Fernando Macian

NFAT proteins: key regulators of T-cell development and function

Since the discovery of the first nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) protein more than a decade ago, the NFAT family of transcription factors has grown to include five members. It has also become clear that NFAT proteins have crucial roles in the development and function of the immune system. In T cells, NFAT proteins not only regulate activation but also are involved in the control of thymocyte development, T-cell differentiation and self-tolerance. The functional versatility of NFAT proteins can be explained by their complex mechanism of regulation and their ability to integrate calcium signalling with other signalling pathways. This Review focuses on the recent advances in our understanding of the regulation, mechanism of action and functions of NFAT proteins in T cells.

Calcineurin imposes T cell unresponsiveness through targeted proteolysis of signaling proteins

Sustained calcium signaling induces a state of anergy or antigen unresponsiveness in T cells, mediated through calcineurin and the transcription factor NFAT. We show here that Ca2+-induced anergy is a multistep program that is implemented at least partly through proteolytic degradation of specific signaling proteins. Calcineurin increased mRNA and protein of the E3 ubiquitin ligases Itch, Cbl-b and GRAIL and induced expression of Tsg101, the ubiquitin-binding component of the ESCRT-1 endosomal sorting complex. Subsequent stimulation or homotypic cell adhesion promoted membrane translocation of Itch and the related protein Nedd4, resulting in degradation of two key signaling proteins, PKC-θ and PLC-γ1. T cells from Itch- and Cbl-b–deficient mice were resistant to anergy induction. Anergic T cells showed impaired calcium mobilization after TCR triggering and were unable to maintain a mature immunological synapse, instead showing late disorganization of the outer ring containing lymphocyte function–associated antigen 1. Our results define a complex molecular program that links gene transcription induced by calcium and calcineurin to a paradoxical impairment of signal transduction in anergic T cells.

Autophagy and disease: always two sides to a problem

Autophagy is a process traditionally known to contribute to cellular cleaning through the removal of intracellular components in lysosomes. In recent years, intensive scrutiny at the molecular level to which autophagy has been subjected has also contributed to expanding our understanding of the physiological role of this pathway. Added to the well‐characterized role in quality control, autophagy has proved to be important in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and of the energetic balance, in cellular and tissue remodelling, and cellular defence against extracellular insults and pathogens. It is not a surprise that, in light of this growing number of physiological functions, connections between autophagic malfunction and human pathologies have also been strengthened. In this review, we focus on several pathological conditions associated with primary or secondary defects in autophagy and comment on a recurring theme for many of them, ie the fact that autophagy can often exert both beneficial and aggravating effects on the progression of disease. Elucidating the factors that determine the switch between these dual functions of autophagy in disease has become a priority when considering the potential therapeutic implications of the pharmacological modulation of autophagy in many of these pathological conditions. Copyright

Macroautophagy Regulates Energy Metabolism during Effector T Cell Activation

Macroautophagy is a highly conserved mechanism of lysosomal-mediated protein degradation that plays a key role in maintaining cellular homeostasis by recycling amino acids, reducing the amount of damaged proteins, and regulating protein levels in response to extracellular signals. We have found that macroautophagy is induced after effector T cell activation. Engagement of the TCR and CD28 results in enhanced microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) processing, increased numbers of LC3-containing vesicles, and increased LC3 flux, indicating active autophagosome formation and clearance. The autophagosomes formed in stimulated T cells actively fuse with lysosomes to degrade their cargo. Using a conditional KO mouse model where Atg7, a critical gene for macroautophagy, is specifically deleted in T cells, we have found that macroautophagy-deficient effector Th cells have defective IL-2 and IFN-γ production and reduced proliferation after stimulation, with no significant increase in apoptosis. We have found that ATP generation is decreased when autophagy is blocked, and defects in activation-induced cytokine production are restored when an exogenous energy source is added to macroautophagy-deficient T cells. Furthermore, we present evidence showing that the nature of the cargo inside autophagic vesicles found in resting T cells differs from the cargo of autophagosomes in activated T cells, where mitochondria and other organelles are selectively excluded. These results suggest that macroautophagy is an actively regulated process in T cells that can be induced in response to TCR engagement to accommodate the bioenergetic requirements of activated T cells.

Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Is Required for Tumor Growth

Cancer cells depend on chaperone-mediated autophagy for growth, revealing a new target for preventing tumorigenesis and inducing tumor regression. A LAMP Shines Light on Cancer Cell Death The process of autophagy, which literally means self-eating, contributes to cellular homeostasis by ensuring that damaged or unwanted cellular components are degraded in organelles called lysosomes. The two best-characterized pathways of autophagy are macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy. Alterations in macroautophagy have been reported in cancer cells, but it is unclear whether chaperone-mediated autophagy is also altered in cancer cells. In a new study, Kon and colleagues explore the contribution of chaperone-mediated autophagy to tumor growth and metastasis in vitro and in a mouse xenograft model of human primary lung tumors. Using biochemical and image-based techniques, the investigators found that chaperone-mediated autophagy is up-regulated in many cancer cell lines. Indeed, there were increases in the principal components of the chaperone-mediated autophagy pathway—including the key lysosomal receptor LAMP-2A (lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A)—in more than 40 different types of human tumors when compared with normal tissue surrounding the tumors. To determine the importance of chaperone-mediated autophagy to the survival of cancer cells, the authors used short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) to down-regulate LAMP-2A expression and hence the activity of this pathway. They discovered that tumor survival depended on the activity of this pathway and that blockade of chaperone-mediated autophagy in cancer cells delayed tumor growth and reduced metastasis. Next, the authors studied mice carrying xenografts of human primary lung tumors and showed that inhibition of chaperone-mediated autophagy by direct injection of shRNAs against LAMP-2A resulted in tumor shrinkage. Analysis of the metabolic status of cancer cells after inhibition of chaperone-mediated autophagy revealed that this pathway is essential for maintaining the high rate of cellular glycolysis that is characteristic of tumor cells. These new findings establish that tumor cells require chaperone-mediated autophagy to maintain their cellular energetic balance through modulation of glycolysis and that cancer cells cannot survive without this pathway. Selective inhibition of chaperone-mediated autophagy may be a new strategy for preventing tumorigenesis and for boosting tumor regression. The cellular process of autophagy (literally “self-eating”) is important for maintaining the homeostasis and bioenergetics of mammalian cells. Two of the best-studied mechanisms of autophagy are macroautophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Changes in macroautophagy activity have been described in cancer cells and in solid tumors, and inhibition of macroautophagy promotes tumorigenesis. Because normal cells respond to inhibition of macroautophagy by up-regulation of the CMA pathway, we aimed to characterize the CMA status in different cancer cells and to determine the contribution of changes in CMA to tumorigenesis. Here, we show consistent up-regulation of CMA in different types of cancer cells regardless of the status of macroautophagy. We also demonstrate an increase in CMA components in human cancers of different types and origins. CMA is required for cancer cell proliferation in vitro because it contributes to the maintenance of the metabolic alterations characteristic of malignant cells. Using human lung cancer xenografts in mice, we confirmed the CMA dependence of cancer cells in vivo. Inhibition of CMA delays xenograft tumor growth, reduces the number of cancer metastases, and induces regression of existing human lung cancer xenografts in mice. The fact that similar manipulations of CMA also reduce tumor growth of two different melanoma cell lines suggests that targeting this autophagic pathway may have broad antitumorigenic potential.

A photoconvertible fluorescent reporter to track chaperone-mediated autophagy

Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a selective mechanism for the degradation of soluble proteins in lysosomes. CMA contributes to cellular quality control and is activated as part of the cellular response to different stressors. Defective CMA has been identified in aging and different age-related diseases. Until now, CMA activity could only be measured in vitro upon isolation of lysosomes. Here we report the development of a photoconvertible fluorescent reporter that allows monitoring of CMA activity in living cells. Activation of CMA increases the association of the reporter with lysosomes which are visualized as a change in the intracellular fluorescence. The CMA reporter can be utilized in a broad variety of cells and is suitable for high-content microscopy. Using this reporter, we find that levels of basal and inducible CMA activity are cell-type dependent and we have identified an upregulation of this pathway in response to the catalytic inhibition of the proteasome.

Selective autophagy in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis in aging organisms

Altered cellular homeostasis, accumulation of damaged non-functional organelles and presence of protein inclusions are characteristics shared by almost all types of differentiated cells in aged organisms. Cells rely on quality control mechanisms to prevent the occurrence of these events and the subsequent cellular compromise associated with them. What goes wrong in aging cells? Growing evidence supports gradual malfunctioning with age of the cellular quality control systems. In this review, we focus on autophagy, a catabolic process that contributes to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis through the degradation of unwanted and damaged components in lysosomes. We describe recent advances on the molecular characterization of this process, its different variants and the multiplicity of functions attributed to them. Autophagic dysfunction has been identified in severe human disorders, many of which worsen with age. We comment on the contribution of an adequate autophagic function to longevity, and the negative impact on health-span of the age-dependent decline in autophagic function.

Regulation of T-cell tolerance by calcium/NFAT signaling.

Summary:  Cells that escape negative selection in the thymus must be inactivated or eliminated in the periphery through a series of mechanisms that include the induction of anergy, dominant suppression by regulatory T cells, and peripheral deletion of self‐reactive T cells. Calcium signaling plays a central role in the induction of anergy in T cells, which become functionally inactivated and incapable of proliferating and expressing cytokines following antigen re‐encounter. Suboptimal stimulation of T cells results in the activation of a calcium/calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T cells‐dependent cell‐intrinsic program of self‐inactivation. The proteins encoded by those genes are required to impose a state of functional unresponsiveness through different mechanisms that include downregulation of T‐cell receptor signaling and inhibition of cytokine transcription.

Regulation of Transcription Factor NFAT by ADP-Ribosylation

ABSTRACT ADP-ribosylation is a reversible posttranslational modification mediated by poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). The results of recent studies demonstrate that ADP-ribosylation contributes to transcription regulation. Here, we report that transcription factor NFAT binds to and is ADP-ribosylated by PARP-1 in an activation-dependent manner. Mechanistically, ADP-ribosylation increases NFAT DNA binding. Functionally, NFAT-mediated interleukin-2 (IL-2) expression was reduced in T cells upon genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of PARP-1. Parp-1−/− T cells also exhibit reduced expression of other NFAT-dependent cytokines, such as IL-4. Together, these results demonstrate that ADP-ribosylation mediated by PARP-1 provides a molecular switch to positively regulate NFAT-dependent cytokine gene transcription. These results also imply that, similar to the effect of calcineurin inhibition, PARP-1 inhibition may be beneficial in modulating immune functions.

The lipid kinase PI4KIIIβ preserves lysosomal identity.

Lipid modifications are essential in cellular sorting and trafficking inside cells. The role of phosphoinositides in trafficking between Golgi and endocytic/lysosomal compartments has been extensively explored and the kinases responsible for these lipid changes have been identified. In contrast, the mechanisms that mediate exit and recycling from lysosomes (Lys), considered for a long time as terminal compartments, are less understood. In this work, we identify a dynamic association of the lipid kinase PI4KIIIβ with Lys and unveil its regulatory function in lysosomal export and retrieval. We have found that absence of PI4KIIIβ leads to abnormal formation of tubular structures from the lysosomal surface and loss of lysosomal constituents through these tubules. We demonstrate that the kinase activity of PI4KIIIβ is necessary to prevent this unwanted lysosomal efflux under normal conditions, and to facilitate proper sorting when recycling of lysosomal material is needed, such as in the physiological context of lysosomal reformation after prolonged starvation.