CTLA-4 and PD-1 are receptors that negatively regulate T-cell activation. Ligation of both CTLA-4 and PD-1 blocked CD3/CD28-mediated upregulation of glucose metabolism and Akt activity, but each accomplished this regulation using separate mechanisms. CTLA-4-mediated inhibition of Akt phosphorylation is sensitive to okadaic acid, providing direct evidence that PP2A plays a prominent role in mediating CTLA-4 suppression of T-cell activation. In contrast, PD-1 signaling inhibits Akt phosphorylation by preventing CD28-mediated activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). The ability of PD-1 to suppress PI3K/AKT activation was dependent upon the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based switch motif located in its cytoplasmic tail, adding further importance to this domain in mediating PD-1 signal transduction. Lastly, PD-1 ligation is more effective in suppressing CD3/CD28-induced changes in the T-cell transcriptional profile, suggesting that differential regulation of PI3K activation by PD-1 and CTLA-4 ligation results in distinct cellular phenotypes. Together, these data suggest that CTLA-4 and PD-1 inhibit T-cell activation through distinct and potentially synergistic mechanisms.

Lymphocyte activation initiates a program of cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation that increases metabolic demand. Although T cells increase glucose uptake and glycolysis during an immune response, the signaling pathways that regulate these increases remain largely unknown. Here we show that CD28 costimulation, acting through phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K) and Akt, is required for T cells to increase their glycolytic rate in response to activation. Furthermore, CD28 controls a primary response pathway, inducing a level of glucose uptake and glycolysis in excess of that needed to maintain cellular ATP/ADP levels or macromolecular synthesis. These data suggest that CD28 costimulation functions to increase glycolytic flux, allowing T cells to anticipate energetic and biosynthetic needs associated with a sustained response.

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Ligation of either CD28 or inducible costimulatory protein (ICOS) produces a second signal required for optimal T cell activation and proliferation. One prominent difference between ICOS- and CD28-costimulated T cells is the quantity of IL-2 produced. To understand why CD28 but not ICOS elicits major increases in IL-2 expression, we compared the abilities of these molecules to activate the signal transduction cascades implicated in the regulation of IL-2. Major differences were found in the regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity (PI3K) and c-jun N-terminal kinase. ICOS costimulation led to greatly augmented levels of PI3K activity compared with CD28 costimulation, whereas only CD28 costimulation activated c-jun N-terminal kinase. To examine how these differences in signal transduction affected IL-2 production, we transduced primary human CD4 T cells with a lentiviral vector that expressed the murine CD28 extracellular domain with a variety of human CD28 and ICOS cytoplasmic domain swap constructs. These domains were able to operate as discrete signaling units, suggesting that they can function independently. Our results show that even though the ICOS Src homology (SH) 2 binding domain strongly activated PI3K, it was unable to substitute for the CD28 SH2 binding domain to induce high levels of IL-2 and Bcl-xL. Moreover, the CD28 SH2 binding domain alone was sufficient to mediate optimal levels of Bcl-xL induction, whereas the entire CD28 cytoplasmic tail was required for high levels of IL-2 expression. Thus, differences within their respective SH2 binding domains explain, at least in part, the distinct regulation of IL-2 and Bcl-xL expression following ICOS- or CD28-mediated costimulation.

The intracellular signaling pathways activated upon ligation of the co-stimulatory receptor CD28 remain relatively ill-defined, although CD28 ligation does result in the strong association with, and activation of, phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase. The downstream effector targets of the CD28-activated PI 3-kinase-dependent signaling pathway remain poorly defined, but recent evidence from other systems has shown that Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) is a major target of PI 3-kinase and have indicated that a major function of PKB is the regulation of cell survival events. Given the strong coupling of CD28 to PI 3-kinase and the known protective effects of both CD28 and PI 3-kinase against apoptosis in different cell models, we investigated the effects of CD28 on PKB activation. We demonstrate that ligation of CD28 by either anti-CD28 monoclonal antibodies or the natural ligand B7.1, results in the marked activation of PKB in both the leukemic T cell line Jurkat and freshly isolated human peripheral blood-derived normal T lymphocytes. Our data suggest therefore, that PKB may be an important intracellular signal involved in CD28 signal transduction and demonstrate CD28 coupling to downstream elements of a signaling cascade known to promote cell survival.

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The phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling pathway has been implicated in a range of T lymphocyte cellular functions, particularly growth, proliferation, cytokine secretion, and survival. Dysregulation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase-dependent signaling and function in leukocytes, including B and T lymphocytes, has been implicated in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. As befits a pivotal signaling cascade, several mechanisms exist to ensure that the pathway is tightly regulated. This minireview focuses on two lipid phosphatases, viz. the 3 -phosphatase PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) and SHIP (Src homology 2 domain-containing inositol-5-phosphatase). We discuss their role in regulating T lymphocyte signaling as well their potential as future therapeutic targets.The PI3K 3 pathway plays a central role in regulating many biological processes, primarily via the generation of the potent second messenger PtdIns(3,4,5)P 3 , which acts as a docking site at the plasma membrane, recruiting and activating proteins containing pleckstrin homology (PH) domains (1). These downstream PI3K effectors include PDK-1 (3Ј-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1), which phosphorylates and activates the AGC protein kinases, including protein kinase B/Akt. Other kinases such as Tec family kinases can also interact directly with PtdIns(3,4,5)P 3 , as can GTPase-activating proteins and guanine nucleotide exchange factors as well as scaffolding proteins that nucleate the assembly of key signaling complexes (1, 2). PI3K and T LymphocytesT cells express all three class 1A PI3K isoforms (p110␣, p110␤, and p110␦), which are regulated by protein-tyrosine kinase-coupled receptors, as well as class 1B p110␥, which is activated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The T cell antigen receptor (TCR), CD28 family co-stimulatory receptors, and cytokine receptors activate class 1A isoforms (3). Chemokines (by virtue of interacting with GPCRs), activate mainly class 1B PI3K (4). Use of pharmacological tools in leukemic human T cell lines first indicated a possible role for PI3K in T cell activation (5). Mice with a knock-in point mutation of p110␦ that abolishes kinase activity exhibit selective impairments in TCR signaling and reduced proliferation in vitro (6) and impaired function of CD4 ϩ CD25 ϩ Foxp3 ϩ T Reg cells (7). Interestingly, mice lacking both p110␥ and p110␦ show much more profound defects in thymocyte development and survival compared with mice lacking individual isoforms, indicating that these isoforms serve partially redundant functions in thymocytes (8, 9). Pathological consequences of combined p110␥␦ deficiency includes T cell lymphopenia, which leads to multiple-organ inflammation (10). Surprisingly, mice with T cellspecific loss of class 1A PI3K exhibit largely normal thymocyte development, and peripheral T cell numbers and subsets are unimpaired in young animals (11,12). In vitro proliferation of T cells from these mice in response to TCR ligation is abrogated, and there is complete loss of PI3K sig...

Many cancers are termed immunoevasive due to expression of immunomodulatory ligands. Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and cluster of differentiation 80/86 (CD80/86) interact with their receptors, programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic Tlymphocyte associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) respectively, on tumorinfiltrating leukocytes eliciting immunosuppression. Immunotherapies aimed at blocking these interactions are revolutionizing cancer treatments, albeit in an inadequately described patient subset. To address the issue of patient stratification for immune checkpoint intervention, we quantitatively imaged PD-1/PD-L1 interactions in tumor samples from patients, employing an assay that readily detects these intercellular proteinprotein interactions in the less than or equal to 10nm range. These analyses across multiple patient cohorts demonstrated the intercancer, inter-patient, and intra-tumoral heterogeneity of interacting immune checkpoints. The PD-1/PD-L1 interaction was not correlated with clinical PD-L1 expression scores in malignant melanoma. Crucially, amongst anti-PD-1 treated metastatic NSCLC patients, those with lower PD-1/PD-L1 interaction had significantly worsened survival. It is surmised that within tumors selecting for an elevated level of PD-1/PD-L1 interaction, there is a greater dependence on this pathway for immune evasion and hence they exhibit more impressive patient response to intervention. Research.