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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, January 2006, p. 106-115, Vol. 13, No. 1
1071-412X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.13.1.106-115.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Robert G. Tuskan, and
George K. Lewis
Division of Vaccine Research, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, University of MarylandBaltimore, Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Received 31 August 2005/ Returned for modification 10 October 2005/ Accepted 27 October 2005
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Cholera toxin (CT) is an AB5 enterotoxin produced by Vibrio cholerae, the primary causative agent of the disease cholera. CT consists of a 27-kDa catalytic A domain anchored in a ring of five identical 11.7-kDa B subunits (40). The B pentamer of CT binds to GM1 gangliosides on cell membranes (28). CT has a Lys/Arg-Asp-Glu-Leu ([K/R]DEL) signal sequence at the C terminus of its A domain. This sequence is believed to target the toxin to the endoplasmic reticulum, where the A1 subunit (disguised as a misfolded host protein) is transported to the cytoplasm by the endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation pathway (reviewed in reference 27). In the cytosol, the A1 subunit catalyzes the transfer of an ADP-ribose from NAD to stimulatory
-subunits of G proteins (Gs
). After ADP-ribosylation, Gs
binds to adenylate cyclase and constitutively activates it, leading to a sustained increase in the intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) concentration (12). The increased intracellular cAMP concentrations in intestinal epithelial cells are the primary cause of the massive fluid and electrolyte release associated with the disease cholera.
CT is also a powerful mucosal immunogen and adjuvant (reviewed in reference 35). When delivered mucosally, CT induces strong primary and secondary antibody responses and long-lasting immunologic memory to itself and to coadministered antigens (36, 48). In mice, antibody responses to CT and bystander antigens can last up to 2 years (36, 48). The activation/maturation of DC at sites of immunization may be responsible for the potent immunogenic and adjuvant effects of CT. In support of this, CT and the related toxins Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin and pertussis toxin were found to induce the maturation of DC (2, 3, 21). With further study, the elevated cAMP levels induced by these toxins were found to be responsible for DC maturation (2, 3), and their enzymatic activity has been shown to play a dominant role in adjuvanticity (5, 6, 23, 34, 37).
Prostaglandins, most notably prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), have gained notoriety for their ability to synergize with other agonists to activate DC (42). Interestingly, CT has been shown to increase the production of PGE2 in many cell types, including DC, through the release of arachidonic acid (7, 8, 11, 18, 39). Nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide anions have also recently gained attention for their ability to directly activate DC or to synergize with other agonists that activate DC (29, 41). Like prostaglandins, NO can either work directly on the cells that produce it or exert effects on neighboring cells. One of the most well-known effects of NO is the activation of guanylate cyclase (15), which results in the conversion of GTP to cyclic GMP (cGMP) and the subsequent activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase G.
In vitro and in vivo, low concentrations of CT activate large numbers of DC. For this reason, we hypothesized that DC activated by CT may release soluble factors that enhance their own maturation and induce the maturation of toxin-free bystander DC. In support of this hypothesis, we found that CT-stimulated MDDC produce PGE2 and NO and that these factors contribute to the maturation of the stimulated MDDC and most likely contribute to the maturation of bystander MDDC. The results of this study provide new insights into how immune responses are initiated at points of pathogen entry and may help explain the potent adjuvant effects of cholera-like enterotoxins.
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Cell culture medium. Medium consisted of RPMI 1640 medium (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with 2 mM L-glutamine (Sigma), 1% stock nonessential amino acids (Life Technologies), 1% stock sodium pyruvate (Life Technologies), 50 µM 2-mercaptoethanol (Sigma), 50 µg/ml gentamicin (Life Technologies), and 10% fetal calf serum (Life Technologies).
Dendritic cell preparations. All human specimens were obtained under informed consent as approved by the University of Maryland Baltimore Institutional Review Board. MDDC were generated as described previously, with minor modifications (45). Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were enriched for CD14+ monocytes by negative selection (StemCell Technologies, Vancouver, Canada). The isolated monocytes were adhered to plastic and then washed with RPMI 1640 medium. The cells were cultured at 1 x 106 cells per/ml in DC culture medium supplemented with 50 ng/ml recombinant GM-CSF and 1,000 units/ml recombinant IL-4 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN).
Mixed lymphocyte response. MDDC from three different donors were prepared as described above and washed three times before addition to a single donor's T cells. Naïve CD4+ T cells were enriched from peripheral blood mononuclear cells by negative selection (StemCell Technologies). Naïve CD4+ T cells were cultured in triplicates at 1 x 105 cells/well with 3,000 allogeneic MDDC in 96-well U-bottom plates. The cells were pulsed with 1 µCi/well [3H]thymidine (Perkin-Elmer Life Sciences, Boston, MA) for the last 18 h of culture before measuring thymidine incorporation using a Packard Matrix 96 direct beta counter on the fifth day. Percent inhibition was calculated with the following formula: 100 [(inhibited cpm unstimulated cpm)/(uninhibited cpm unstimulated cpm) x 100].
Flow cytometry. Cells were incubated for 30 min at 4°C with murine monoclonal antibodies specific for CD80, CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR (BD Pharmingen, San Diego, CA), washed, and then fixed with 2% paraformaldehyde for analysis using a FACScalibur flow cytometer (BD, San Jose, CA). Data analysis was carried out using FlowJo software (Tree Star Inc., San Carlos, CA).
Calculation of percent phenotypic activation and inhibition. The fraction of MDDC that increased the expression of maturation markers on the cell surface (percent activation) was calculated with FlowJo software by overlaying the histograms of treated and untreated MDDC and Overton subtraction of the curves. Percent inhibition was calculated with the following formula: [(X Y)/X] x 100, where X is the fraction of cells that increased the expression of a marker in the absence of the inhibitor and Y is the fraction of cells that increased the expression of a marker in the presence of the inhibitor.
Inhibitor concentrations. The optimal concentration of each inhibitor used was determined as follows. Baseline concentrations were obtained from previously published reports. If the inhibitor did not have adverse effects on the cells (determined by trypan blue staining and changes in forward- or side-scatter profiles) after 20 h and if it displayed significant inhibition, this concentration was used for all other experiments. However, if the inhibitor displayed weak inhibition, the concentration was increased until adverse effects were apparent on the cells. The highest concentration of the inhibitor that did not induce adverse effects on the cells was then used for all further experiments.
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
) ELISA.
Day 4 MDDC (2 x 106 cells/well in 12-well culture dishes in a total volume of 2 ml) were left untreated or were treated with 1 µg/ml of CT or 1 mM d-cAMP in the presence or absence of 1 µg/ml of LPS. Twelve hours later, supernatants were removed from the cells and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) according to the manufacturer's instructions (R&D Systems).
PGE2 EIA. Day 4 MDDC (2 x 106 cells/well in 12-well culture dishes in a total volume of 2 ml) were left untreated or were treated with 1 µg/ml of CT or LPS or 1 mM d-cAMP. Twelve hours later, supernatants were removed from the cells. The supernatants were diluted 1:10 with PGE2 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) buffer (Cayman). The diluted supernatants were analyzed by PGE2 EIA according to the manufacturer's instructions (Cayman).
DC migration assay. DC migration was assessed using 24-well transwell plates with an 8-µm membrane (Costar, Corning, NY). MDDC (1 x 105 cells) were resuspended in 200 µl MDDC medium without GM-CSF or IL-4 and placed into the upper chamber of the transwell system. The lower chamber contained 500 µl of MDDC medium supplemented with 100 ng/ml each of macrophage inflammatory protein 3ß (MIP-3ß) and 6Ckine (R&D Systems). After 2 h of incubation at 37°C, the cells in the lower chamber were counted. Control cultures were kept in the absence of chemokines to assess baseline migration activity.
Statistics. P values were determined using a Student's t test.
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Figure 1A shows that the unstimulated and bystander cells in the control cultures remained CD83 negative, indicating that these cells retained an immature phenotype. By contrast, as shown in Fig. 1B, the stimulated MDDC and the bystander MDDC in the stimulated cultures became CD83 positive, indicating that these cells had undergone maturation. It should be noted that the concentrations of residual d-cAMP and forskolin in the cultures of the stimulated cells, after three washes, were far less than the minimum concentrations necessary to induce MDDC maturation (data not shown). Therefore, the maturation of bystander MDDC is unlikely to be due to the effects of residual d-cAMP or forskolin in the cultures.
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FIG. 1. Bystander maturation of MDDC induced by cAMP-elevating agonists. (A and B) Bystander maturation of MDDC in mixed cultures. MDDC were pulsed (B) or not pulsed (A) with d-cAMP and forskolin (incubated for 4 h with 1 mM d-cAMP and 100 µM forskolin and then washed three times to remove the agonist). These pulsed or unpulsed control MDDC (control MDDC were washed three times) were then replated at a 1:1 ratio with unpulsed bystander MDDC (MDDC labeled with 1 µM CFSE) in fresh culture medium. Twenty hours after replating, the cells were harvested and stained for flow cytometry with PE-labeled anti-CD83. (A) Control cultures (unpulsed MDDC mixed with CFSE-labeled bystander MDDC). (B) Pulsed cultures (pulsed MDDC mixed with CFSE-labeled bystander MDDC). Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors. (C) Bystander maturation of MDDC by d-cAMP and forskolin-pulsed MDDC in transwell cultures. MDDC were pulsed or not pulsed with d-cAMP and forskolin (incubated for 4 h with 1 mM d-cAMP and 100 µM forskolin and then washed three times to remove the agonist). These pulsed or unpulsed control MDDC were then replated, and untreated bystander MDDC were plated in transwell inserts (upper chambers) and inserted into the culture wells containing the pulsed or unpulsed control MDDC (bottom chamber). Twenty hours later, the cells in the upper and lower chambers were harvested and stained for flow cytometry with PE-labeled anti-CD80, fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled anti-CD83, CyC-labeled anti-CD86, and PE-labeled anti-HLA-DR. Cells in transwell cultures (solid histograms) are compared to untreated MDDC from separate cultures (dotted histograms). Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors. (D) Bystander maturation of MDDC by CT-pulsed MDDC in transwell cultures. MDDC were pulsed with CT (incubated with 5 µg/ml of CT for 10 min before the addition of 10 µg/ml of GM1). In GM control cultures, GM1 was added 10 min before CT. In CT control cultures, no GM1 was added. Thirty minutes after the addition of CT, untreated bystander MDDC in transwell inserts (upper chambers) were inserted into the culture wells containing the CT-treated MDDC (lower chambers). Twenty hours later, the cells in the upper and lower chambers were harvested and stained for flow cytometry with PE-labeled anti-CD80, FITC-labeled anti-CD83, FITC-labeled anti-CD86, and PE-labeled anti-HLA-DR. Cells in transwell cultures (solid histograms) are compared to untreated MDDC from separate cultures (dotted histograms). Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors.
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Initially, CT-stimulated MDDC were not tested for the ability to induce bystander maturation, as CT cannot be completely washed away from the stimulated cells. However, the effects of CT on MDDC can be completely blocked by the addition of soluble GM1 to the culture medium. In this regard, adding 10 µg/ml of GM1 to a culture of MDDC 10 min before the addition of 5 µg/ml of CT completely blocks the maturation of the MDDC induced by CT but not by LPS (GM1 control cells) (data not shown). By contrast, adding 10 µg/ml of GM1 to a culture of MDDC 10 min after the addition of 5 µg/ml of CT has no effect on MDDC maturation (CT-pulsed cells) (data not shown).
For these experiments, MDDC in the bottom chambers of transwell plates were pulsed with CT (incubated with 5 µg/ml of CT for 10 min before the addition of 10 µg/ml of GM1). Thirty minutes after the addition of CT, bystander MDDC were added to the upper chambers of the transwell cultures. In the GM1 control cultures, 10 µg/ml of GM1 was added 10 min before the addition of 5 µg/ml of CT. CT control cells were incubated with CT in the absence of GM1. Twenty hours later, the cells in the upper and lower chambers were harvested and assayed by flow cytometry and a mixed-lymphocyte reaction (MLR). Figure 1D shows that GM1 completely inhibited the ability of CT to induce the phenotypic maturation of MDDC in the GM1 control cultures. By contrast, in the pulsed cultures, the CT-pulsed MDDC (lower chamber) and the bystander MDDC (upper chamber) displayed phenotypic maturation. In addition, Fig. 2A shows that CT-pulsed MDDC and CT bystander MDDC from the pulsed cultures were equally potent antigen-presenting cells (APC) in an MLR, indicating that both populations were functionally mature. The increases in T-cell proliferation induced by the stimulated and bystander cells are statistically significant (P < 0.05).
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FIG. 2. Bystander MDDC are functionally mature. (A) Bystander MDDC induce robust T-cell proliferation. MDDC prepared in Fig. 1D were used in an MLR as described in Materials and Methods. Data shown are the means and standard errors from cells derived from three different donors. (B) Migration of MDDC in response to MIP-3ß and 6Ckine. MDDC (1 x 105 cells) were placed into the upper chamber of the transwell system. The lower chamber contained medium supplemented with 100 ng/ml each of MIP-3ß and 6Ckine. After 2 h of incubation at 37°C, the cells in the lower chamber were counted. Control cultures were kept in the absence of chemokines to assess random migration activity. Data shown are the means and standard errors of the means from cells derived from three different donors.
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Transwell cultures were established using d-cAMP and forskolin-pulsed or CT-pulsed MDDC and bystanders, as described above. As an additional control, MDDC were matured in the presence of 100 ng/ml of LPS. Forty hours after the initiation of the cultures, the agonist-pulsed cells from the lower chambers and the bystander cells from the upper chambers were harvested, washed, and used in migration assays as follows. A total of 1 x 105 cells were placed into the upper chamber of a transwell system where the lower chamber contained medium supplemented with 100 ng/ml each of MIP-3ß and 6Ckine. Control cultures were set up in the absence of chemokines to assess random migration activity. After 2 h of incubation at 37°C, the migrated MDDC in the lower chambers were harvested and counted.
Figure 2B shows that MDDC stimulated by d-cAMP and forskolin or CT showed similar migration activity to that of LPS-matured MDDC, a level far above that of the immature MDDC in the control cultures. Likewise, the bystander MDDC in the stimulated cultures showed similar migration activity to that of LPS-matured MDDC. The increases in migration of the stimulated and bystander cells are statistically significant (P < 0.05). For all of the tested MDDC, in the absence of chemokines, less than 1,000 cells migrated to the lower chambers (data not shown). These results, in addition to the results described above, indicate that MDDC stimulated to maturity by cAMP-elevating agonists release soluble factors that induce the full maturation of bystander MDDC not stimulated by the agonist.
MDDC incubated with CT or d-cAMP dominantly inhibit the production of TNF-
.
The most obvious candidate factors responsible for the bystander maturation described above are inflammatory cytokines. In this regard, TNF-
activates DC and is routinely used in cocktails for the maturation of MDDC used in clinical trials. TNF-
has also been shown to synergize with PGE2 for more potent activation of DC. However, it has been shown that cAMP-elevating agonists such as CT dominantly inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines (2, 3, 21). For these reasons, we measured TNF-
concentrations in the supernatants of MDDC cultures stimulated with CT or d-cAMP. Day 4 MDDC were left untreated or were treated with 1 µg/ml CT or 1 mM d-cAMP in the presence or absence of 1 µg/ml LPS. After 12 h in culture, TNF-
concentrations in the supernatants were determined by ELISA.
Figure 3 shows that MDDC incubated with CT or d-cAMP do not produce TNF-
. In addition, these cAMP-elevating agents dominantly inhibit the production of this cytokine induced by LPS. The increase in TNF-
production by LPS-stimulated cells over that of untreated cells is statistically significant (P < 0.05). The differences in TNF-
production between CT- or d-cAMP-stimulated cells in the presence or absence of LPS and untreated cells are not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Similar results have been found with other cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6, and IL-12 (2, 3, 21). These results indicate that inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-
are unlikely to be responsible for the bystander maturation described above.
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FIG. 3. TNF- is not responsible for bystander maturation. Day 4 MDDC were left untreated or were treated with 1 µg/ml CT or 1 mM d-cAMP in the presence or absence of 1 µg/ml LPS. After 12 h of culture, TNF- concentrations in the supernatants were determined by ELISA. Data shown are the means and standard errors of the means from cells derived from at least three different donors.
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First, we tested PGE2 production by stimulated MDDC. Day 4 MDDC were treated with 1 µg/ml of CT, 1 mM d-cAMP, or 1 µg/ml LPS (as a control). Twelve hours later, supernatants were subjected to PGE2 EIA. Figure 4A shows that CT and d-cAMP as well as LPS increased PGE2 production by MDDC. The increases in PGE2 production by the stimulated cells are statistically significant (P < 0.05). Next, we determined whether prostaglandin production contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by these agonists. To determine this, we incubated MDDC with these agonists in the presence of the COX-1-specific inhibitor aspirin (22) or the COX-2-specific inhibitor NS-398 (20). MDDC were incubated with 0.5 µg/ml CT, 500 µM d-cAMP, or 0.5 µg/ml LPS (as a control) with or without a prior 1-h incubation with 50 µg/ml of aspirin or 1 µg/ml of NS-398. Twenty hours later, the cells were assayed by flow cytometry. The percent inhibition was calculated as described in Materials and Methods and is illustrated in Fig. 4B.
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FIG. 4. PGE2 production by MDDC. (A) MDDC were treated with 1 µg/ml CT or LPS or 1 mM d-cAMP. Twelve hours later, supernatants were removed, and PGE2 concentrations in the supernatants were measured by EIA. Data were obtained from three experiments performed on MDDC derived from different donors. The means and standard errors of the means are shown. (B) Example calculation of percent inhibition. The formula used to calculate percent inhibition is [(X Y)/X] x 100, where X is the fraction of cells that increased the expression of a marker in the absence of the inhibitor and Y is the fraction of cells that increased the expression of a marker in the presence of the inhibitor. Panel 1 shows CD83 expression in the absence of an inhibitor, and panel 2 shows CD83 expression in the presence of an inhibitor. X is 90, Y is 15, and the equation [(90 15) x 100]/90 equals 83.3% inhibition.
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TABLE 1. Prostaglandin production contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by cAMP-elevating agonistsa
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Nitric oxide contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by CT and d-cAMP through the activation of guanylate cyclase. Elevated cAMP levels increase the expression of inducible NO synthase and increase the production of NO in many cell types (9, 13, 33). In addition, a possible role for NO in DC maturation is indicated by the ability of an NO-scavenging antioxidant to inhibit LPS-induced maturation of DC (49). For these reasons, we determined NO production by individual cells using DAF-2 diacetate, a sensitive and specific fluorescent indicator for the detection of NO (25, 31). MDDC were incubated for 20 h with 10 µM DAF-2 diacetate with or without 1 µg/ml CT, 1 mM d-cAMP, or 1 µg/ml LPS (as a control) and then analyzed by flow cytometry. Figure 5A shows that the mean channel fluorescence of MDDC incubated with DAF-2 increases when they are coincubated with CT, d-cAMP, or LPS. These results indicate that MDDC produce NO when stimulated with CT, d-cAMP, or LPS.
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FIG. 5. Nitric oxide contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by cAMP-elevating agonists through the elevation of cGMP. (A) Nitric oxide production by MDDC. MDDC were incubated with 10 µM DAF-2 diacetate with or without 1 µg/ml LPS, 1 µg/ml CT, or 1 mM d-cAMP. Twenty hours later, the cells were assayed by flow cytometry. Stimulated MDDC (solid histograms) are compared to untreated MDDC (dotted histograms). Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors. (B) Dibutyryl-cGMP and YC-1 activate MDDC to mature. Cell surface expression of the indicated markers on untreated MDDC (dotted histograms) or stimulated MDDC (solid histograms) is shown. MDDC were incubated with 1 mM d-cAMP (as a control) or the indicated concentrations of dibutyryl-cGMP or YC-1 for 20 h. Cells were then harvested and stained for four-color flow cytometry with PE-labeled anti-CD80, FITC-labeled anti-CD83, Cy-Chrome-labeled anti-CD86, and APC-labeled anti-HLA-DR. Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors.
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TABLE 2. Nitric oxide production contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by cAMP-elevating agonistsa
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One of the key downstream signaling pathways activated by NO is the guanylate cyclase/cGMP pathway. Therefore, we determined whether increased intracellular levels of cGMP activate MDDC. MDDC were incubated for 20 h with increasing concentrations of the membrane-permeable analog of cGMP, dibutyryl-cGMP, or the guanylate cyclase activator YC-1 (30). Twenty hours later, the cells were assayed by flow cytometry. Figure 5B shows that dibutyryl-cGMP and YC-1 induce phenotypic MDDC maturation in a dose-dependent manner. These results demonstrate that signaling through guanylate cyclase, a pathway known to be activated by NO, induces the phenotypic maturation of MDDC.
To test whether cGMP production by guanylate cyclase contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by CT, d-cAMP, or LPS, we incubated MDDC for 20 h with these agonists in the presence or absence of the guanylate cyclase inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3-a1]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ) (10) (100 µM) or the protein kinase G inhibitor KT5823 (24) (8 µM). Table 2 shows that ODQ and KT5823 strongly inhibit the phenotypic maturation and moderately inhibit the functional maturation of MDDC induced by these agonists. Together, these results indicate that induction of guanylate cyclase, possibly by NO, contributes to the maturation of MDDC induced by elevated cAMP levels and LPS.
PGE2 and dibutyryl-cGMP synergize for the maturation of MDDC. The above-described results indicate that products of the COX enzymes and NO contribute to the maturation of MDDC and most likely contribute to the maturation of bystander MDDC. However, the potency of either factor alone is not able to fully explain the observed bystander maturation. For this reason, we determined whether PGE2 and elevated cGMP levels (dibutyryl-cGMP) synergize for the activation of MDDC. MDDC were incubated with 1 µg/ml of CT (as a control) or suboptimal doses of PGE2 (1 µM) and dibutyryl-cGMP (250 µM), alone or together. Twenty hours later, the cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Figure 6 shows that PGE2 and dibutyryl-cGMP synergize for the phenotypic maturation of MDDC.
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FIG. 6. Synergy between PGE2 and dibutyryl-cGMP. Cell surface expression of the indicated markers on untreated MDDC (dotted histograms) or MDDC treated with the indicated agonist (solid histograms) is shown. MDDC were incubated with 1 µg/ml of CT (as a control) or 1 µM PGE2 or 250 µM dibutyryl-cGMP alone or together for 20 h. The cells were then harvested and stained for four-color flow cytometry with PE-labeled anti-CD80, FITC-labeled anti-CD83, Cy-Chrome-labeled anti-CD86, and APC-labeled anti-HLA-DR. Numbers in histograms indicate the increase in mean fluorescence of treated MDDC over untreated MDDC. Data are representative of one experiment of three performed with similar results on MDDC derived from different donors.
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The data presented in this study indicate that human DC stimulated to mature by cAMP-elevating agonists release soluble factors that induce the maturation of human bystander DC not stimulated by the agonist. A separate study showed a similar phenomenon in the mouse (47). In this regard, wild-type mouse bone marrow-derived DC activated by LPS can induce the maturation of bystander TLR4/ DC (47). In addition, it was shown using bone marrow chimeras that bystander maturation occurs in vivo using Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists (47). That study found that although the bystander DC displayed all of the characteristics of fully mature DC, they failed to produce IL-12 and expanded T cells that did not display a Th1 or Th2 phenotype. Those authors hypothesized that the bystander DC may induce T cells with a regulatory phenotype that help control the immune response (47).
We have a slightly different interpretation of the data (47). Although it has been published that MDDC matured by CT expand T cells with a Th2 phenotype (21), in our hands, CT-matured DC consistently generate T cells that fail to produce Th1 or Th2 effector cytokines. Therefore, in our hands, DC matured with CT strongly resemble bystander DC matured by factors released from DC stimulated with cAMP-elevating agonists or TLR agonists. In contrast to generating tolerance, CT is known to be a potent adjuvant. Therefore, we believe that bystander DC do not exclusively expand T cells with a regulatory phenotype but rather expand effector T cells with an undetermined phenotype.
Although the other study (47) convincingly showed bystander maturation using TLR agonists in the mouse, no experiments were undertaken to determine the nature of the soluble factors involved (47). Those authors hypothesized that inflammatory mediators including inflammatory cytokines such as alpha/beta interferon are responsible for the observed bystander maturation (47). This is supported by the fact that cytokines such as TNF-
induce the maturation of DC and are routinely used in maturation cocktails for the maturation of MDDC used in clinical trials. However, DC matured by inflammatory cytokines generally produce IL-12 and expand T cells with a Th1 phenotype. Therefore, it is difficult to reconcile how bystander DC matured by inflammatory cytokines would fail to produce IL-12 and expand T cells with a regulatory phenotype.
Our data indicate that the bystander maturation may be the result of factors that are not proteins. In this regard, unlike TLR agonists, it has been shown that cAMP-elevating agonists dominantly inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines (2, 3, 21). Therefore, the soluble mediators that are responsible for bystander maturation are more likely factors such as prostaglandins and NO that activate DC without inducing cytokine production. The full elucidation of the factors involved in this bystander phenomenon should provide valuable insights into how immune responses are initiated at points of pathogen entry.
Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, El-minia Faculty of Medicine, El-minia University, El-minia 61111, Egypt. ![]()
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