TGF-β Inhibits IL-2 Production and Promotes Cell Cycle Arrest in TCR-Activated Effector/Memory T Cells in the Presence of Sustained TCR Signal Transduction

Abstract

TGF-β signaling is critical for controlling naive T cell homeostasis and differentiation; however, the biological and biochemical changes induced by TGF-β in effector/memory T cells are poorly defined. We show that although TGF-β inhibits effector/memory peripheral blood T lymphoblast proliferation and IL-2 production, the intensity and kinetics for TCR-induced global tyrosine phosphorylation are markedly increased compared with that in untreated cells or naive T cells. After TCR ligation, tyrosine phosphorylation of proximal tyrosine kinases and docking proteins like linker for activation of T cells is maintained for >30 min in TGF-β-primed cells compared with untreated cells where phosphorylation of these targets returned to basal levels by 10 min. Extended phosphorylation of linker for activation of T cells in treated peripheral blood T selectively prolongs ERK 1/2 signaling and phospholipase C-γ1 activation leading to increased Ca2+ flux. A kinase/phosphatase imbalance could not account for extended phosphorylation as CD45R, SHP-1, and SHP-2 expression remains unaltered. The contradiction between prolonged signal transduction and inhibition of proliferation is partially explained by the observation that TGF-β priming results in ERK 1/2-independent p21 induction and decreased cyclin D1 expression leading to accumulation of T cells in G0/G1 phases of the cell cycle and cell cycle arrest. Despite inhibition of T cell function by TGF-β priming, TCR and cytokine signaling pathways are intact and selectively extended, suggesting that suppression in the effector/memory T cell is mediated by reprogramming signal transduction, rather than its inhibition as in the naive T cell.

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