of the small intestine. Mucosal lymphoid follicles are covered by a specialized follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) that contains M cells, which mediate uptake and transepithelial transport of luminal Ags. FAE cells also produce chemokines that attract Ag-presenting dendritic cells (DCs). TLRs link innate and adaptive immunity, but their possible role in regulating FAE functions is unknown. We show that TLR2 is expressed in both FAE and villus epithelium, but TLR2 activation by peptidoglycan or Pam3Cys injected into the intestinal lumen of mice resulted in receptor redistribution in the FAE only. TLR2 activation enhanced transepithelial transport of microparticles by M cells in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, TLR2 activation induced the matrix metalloproteinase-dependent migration of subepithelial DCs into the FAE, but not into villus epithelium of wild-type and TLR4-deficient mice. These responses were not observed in TLR2-deficient mice. Thus, the FAE of Peyer’s patches responds to TLR2 ligands in a manner that is distinct from the villus epithelium. Intraluminal LPS, a TLR4 ligand, also enhanced microparticle uptake by the FAE and induced DC migration into the FAE, suggesting that other TLRs may modulate FAE functions. We conclude that TLR-mediated signals regulate the gatekeeping functions of the FAE to promote Ag capture by DCs in organized mucosal lymphoid tissues.

Cholera toxin (CT) causes the massive secretory diarrhea associated with epidemic cholera. To induce disease, CT enters the cytosol of host cells by co-opting a lipid-based sorting pathway from the plasma membrane, through the trans-Golgi network (TGN), and into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). In the ER, a portion of the toxin is unfolded and retro-translocated to the cytosol. Here, we established zebrafish as a genetic model of intoxication and examined the Derlin and flotillin proteins, which are thought to be usurped by CT for retro-translocation and lipid sorting, respectively. Using antisense morpholino oligomers and siRNA, we found that depletion of Derlin-1, a component of the Hrd-1 retro-translocation complex, was dispensable for CT-induced toxicity. In contrast, the lipid raft-associated proteins flotillin-1 and -2 were required. We found that in mammalian cells, CT intoxication was dependent on the flotillins for trafficking between plasma membrane/endosomes and two pathways into the ER, only one of which appears to intersect the TGN. These results revise current models for CT intoxication and implicate protein scaffolding of lipid rafts in the endosomal sorting of the toxin-GM1 complex. IntroductionCholera toxin (CT) is an AB 5 -subunit toxin responsible for the massive secretory diarrhea seen in epidemic cholera. As for most toxins, CT must gain access to the cytosol of host cells to cause disease. The strategy employed by CT is to bind ganglioside GM1 in the plasma membrane (PM) via the B-subunit (CTB). GM1 carries the toxin retrograde through endosomes, the trans-Golgi network (TGN), and likely all the way into the ER (1, 2). In the ER, a portion of the A-subunit (CTA), the A1-chain, crosses to the cytosol by coopting the machinery that retro-translocates terminally misfolded proteins for degradation by the proteasome (termed ER-associated degradation [ERAD]; refs. 3, 4). The A1-chain refolds in the cytosol and activates adenylate cyclase to increase cAMP. The mechanisms for lipid sorting and ERAD usurped by CT are fundamental to eukaryotic cell biology but remain incompletely understood. To explore how CT exploits these pathways in an unbiased way, we used the zebrafish as a model because it is amenable to genetic screens. Here, we show that CT intoxicates zebrafish embryos by hijacking the same basic mechanisms used in mammalian cells and examine the dependence of CT toxicity on two families of proteins implicated in toxin action: the flotillins and Derlins. These proteins have emerged as important components of lipid-based trafficking and ERAD, respectively.There is evidence that GM1 sorts CT retrograde from PM to ER by association with lipid rafts (2, 5-8). Lipid rafts are cooperative selfassemblies of lipids and proteins that influence various aspects of