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Journal of Virology, December 2002, p. 11982-11988, Vol. 76, No. 23
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.23.11982-11988.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Division of Infectious Diseases, Advanced Clinical Research Center,1 Department of Infectious Disease and Applied Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639,4 Department of Viral Infections, Research Institute of Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita-City, Osaka 565-0871,2 Department of Viral Diseases and Vaccine Control, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Musashimurayama City, Tokyo 208-0011,3 Toyama Institute of Health, Imizu-gun, Toyama 939-036, Japan5
Received 3 May 2002/ Accepted 28 August 2002
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It has been shown that artificially manufactured MHC class I/peptide complexes are useful for studying epitope-specific CTL responses or for enhancing these responses in vitro. Several methods of manufacturing MHC class I/peptide complexes in vitro have been reported. The first is to make the three components independently and mix them (11). The second is to make two molecules, ß2m and a heavy chain fused with a peptide sequence at the N terminus via a linker sequence (15). The third is also to make two molecules, a heavy chain and ß2m fused with a peptide at the N terminus via a linker sequence (31, 37, 39). Fourth, a fusion protein consisting of a heavy chain and ß2m is mixed with a peptide (22, 36). The fifth method is to make a single chain construct of the three components (23). Escherichia coli or baculovirus expression systems have been used to make MHC class I tetramers (4, 39). In this study, we adopted a Sendai virus (SeV) vector system for MHC class I/peptide complex expression.
SeV, a member of the family Paramyxoviridae, has a nonsegmented negative-strand RNA as a genome. It causes severe respiratory disease in mice but is nonpathogenic for humans (16, 17, 24). It has been shown that the SeV vector system is very efficient at production of soluble proteins (44). We would like to show that this system is also very efficient at producing heteromeric molecules in the culture supernatant. Moreover, the same system could be used to express MHC class I/peptide complexes with intended specificities on the cell surface and to stimulate antigen-specific CTLs. Thus, the SeV vector system appears to be not only an efficient but also a versatile system for expression of heteromeric cell surface molecules.
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Construction of recombinant SeV.
A genetic construct for a soluble HLA class I heavy chain (A24-BSPhis) was generated by a three-step PCR using a cloned HLA-A*2402 cDNA as a template (35). In A24-BSPhis, the external domain of the HLA-A*2402 molecule (from the
1 to the
3 domain of HLA-A*2402) was connected with BirA substrate peptide (BSP), a histidine tag (his), and signals needed for expression in SeV between NotI sites (Fig. 1A).
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FIG. 1. Construction of SeVs expressing the soluble MHC class I heavy chain or e-ß2m. (A) Structure of A24-BSPhis. The extracellular domain of HLA-A*2402 was connected with BSP and the histidine tag via two amino acids (glycine and serine). (B) Structure of e-ß2m. An HLA-A*2402-restricted epitope and a 13- or 14-amino-acid glycine-serine linker were inserted between the signal sequence and the coding sequences of the mature ß2m protein. In this study, we used two HLA-A*2402-restricted HIV-1 CTL epitopes, Nef138-10 and Env584-11. (C) A24-BSPhis and e-ß2m followed by E and S signals of SeV were inserted into the NotI site in the parental pV(-)SeV18+b(+), which generated a full-length SeV V(-) antigenome, as described in Materials and Methods. (D) Expression of A24-BSPhis and e-ß2m in SeV-infected cells by Western blot analysis. CV-1 cells were infected with SeVs at an MOI of 3 and were lysed 24 h postinfection, and cell lysates were separated on an SDS-PAGE gel with a 10 to 20% gradient, transferred to a polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, and then detected with an anti-His6 (left) or anti-ß2m (right) MAb. In the case of e-ß2m, the culture supernatants which were removed from SeV particles by centrifugation were also used. (Left) Lane 1, A24-BSPhis/SeV; lane 2, wild-type SeV (wt/SeV). (Right) Lanes 1 and 5, Nef138-ß2m/SeV; lanes 2 and 6, Env584-ß2m/SeV; lanes 3 and 7, ß2m/SeV; lanes 4 and 8, wt/SeV; lane 9, 20 ng of purified ß2m. In lanes 1 to 4, 10 µg of cell lysates was added; in lanes 5 to 8, 10 µl of the culture supernatant was added. The numbers to the left of the gels indicate the sizes (in kilodaltons) of the products.
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3 domain and encodes BSP (LGGIFEAMKMELRD) (coding sequence underlined) (29). A24-a was used as the 5' primer for all three PCR steps. The first PCR product was used as a template for the second PCR and amplified using the 3' primer A24-d1his (5'-CTACGGCGTACGTCAATGGTGGTGATGGTGGTGGTCCCGCAGCTCCAT-3'), which hybridizes to the 3' half of BSP and contains a histidine tag (His6), a stop codon, and a spacer sequence. The second PCR product was used as a template for the third PCR and amplified using the 3' primer A24-d2his (5'-TTGCGGCCGCGATGAACTTTCACCCTAAGTTTTTCTTACTACGGCGTACGTCA-3'), which hybridizes to the stop codon and the spacer sequence and contains the SeV E and S signal sequences and a NotI site (44). For epitope-fused ß2m (e-ß2m), human ß2m cDNA was cloned by reverse transcription-PCR from mRNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of a healthy donor. The gene was modified to introduce sequences encoding peptides with a binding motif for HLA-A*2402 and a Gly-Ser linker between the C terminus of the signal sequence and the N terminus of the mature ß2m protein (Fig. 1B). Two HLA-A*2402-binding peptides were used as epitopes: one was the peptide from HIV-1 Nef corresponding to amino acids 138 to 147 (Nef138-10; RYPLTFGWCF), and the other was the peptide from HIV-1 Env corresponding to amino acids 584 to 594 (Env584-11; RYLRDQQLLGI) (14). The cloned ß2m was used as a template for a three-step PCR. Initially, ß2m was amplified using the 5' primer e/b2m-a1 (5'-GGAGGTGGCGGGTCCGGAGGTGGTTCTGGTGGAGGTTCGATCCAGCGTACTCCAAAGATT-3'), which hybridizes to ß2m immediately adjacent to the signal sequence and encodes a 13-amino-acid Gly-Ser linker sequence (GGGGSGGGSGGGS), and the 3' primer b2m-d (5'-TTGCGGCCGCGATGAACTTTCACCCTAAGTTTTTCTTACTACGGCGTACGTTACATGTCTCGATCCCACTT-3'), which hybridizes to the 3' end of ß2m and encodes a spacer sequence, E and S signals, and a NotI site. b2m-d was used as the 3' primer in all three PCR steps. For Nef138-ß2m, e(nef)-a2 (5'-TCTGGCCTGGAGGCTAGATATCCACTGACCTTTGGATGGTGCTTCGGAGGAGGTGGCGGGTCC-3'), which hybridizes to the linker sequence, encodes Nef138-10 (underlined), and contains part of the ß2m signal sequence, was used as the 5' primer for the second PCR. e(env)-a2 (5'-TCTGGCCTGGAGGCTAGATACCTAAGGGATCAACAGCTCCTAGGGATTGGAGGTGGCGGGTCC-3') was used for Env584-ß2m (underlined). Then these PCR products were used as a template for the third PCR and amplified using the 5' primer e/b2m-a3 (5'-TGCGGCCGCCGTACGGCCGAGATGTCTCGCTCCGTGGCCTTAGCTGTGCTCGCGCTACTCTCTCTTTCTGGCCTGGAGGCT-3'), which contains a ß2m signal sequence, a spacer sequence, and a NotI site. We also made a ß2m coding fragment by using b2m-a (5'-TGCGGCCGCCGTACGGCCGAGATGTCTCGCTCCGTGGCCTTA-3'), which hybridizes to the 5' end of the ß2m signal sequence and contains the spacer sequence and NotI site, and b2m-d.
Each PCR fragment was cloned into the pGEM-T vector (Promega Corp., Madison, Wis.), and we confirmed the absence of PCR errors for each fragment by sequence analysis with the BigDye Terminator Cycle Sequencing Ready Reaction kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.). Then each fragment was introduced into the NotI site of pV(-)SeV18+b(+), which contains a full-length copy of the positive-sense SeV antigenome (15,384 nucleotides) with an additional 18-nucleotide sequence including a NotI site within the N gene and with two point mutations in the P gene which cause a defect in V mRNA without affecting P protein expression (Fig. 1C) (16, 44), and we obtained A24-BSPhis/pSeV, Nef138-ß2m/pSeV, Env584-ß2m/pSeV, and ß2m/pSeV.
SeV recovery. Viruses were recovered from each plasmid as previously described (13, 17). Briefly, LLC-MK2 cells were infected with a recombinant vaccinia virus (VV), vTF7-3, expressing T7 polymerase (9) at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 2. Then A24-BSPhis/pSeV, Nef138-ß2m/pSeV, Env584-ß2m/pSeV, or ß2m/pSeV, and plasmids pGEM-N, pGEM-P, and pGEM-L, encoding trans-acting proteins, were transfected simultaneously by using the liposomal transfection reagent DOTAP (N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium methylsulfate; Roche Diagnostics, Rotkreuz, Switzerland). Cells were maintained in serum-free MEM in the presence of 40 µg of 1-ß-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (araC)/ml and 100 µg of rifampin/ml to minimize VV cytopathogenecity. Forty-eight hours after transfection, the cells were harvested, washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and inoculated into the allantoic cavities of 10-day-old embryonated chicken eggs. After 3 days of incubation, the allantoic fluid was harvested. When the presence of viruses was confirmed by hemagglutination test, the allantoic fluid, diluted 107- to 108-fold, was used for the second propagation to remove vTF7-3. We obtained SeV expressing A24-BSPhis (A24-BSPhis/SeV), Nef138-ß2m (Nef138-ß2m/SeV), Env584-ß2m (Env584-ß2m/SeV), or ß2m (ß2m/SeV) at 4.4 x 107, 2.8 x 108, 2.7 x 108, or 3.0 x 108 cell infectious units/ml, respectively.
ELISA for MHC class Ie-ß2m complexes or e-ß2m. A sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect properly folded MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes. A 1-µg/ml concentration of the anti-MHC class I monoclonal antibody (MAb) 3F10 (Ancell, Bayport, Minn.), which recognizes only fully assembled MHC class I/peptide complexes, was used as a capture antibody, and a 125-ng/ml concentration of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated anti-human ß2m (DAKO A/S, Glostrup, Denmark) was used as a detector antibody. For e-ß2m detection, samples were directly coated, and the bound e-ß2m was detected with 500 ng of HRP-conjugated anti-human ß2m/ml. Purified ß2m (Biogenesis, Poole, England) was used as a standard protein for measurement. 3,3',5,5'-Tetramethylbenzidine was used as an HRP substrate in both ELISAs.
Purification of MHC class Ie-ß2m complexes. MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes were purified from the culture supernatants of SeV-infected CV-1 cells. The culture supernatants were centrifuged at 40,000 x g to pellet down the SeV particles and were then purified by affinity chromatography on a Hitrap Chelating HP column (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Piscataway, N.J.) in 0.02 M NaHPO4 (pH 7.4)-0.5 M NaCl with a 0 to 0.5 M gradient of imidazole.
Preparation of MHC class Ie-ß2m tetramers. Tetramerization of monomeric MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes was performed as previously described (4, 7). BSPs of the purified MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes were biotinylated by using the BirA enzyme (Avidity, Denver, Colo.). One milligram of MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes was incubated with 10 µg of BirA at 25°C for 18 h in a buffer containing 10 mM Tris-Cl (pH 8.0), 50 mM Bicine (pH 8.3), 10 mM ATP, 10 mM magnesium acetate, and 40 µM biotin. Following the reaction, biotinylated MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes were purified on a Superdex 200 column (Amersham Pharmacia) in 20 mM Tris-Cl (pH 8.0)-150 mM NaCl. Finally, the buffer was changed to PBS including protease inhibitor cocktail (Roche Diagnostics) and mixed with phycoerythrin (PE)-conjugated streptavidin (Molecular Probe, Eugene, Oreg.) at a 1:1 ratio of biotinylated MHC class I/e-ß2m to biotin binding sites.
MHC class I tetramers made in an E. coli system were obtained from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) MHC Tetramer Core Facility (Emory University Vaccine Center).
Generation of CTL lines and clones. A Nef138-10-specific CTL line was induced from PBMCs of HIV-1-infected individuals carrying HLA-A*2402. A total of 3 x 105 PBMCs were cultured in R10 in 96-well round-bottom tissue culture plates. The next day, 105 stimulator cells (autologous phytohemagglutinin [PHA]-stimulated PBMCs irradiated with 3,300 rads and pulsed with Nef138-10 for 1 h at 10 µM) were added and cultured for 2 weeks in the presence of 10% Lymphocult-T, which supplied 100 U of interleukin-2 (IL-2)/ml, and 1 µg of an anti-CD28 MAb (BD Pharmingen, San Diego, Calif.)/ml. The cells were further stimulated with irradiated autologous B-LCLs pulsed with 10 µM concentrations of peptides for another 7 to 10 days. CMV-specific CTL lines were induced in the same way, by using an HLA-A*2402-restricted peptide from CMV pp65 corresponding to amino acids 328 to 337 (CMVpp65/328-9; QYDPVAALF) (19), from PBMCs of HLA-A*2402-positive patients who were also seropositive for both HIV-1 and CMV. For tetramer staining of CTL lines, we used them after the second stimulation. After the fourth stimulation, the cells were cloned by limiting dilution to 0.8 and 8 cells/well in 96-well round-bottom tissue culture plates. Each well contained 105 irradiated autologous B-LCLs and 5 x 104 irradiated allogeneic PBMCs in the presence of 10 µM peptide in the cloning medium (R10 containing 10% lymphocult-T and 5% PHA-blast culture supernatant).
Tetramer staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis. At first each tetramer was incubated with various dilutions to determine the optimal conditions for staining. Cells were stained with PE-labeled tetramers at 37°C for 15 min at the optimal concentration, washed once with 2% FCS-0.1% NaN3 in PBS, and then stained with anti-CD8-allophycocyanin (BD Pharmingen) at 4°C for 20 min. Cells were washed three times and fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde. Stained cells were analyzed by using a FACSCalibur (Becton Dickinson, Mountain View, Calif.) with CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson) and Flowjo software (Tree Star, San Carlos, Calif.).
51Cr release assay. Cytotoxicity was measured by a standard 51Cr release assay as previously described (18). Briefly, HLA-A24 matched allogeneic B-LCLs were labeled with 100 µCi of Na251CrO4 for 2 h and washed three times with R10. Labeled target cells (2 x 103) were added to a 96-well round bottom microtiter plate with a corresponding amount of peptide or the culture supernatant of e-ß2m/SeV-infected cells. After an hour of incubation, effector cells were added and incubated for 4 h. When SeV-infected LCLs were used as target cells, the cells were infected with SeVs, at an MOI of 10, 20 h before addition of the effector cells. The supernatants were collected and analyzed with a microbeta counter. Spontaneous 51Cr release was determined by measuring counts per minute in the supernatants of wells containing only target cells (cpmspn). Maximum release (cpmmax) was determined by measuring the release of 51Cr from target cells in the presence of 2% Triton X-100. Specific lysis was calculated as (cpmexp - cpmspn)/(cpmmax - cpmspn) x100, where cpmexp represents the counts per minute in the supernatants of wells containing target and effector cells.
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Production of soluble MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes by SeV-infected cells. It is known that human MHC class I heavy chain without human ß2m fails to be expressed on the cell surface because of its conformational instability (42). When CV-1 cells were infected with A24-BSPhis/SeV alone, A24-BSPhis was detected in the cell lysates but hardly at all in the culture supernatants (Fig. 2A, lanes 4 and 9). When Nef138-ß2m/SeV, Env584-ß2m/SeV, or ß2m/SeV was inoculated together with A24-BSPhis/SeV, large amounts of A24-BSPhis were detected in the culture supernatants (Fig. 2A, lanes 6 to 8) while only small amounts of A24-BSPhis remained in the cell lysates (Fig. 2A, lanes 1 to 3). Thus, the presence of e-ß2m stabilized A24-BSPhis by forming stable MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes, which could be secreted from the infected cells very efficiently.
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FIG. 2. Secretion of MHC class I/e-ß2m complex from SeV-coinfected cells. (A) Detection of A24-BSPhis in SeV-infected cells and culture supernatants. CV-1 cells were infected with A24-BSPhis/SeV with or without e-ß2m/SeV at an MOI of 3. Twenty four hours postinfection, cells and culture supernatants were harvested. Cells were lysed, and culture supernatants were centrifuged at 40,000 x g. Ten micrograms of cell lysates (lanes 1 to 5) or 10 µl of supernatants (lanes 6 to 10) was separated on an SDS-PAGE gel with a 10 to 20% gradient. The position of the 34-kDa product is indicated on the left. Lanes 1 and 6, A24BSPhis/SeV plus Nef138-ß2m/SeV; lanes 2 and 7, A24BSPhis/SeV plus Env584-ß2m/SeV; lanes 3 and 8, A24-BSPhis/SeV plus ß2m/SeV; lanes 4 and 9, A24-BSPhis/SeV only; lanes 5 and 10, wild-type SeV. (B) ELISA for MHC class I/e-ß2m complex detection. CV-1 cells were infected with A24-BSPhis/SeV and either Nef138-ß2m/SeV (solid bars) or Env584-ß2m/SeV (open bars) at various MOI ratios. Culture supernatants were harvested 3 days postinfection. After centrifugation at 40,000 x g, culture supernatants were assayed in an ELISA specific for fully assembled MHC class I/peptide complexes (described in Materials and Methods). Averages and standard deviations for three wells are given. Results for one representative experiment out of three are shown.
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We purified A24/Nef138-ß2m complexes by affinity chromatography using a histidine tag from the culture supernatant of CV-1 cells coinfected with A24-BSPhis/SeV and Nef138-ß2m/SeV at an MOI ratio of 1 to 1. About 1 mg of purified A24/Nef138-ß2m complex was obtained from 108 CV-1 cells.
Staining of specific CD8 T cells by SeV-made tetramers. Purified A24/Nef138-ß2m complexes were biotinylated at the BSP and multimerized with PE-conjugated streptavidin to form tetramers as previously described (4, 7). A CTL clone specific for Nef138-10 was fully stained with the A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramer (Fig. 3A).
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FIG. 3. Staining of CTLs with A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramers. (A) A Nef138-10-specific CTL clone was stained with A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramers. (B and C) After a second stimulation with cognate peptides, a Nef138-10-specific CTL line (B) and a CMVpp65/328-9-specific CTL line (C) were stained with A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramers. A total of 2 x 105 to 5 x 105 cells were stained.
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MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes in our system have an artificial linker peptide near the epitope which may interfere with recognition by TCRs. In order to test the possibility, we compared the efficiency of our SeV-made tetramers (A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramers) with that of E. coli-made tetramers without the linker peptide (A24/ß2m/Nef138-10 tetramers). PBMCs from HLA-A*2402-positive uninfected or HIV-1-infected individuals were examined with both tetramers. A total of 1.25 or 1.37% of CD8 T cells among PBMCs from HIV-1-infected individuals and 0.02 or 0.12% of CD8 T cells among PBMCs from non-HIV-1-infected individuals were stained with A24/Nef138-ß2m or A24/ß2m/Nef138-10 tetramers, respectively (Fig. 4). SeV-made A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramers stained Nef138-10-specific CD8 T cells as sensitively as E. coli-made A24/ß2m/Nef138-10 tetramers.
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FIG. 4. Staining of PBMCs from HIV-1-infected or uninfected individuals with either the A24/Nef138-ß2m (SeV-made) tetramer or the A24/ß2m/Nef138-10 (E. coli-made) tetramer. A total of 106 PBMCs from HIV-1-infected individuals (HLA-A2/24, B35/52) (A) or non-HIV-1-infected individuals (HLA-A24, B7/35) (B) were stained with the A24/Nef138-ß2m tetramer (left panels) or the A24/ß2m/Nef138-10 tetramer (right panels).
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FIG. 5. Antigenicity of e-ß2m. Standard 4-h 51Cr release assays were performed using a Nef138-10-specific CTL clone derived from an HIV-1 infected individual. (A) As target cells, HLA-A24-matched B-LCLs were pulsed with the culture supernatant of Nef138-ß2m/SeV (solid squares)- or Env584-ß2m/SeV (open squares)-infected CV-1 (left) or MT-2 (right) cells. CV-1 or MT2 cells were infected with SeVs at an MOI of 3, and the culture supernatant was harvested 24 h postinfection and filtered with a 0.22-µm-pore-size membrane. The culture supernatants were used at a 10-fold dilution, and Nef138-ß2m and Env584-ß2m from CV-1 or MT-2 cells were used at about 30 or 2 nM, respectively. (B) B-LCLs infected with either Nef138-ß2m/SeV (solid diamonds), Env584-ß2m/SeV (open diamonds), or wild-type SeV (crosses) were also used as target cells. B-LCLs were infected with SeVs at an MOI of 10 and used as target cells 24 h postinfection. As a control, B-LCLs were pulsed with the Nef138-10 peptide at 100 nM (solid triangles).
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In the E. coli systems which have been used generally to make tetramers, the heavy chain and ß2m must be obtained and purified separately to high purity and then refolded in the presence of the peptide in vitro. The yield of purified MHC class I/peptide complexes is 10 to 15% (11). In our mammalian system, more than 1 mg of MHC class I/e-ß2m complexes was produced from 108 CV-1 cells, and almost 100% of purified MHC class I/peptide complexes could be recovered by affinity chromatography using a histidine tag. It has been known that ß2m and/or peptide absence leads to misfolding and degradation of the MHC class I heavy chain because of the "quality control" function in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (28). Actually, when CV-1 cells were infected with A24-BSPhis/SeV alone, as shown in Fig. 2A, there was little secretion of A24-BSPhis. However, when cells were coinfected with A24-BSPhis/SeV and e-ß2m/SeV or ß2m/SeV, high levels of A24-BSPhis were secreted. When cells were coinfected with A24-BSPhis/SeV and e-ß2m/SeV at the most efficient MOI ratio, A24-BSPhis scarcely remained in the cells 24 h after infection. It is inferred that A24-BSPhis formed stable complexes with e-ß2m immediately after its synthesis and was transported to the cell surface and secreted. These results also indicated that the human MHC class I heavy chain, A24-BSPhis, does not form stable complexes with the endogenously expressed monkey ß2m in CV-1 cells. This makes it possible to obtain MHC class I/peptide complexes which have a single epitope.
e-ß2m display enhanced MHC stabilization and antigenicity compared with those of free peptides because of the adjuvant effect of ß2m, especially in the case of peptides with lower affinity with MHC class I (38). Some tetramers are difficult to make, and one of the factors that determines the success of tetramer production is the binding affinity of the peptide for the MHC class I molecule (this information can be found at the NIAID Tetramer Core Facility website, http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/TETRAMER/faq.html). Such MHC class I/peptide complexes, which are impossible to make in the E. coli system, may be produced with this SeV system.
MHC class I molecules which presented glycopeptides were recognized by
/ß T cells (30). SeV-made tetramers from mammalian cells may turn out to be useful for analysis of modified peptide antigens.
SeV-made tetramers have artificial linker peptides near the TCR recognition site and may interfere with recognition of MHC class I/peptide complexes by some TCRs. When we compared SeV-made tetramers to E. coli-made tetramers without the linker peptides, the same proportion of cells were stained in PBMCs of HIV-1-infected individuals. This result suggested that the hindrance of epitope recognition by linker peptides was minimal, if there was any. This result may also agree with observations of the crystal structure of soluble TCRs bound to MHC class I ligands (10, 12), which show that room exists for linker peptides attached to the C termini of the antigen peptides (39). Further studies are needed to evaluate possible interference by the linker peptides with TCR-MHC class I interaction. Exogenously pulsed and endogenously expressed Nef138-ß2m was recognized by a CTL clone specific for Nef138-10. Supernatants of Nef138-ß2m/SeV-infected CV-1 or MT-2 cells were used to pulse target cells. The final concentrations were about 30 or 2 nM, respectively. Cells pulsed with these culture supernatants were killed by the CTLs with a sensitivity similar to that of cells pulsed with Nef138-10 peptides at 100 nM, the concentration at which the target cells could be killed most efficiently (Fig. 5A and data not shown). This result indicated that e-ß2m is more stable than free peptides on MHC class I complexes and is efficiently recognized by CTLs even at a low concentration. B-LCLs pulsed with Nef138-ß2m derived from MT-2 cells were killed more efficiently than those pulsed with Nef138-ß2m derived from CV-1 cells even at a 10-fold-lower concentration. MT-2 is a human CD4-positive T-cell line which is transformed with human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1). HTLV-1-transformed T cells are known to produce a wide spectrum of lymphokines, including gamma interferon and IL-2, which activate T cells (5, 20, 32). Such cytokines secreted by MT-2 cells may be responsible for the killing activity of the CTL clones.
Gene transduction with SeV enabled e-ß2m to be expressed endogenously in human cells. When cells are pulsed with peptides or e-ß2m, they are considered to replace the peptides of MHC class I/peptide complexes on the cell surface by chance. But when e-ß2m is expressed at high levels in a cell, a certain population of MHC class I heavy chains can associate with e-ß2m in the ER and may present the epitopes on the cell surface at a high frequency. Fresh e-ß2m is also supplied continuously in the supernatant by the infected cells, so the e-ß2m is likely to associate with heavy chains within the cell (in the ER) and on the cell surface. In fact, specific lysis was higher than 50% in spite of a lower percentage of infected cells (less than 30%) (Fig. 5B and data not shown).
In some studies MHC class I genes have been transduced to mammalian cells by DNA transfection to present a specific antigen on the cell surface (15, 23, 36, 37). However, the efficiency of gene transduction by DNA transfection may be too low to apply to clinical trials. In a recent report, target cells which presented peptides covalently linked to ß2m delivered by a retroviral vector were recognized and killed by appropriate CTL clones (31). However, with a retroviral vector, efficient gene transduction into nondividing cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs), which are the strongest professional antigen-presenting cells, is difficult, and expression of the protein is considered to be low. On the other hand, in this SeV system, the level of foreign gene expression is very high and the host range is broad (24). Particularly, expression of genes inserted into the V(-) version of the SeV vector is very high (44). The SeV vector can also transduce foreign genes in nondividing cells such as neurons (21). In fact, we confirmed that the green fluorescent protein gene could be transduced into DCs efficiently and expressed at high levels by using an SeV vector expressing green fluorescent protein (unpublished data). Furthermore, SeV replication is independent of nuclear functions and does not transform cells by integrating its genetic information into the cellular genome.
Recently, there have been many studies which used DCs to activate immune responses, particularly in cancer therapy. Pilot DC vaccination studies induced specific anticancer responses, including some clinical responses (8, 25, 33, 34). e-ß2m-pulsed or e-ß2m/SeV-infected DCs may be useful for immunotherapy against cancers and infection with viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C virus.
This work was partly supported by grants for AIDS research from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan; by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); and by the Japan Health Sciences Foundation.
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