Paul E. Love

Defective lymphoid development in mice lacking expression of the common cytokine receptor γ chain

The common gamma chain (gamma c) of the IL-2, IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15 receptors is defective in humans with XSCID. Mice lacking gamma c expression had hypoplastic thymuses; the thymocytes responded to gamma c-independent mitogens, but not gamma c-dependent stimuli. Splenic T cells were diminished at 3 weeks of age, but CD4+ T cells markedly increased by 4 weeks. B cells were greatly diminished in contrast with the situation in XSCID. NK cells, gamma delta intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes, dendritic epidermal T cells, peripheral lymph nodes, and gut-associated lymphoid tissue were absent. These findings underscore the importance of gamma c in lymphoid development. Moreover, differences in humans and mice lacking gamma c expression indicate species-specific differences in the roles of gamma c-dependent cytokines or in the existence of redundant pathways. These mice provide an important model for studying the pathophysiology provide an important model for studying the pathophysiology of and gene therapy for human XSCID.

Essential Role of LAT in T Cell Development

The linker molecule LAT is a substrate of the tyrosine kinases activated following TCR engagement. Phosphorylated LAT binds many critical signaling molecules. The central role of this molecule in TCR-mediated signaling has been demonstrated by experiments in a LAT-deficient cell line. To probe the role of LAT in T cell development, the LAT gene was disrupted by targeting. LAT-deficient mice appeared healthy. Flow cytometric analysis revealed normal B cell populations but the absence of any mature peripheral T cells. Intrathymic development was blocked within the CD4- CD8- stage. No gross abnormality of NK or platelet function was observed. LAT is thus critical to both T cell activation and development.

Targeted deletion of the gene encoding iron regulatory protein-2 causes misregulation of iron metabolism and neurodegenerative disease in mice.

In mammalian cells, regulation of the expression of proteins involved in iron metabolism is achieved through interactions of iron-sensing proteins known as iron regulatory proteins (IRPs), with transcripts that contain RNA stem-loop structures referred to as iron responsive elements (IREs). Two distinct but highly homologous proteins, IRP1 and IRP2, bind IREs with high affinity when cells are depleted of iron, inhibiting translation of some transcripts, such as ferritin, or turnover of others, such as the transferrin receptor (TFRC). IRPs sense cytosolic iron levels and modify expression of proteins involved in iron uptake, export and sequestration according to the needs of individual cells. Here we generate mice with a targeted disruption of the gene encoding Irp2 (Ireb2). These mutant mice misregulate iron metabolism in the intestinal mucosa and the central nervous system. In adulthood, Ireb2−/− mice develop a movement disorder characterized by ataxia, bradykinesia and tremor. Significant accumulations of iron in white matter tracts and nuclei throughout the brain precede the onset of neurodegeneration and movement disorder symptoms by many months. Ferric iron accumulates in the cytosol of neurons and oligodendrocytes in distinctive regions of the brain. Abnormal accumulations of ferritin colocalize with iron accumulations in populations of neurons that degenerate, and iron-laden oligodendrocytes accumulate ubiquitin-positive inclusions. Thus, misregulation of iron metabolism leads to neurodegenerative disease in Ireb2−/− mice and may contribute to the pathogenesis of comparable human neurodegenerative diseases.

LAT Is Essential for FcεRI-Mediated Mast Cell Activation

Abstract The linker molecule LAT is a substrate of the tyrosine kinases activated following TCR engagement of T cells. LAT is also expressed in platelets, NK, and mast cells. Although LAT-deficient mice contain normal numbers of mast cells, we found that LAT-deficient mice were resistant to IgE-mediated passive systemic anaphylaxis. LAT-deficient bone marrow–derived mast cells (BMMC) showed normal growth and development. Whereas tyrosine phosphorylation of FceRI, Syk, and Vav was intact in LAT-deficient BMMCs following FceRI engagement, tyrosine phosphorylation of SLP-76, PLC-γ1, and PLC-γ2 and calcium mobilization were dramatically reduced. LAT-deficient BMMCs also exhibited profound defects in activation of MAPK, degranulation, and cytokine production after FceRI cross-linking. These results show that LAT plays a critical role in FceRI-mediated signaling in mast cells.

Genetic ablations of iron regulatory proteins 1 and 2 reveal why iron regulatory protein 2 dominates iron homeostasis

The two iron regulatory proteins IRP1 and IRP2 bind to transcripts of ferritin, transferrin receptor and other target genes to control the expression of iron metabolism proteins at the post‐transcriptional level. Here we compare the effects of genetic ablation of IRP1 to IRP2 in mice. IRP1−/− mice misregulate iron metabolism only in the kidney and brown fat, two tissues in which the endogenous expression level of IRP1 greatly exceeds that of IRP2, whereas IRP2−/− mice misregulate the expression of target proteins in all tissues. Surprisingly, the RNA‐binding activity of IRP1 does not increase in animals on a low‐iron diet that is sufficient to activate IRP2. In animal tissues, most of the bifunctional IRP1 is in the form of cytosolic aconitase rather than an RNA‐binding protein. Our findings indicate that the small RNA‐binding fraction of IRP1, which is insensitive to cellular iron status, contributes to basal mammalian iron homeostasis, whereas IRP2 is sensitive to iron status and can compensate for the loss of IRP1 by increasing its binding activity. Thus, IRP2 dominates post‐transcriptional regulation of iron metabolism in mammals.

A Role for CCR9 in T Lymphocyte Development and Migration

CCR9 mediates chemotaxis in response to CCL25/thymus-expressed chemokine and is selectively expressed on T cells in the thymus and small intestine. To investigate the role of CCR9 in T cell development, the CCR9 gene was disrupted by homologous recombination. B cell development, thymic αβ-T cell development, and thymocyte selection appeared unimpaired in adult CCR9-deficient (CCR9−/−) mice. However, competitive transplantation experiments revealed that bone marrow from CCR9−/− mice was less efficient at repopulating the thymus of lethally irradiated Rag-1−/− mice than bone marrow from littermate CCR9+/+ mice. CCR9−/− mice had increased numbers of peripheral γδ-T cells but reduced numbers of γδTCR+ and CD8αβ+αβTCR+ intraepithelial lymphocytes in the small intestine. Thus, CCR9 plays an important, although not indispensable, role in regulating the development and/or migration of both αβ− and γδ− T lymphocytes.

Fine Tuning of TCR Signaling by CD5

Current data indicate that CD5 functions as an inhibitor of TCR signal transduction. Consistent with this role, thymocyte selection in TCR transgenic/CD5−/− mice is altered in a manner suggestive of enhanced TCR signaling. However, the impact of CD5 deletion on thymocyte selection varies depending on the transgenic TCR analyzed, ranging from a slight to a marked shift from positive toward negative selection. An explanation for the variable effect of CD5 on selection is suggested by the observation that CD5 surface expression is regulated by TCR signal intensity during development and CD5 surface levels on mature thymocytes and T cells parallel the avidity of the positively selecting TCR/MHC/ligand interaction. In this study, we generated mice that overexpress CD5 during thymocyte development (CD5-tg), and then examined the effect of CD5 overexpression or CD5 deletion (CD5−/−) on selection of thymocytes that express the same TCR transgenes. The results demonstrate that the effect on thymocyte selection of altering CD5 expression depends on the avidity of the selecting interaction and, consequently, the level of basal (endogenous) CD5 surface expression. Substitution of endogenous CD5 with a transgene encoding a truncated form of the protein failed to rescue the CD5−/− phenotype, demonstrating that the cytoplasmic domain of CD5 is required for its inhibitory function. Together, these results indicate that inducible regulation of CD5 surface expression during thymocyte selection functions to fine tune the TCR signaling response.

Failure to produce mitochondrial DNA results in embryonic lethality in Rnaseh1 null mice.

Although ribonucleases H (RNases H) have long been implicated in DNA metabolism, they are not required for viability in prokaryotes or unicellular eukaryotes. We generated Rnaseh1(-/-) mice to investigate the role of RNase H1 in mammals and observed developmental arrest at E8.5 in null embryos. A fraction of the mainly nuclear RNase H1 was targeted to mitochondria, and its absence in embryos resulted in a significant decrease in mitochondrial DNA content, leading to apoptotic cell death. This report links RNase H1 to generation of mitochondrial DNA, providing direct support for the strand-coupled mechanism of mitochondrial DNA replication. These findings also have important implications for therapy of mitochondrial dysfunctions and drug development for the structurally related RNase H of HIV.

Combined Natural Killer Cell and Dendritic Cell Functional Deficiency in KARAP/DAP12 Loss-of-Function Mutant Mice

KARAP/DAP12 is a transmembrane polypeptide with an intracytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM). KARAP/DAP12 is associated with several activating cell surface receptors in hematopoietic cells. Here, we report that knockin mice bearing a nonfunctional KARAP/DAP12 ITAM present altered innate immune responses. Although in these mice NK cells are present and their repertoire of inhibitory MHC class I receptors is intact, the NK cell spectrum of natural cytotoxicity toward tumor cell targets is restricted. KARAP/DAP12 loss-of-function mutant mice also exhibit a dramatic accumulation of dendritic cells in muco-cutaneous epithelia, associated with an impaired hapten-specific contact sensitivity. Thus, despite its homology with CD3zeta and FcRgamma, KARAP/DAP12 plays a specific role in innate immunity, emphasizing the nonredundancy of these ITAM-bearing polypeptides in hematopoietic cells.

LAT Is Required for Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Phospholipase Cγ2 and Platelet Activation by the Collagen Receptor GPVI

ABSTRACT In the present study, we have addressed the role of the linker for activation of T cells (LAT) in the regulation of phospholipase Cγ2 (PLCγ2) by the platelet collagen receptor glycoprotein VI (GPVI). LAT is tyrosine phosphorylated in human platelets heavily in response to collagen, collagen-related peptide (CRP), and FcγRIIA cross-linking but only weakly in response to the G-protein-receptor-coupled agonist thrombin. LAT tyrosine phosphorylation is abolished in CRP-stimulated Syk-deficient mouse platelets, whereas it is not altered in SLP-76-deficient mice or Btk-deficient X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) human platelets. Using mice engineered to lack the adapter LAT, we showed that tyrosine phosphorylation of Syk and Btk in response to CRP was maintained in LAT-deficient platelets whereas phosphorylation of SLP-76 was slightly impaired. In contrast, tyrosine phosphorylation of PLCγ2 was substantially reduced in LAT-deficient platelets but was not completely inhibited. The reduction in phosphorylation of PLCγ2 was associated with marked inhibition of formation of phosphatidic acid, a metabolite of 1,2-diacylglycerol, phosphorylation of pleckstrin, a substrate of protein kinase C, and expression of P-selectin in response to CRP, whereas these parameters were not altered in response to thrombin. Activation of the fibrinogen receptor integrin αIIbβ3 in response to CRP was also reduced in LAT-deficient platelets but was not completely inhibited. These results demonstrate that LAT tyrosine phosphorylation occurs downstream of Syk and is independent of the adapter SLP-76, and they establish a major role for LAT in the phosphorylation and activation of PLCγ2, leading to downstream responses such as α-granule secretion and activation of integrin αIIbβ3. The results further demonstrate that the major pathway of tyrosine phosphorylation of SLP-76 is independent of LAT and that there is a minor, LAT-independent pathway of tyrosine phosphorylation of PLCγ2. We propose a model in which LAT and SLP-76 are required for PLCγ2 phosphorylation but are regulated through independent pathways downstream of Syk.