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Journal of Virology, November 2002, p. 11143-11147, Vol. 76, No. 21
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.21.11143-11147.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia
Received 22 April 2002/ Accepted 23 July 2002
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-helices (A to E) arranged in a head subdomain (consisting of the last two turns of the A helix, the B, C, and D helices, and their interconnecting loops) atop a stalk subdomain (comprising antiparallel A and E helices) (6). Four cysteine residues, conserved in all tetraspanin sequences, participate in the formation of two disulfide bonds, Cys156-Cys190 and Cys157-Cys175, which stabilize the head subdomain.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) encodes a
3,300-amino-acid polyprotein from which the E1 (polyprotein residues 191 to 383) and E2 (residues 384 to 746) glycoproteins are cleaved cotranslationally. The mature forms of E1 and E2 are noncovalently associated, and each contains an N-terminal ectodomain and a C-terminal transmembrane domain. Recently, it was shown that recombinant soluble E2, E1-E2 complex, and HCV-like particles (12, 14) as well as HCV particles from infectious plasma (14) bind to the CD81 LEL with nanomole-level affinity (13, 14). Furthermore, the LEL can inhibit the binding of E2 to liver sections (13, 14) and of HCV-like particles to MOLT-4 T cells (21). The available evidence suggests that CD81 is unlikely to play a role in HCV entry (1, 4, 13, 16, 17, 21, 22). However, E2-CD81 ligation was recently found to induce in naive and antigen-experienced T cells in vitro a costimulatory signal leading to the production of the proinflammatory cytokine gamma interferon (20). As HCV-associated liver damage is primarily due to a massive infiltration by activated proinflammatory lymphocytes (for a review, see reference 19), these findings raise the possibility that the CD81-E2 interaction plays a role in T-cell-mediated liver inflammation and pathology.
To further characterize the E2-binding residues on the LEL of CD81, we produced a protein chimera consisting of maltose-binding protein (MBP) fused to the N terminus of LEL residues 113 to 201 (MBP-LEL113-201) via a trialanine linker. MBP is monomeric and serves as an ideal scaffold for studying oligomerization determinants of heterologous proteins (2, 7). Superdex 200 gel filtration chromatography of amylose-agarose-purified MBP-LEL113-201 reveals two major species, corresponding approximately in molecular mass to the dimer (eluting at 92 min) and the monomer (100 min) (Fig. 1A). Nonreducing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of the MBP-LEL113-201 dimer and monomer peak fractions revealed an
48-kDa major species and a trace amount (<5%) of an
97-kDa band (Fig. 1A, inset), consistent with the virtual absence of disulfide-linked dimers. The
97-kDa trace species is likely to be an artifact induced by boiling of samples in the absence of ß-mercaptoethanol, as it was obtained from both the dimer and monomer peaks and was not detected by electrospray mass spectrometry (see below).
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FIG. 1. Characterization of the MBP-LEL113-201 chimera. (A) Separation of MBP-LEL113-201 oligomeric forms by Superdex 200 gel filtration chromatography. Elution positions for protein standards are indicated above the profile; the dotted lines indicate the elution positions for the putative MBP-LEL monomer (98 min) and dimer (92 min). The symbols above gel filtration peaks have been used to identify corresponding MBP-LEL species in panels B and C. The inset shows the results of nonreducing SDS-PAGE analysis of peak fractions (putative MBP-LEL113-201 dimer [circles] and MBP-LEL113-201 monomer [triangles]) collected from Superdex 200 gel filtration experiments. Vo, void volume. (B) Binding of E2661myc to solid-phase MBP-LEL oligomeric forms in EIA. E2661myc binding was detected with MAb 9E10 and a horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse antibody. MBP-LEL113-201 dimer, circles; MBP-LEL113-201 monomer, triangles. (C) Competitive EIA. Serial dilutions of MBP-LEL113-201 dimer (circles) and monomer (triangles) were used to compete with the binding of a subsaturating amount of E2661myc to solid-phase MBP-LEL113-201 dimer. Results are means ± standard errors of data from three independent experiments.
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To examine the ability of the MBP-LEL113-201 dimer and monomer to bind HCV E2, we developed a solid-phase enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in which plate-bound MBP-LEL chimeras capture E2661myc secreted from transfected 293T cells. Binding is detected by using the anti-myc monoclonal antibody (MAb) 9E10 and peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse immunoglobulin G. Figure 1B shows that E2661myc binds optimally to the MBP-LEL113-201 dimer; a substantially lower level of binding is observed for the MBP-LEL113-201 monomer. The dimeric form of MBP-LEL113-201 also captured noncovalently associated complexes of E1-E2 from transfected-cell lysates, as determined with the conformation-dependent MAb H53 (data not shown). The ability of the chimeras to inhibit the binding of solution-phase E2661myc to plate-bound MBP-LEL113-201 dimer was used to rule out the possibility that the attachment of MBP chimeras to the solid phase had induced the formation of an E2661myc binding site (Fig. 1C). The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) for the MBP-LEL113-201 dimer is approximately 10-fold lower than the IC50 for monomeric MBP-LEL113-201 (30 ± 10 nM versus 283 ± 29 nM), suggesting that dimerization of the LEL enhances binding to E2 by approximately 10-fold.
A random mutagenesis approach was used to identify amino acid changes that resulted in the loss of E2-binding function in MBP-LEL113-201 as determined by the method of Lin-Goerke et al. (9). We used the EIA-based E2661myc-binding assay to screen 300 transformants and identified four point mutants (N184Y, L162P, I182F, and F186S) that retained the ability to form dimers (Fig. 2A) but exhibited a decrease in (N184Y) or a complete loss of (L162P, I182F, and F186S) E2661myc-binding function (Fig. 2B). In agreement with the solid-phase assay data, solution-phase N184Y dimer exhibited a lower affinity for E2661myc than its wild-type counterpart, having an IC50 of 766 ± 251 nM, approximately 20-fold higher than the IC50 for the wild-type dimer. Examination of these mutants by 4-VP mass spectrometry confirmed that these mutants had formed two intramolecular disulfide bonds, indicating that the L162P, I182F, N184Y, and F186S mutations are accommodated in the LEL fold (data not shown). Therefore, the ability of these mutations to inhibit LEL E2-binding function implies that Leu162, Ile182, Asn184, and Phe186 are E2 contact residues.
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FIG. 2. (A) Superdex 200 gel filtration of F186S, L162P, I182F, and N184Y mutants. Dotted lines represent elution times for the MBP-LEL113-201 monomer (98 min), dimer (92 min), and putative trimer (86 min). Symbols above peaks have been used to identify corresponding MBP-LEL species in panel B. Vo, void volume. (B) EIA of E2661myc binding to solid-phase peak Superdex 200 fractions collected in the experiment whose results are shown in panel A. Binding curves for the MBP-LEL113-201 dimer (solid line) and monomer (dashed line) are included. (C) Synthesis and stability of CD81C8 mutants. Lysates of CD81C8-expressing 293T cells were subjected to reducing SDS-PAGE in 12 to 17% polyacrylamide gradient gels followed by Western blotting with MAb C8, directed to the C-terminal epitope tag. (D) Binding of E2661myc to cell surface-expressed CD81C8 mutants. Transfected CHO-K1 cells were incubated with serial dilutions of concentrated E2661myc tissue culture fluid, washed, and then incubated with radioiodinated MAb 9E10. After being subjected to further washing, the cells were lysed and their radioactivity was quantitated in a Packard Autogamma counter. Relative E2661myc binding is expressed as follows: (c.p.m. bound to cells expressing mutant CD81C8/c.p.m. bound to cells expressing wild-type CD81C8) x 100. The results are representative of two independent transfections. The inset shows the relative cell surface-expression of CD81C8 mutants. Intact CD81C8-expressing CHO-K1 cells were incubated with 125I-labeled MAb 1.3.3.22 for 1 h on ice and then washed prior to quantitation of radioactivity. Relative 125I-labeled MAb 1.3.3.22 binding is expressed as follows: (c.p.m. bound to cells expressing mutant CD81C8/c.p.m. bound to cells expressing wild-type CD81C8) x 100. The means ± standard deviations of data from three independent transfections are shown.
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The abilities of wild-type and mutated CD81 molecules to bind secreted E2661myc were compared by using a surface binding assay. CD81C8-transfected CHO-K1 cells were incubated with serial dilutions of concentrated tissue culture fluid obtained from E2661myc-transfected HEK 293T cells. E2661myc binding was measured in a gamma counter following incubation with 125I-labeled MAb 9E10 and washing of the cells. Figure 2D indicates that mutations L162P, I182F, N184Y, and F186S in the context of the entire CD81 molecule completely abolished E2661myc-binding ability while cell surface expression of I182F, N184Y, and F186S was unchanged compared to that of the modified wild-type CD81C8, confirming that these residues comprise the E2-binding site. We were unable to detect L162P at the cell surface; therefore, we cannot distinguish whether the L162P mutation results in a translocation-incompetent CD81C8 structure or whether L162P forms part of the MAb 1.3.3.22 epitope. However, given that the MPB-LEL113-201 L162P mutant is able to form dimers and contains two intramolecular disulfide bonds and that its CD81C8 counterpart appears to be as stable as wild-type CD81C8 in transfected cells (Fig. 2C), the latter possibility seems more likely. Flint et al. (4) demonstrated that the binding of MAb 1.3.3.22 to CD81 precludes binding of E2, which suggests that the two binding sites overlap. The epitope of 1.3.3.22 does not appear to involve the Ile182, Asn184, or Phe186 residue but may involve residue Leu162. Together these data suggest that Leu162 may indeed be part of the E2-binding site.
The D helix residues Ile182, Asn184, and Phe186 form part of a solvent-exposed cluster comprising a hydrophobic ridge (Ile181, Ile182, Leu185, and Phe186) adjacent to a hydrophilic base (Asn184 and Thr166) (Fig. 3). The solvent-exposed hydrophobic residues are generally conserved in CD81 sequences, and their presence points to a protein-protein interaction role for this site (6). Consistent with this idea, our data indicate that these residues are involved in E2 binding. Interestingly, the F186L mutation occurs naturally in CD81 of African green monkeys and has been shown previously to eliminate E2 binding when placed in the human CD81 LEL sequence (5, 10). Leu162 occurs within a short 310 helix located between the B and C helices, forming a hydrophobic pocket on the surface of the head subdomain (Fig. 3). A naturally occurring mutation, T163A, at an adjacent residue of the African green monkey CD81 has been shown to enhance E2 binding when placed in the human CD81 sequence (5), suggesting that the Leu162 region modulates E2 binding. The involvement of Leu162 in E2 binding extends the molecular surface of the binding site from 591 Å2 (Thr166, Ile181, Ile182, Asn184, Leu185, and Phe186) to 805 Å2.
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FIG. 3. Molecular surface of the human CD81 LEL dimer, showing locations of mutations that affect E2 binding (Leu162, Ile182, Asn184, and Phe186). The figure was drawn using GRASP (11) software.
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The results of recent in vitro studies indicate that the E2-CD81 interaction has immunomodulatory implications including enhanced production of the proinflammatory cytokines gamma interferon and interleukin-4 (20), down-regulation of T-cell receptors (20), and suppression of NK cell activity (3, 18). These findings raise the possibility that E2-CD81 ligation contributes to an HCV-induced liver immunopathology that is characterized by large numbers of liver-infiltrating activated T cells. Our identification of the E2-binding footprint in the context of the human CD81-LEL crystal structure provides new targets for the design of small-molecule inhibitors of the E2-CD81 interaction.
This study was supported by NHMRC project grants 156714 and 991153.
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