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Lipids are important antigens that induce T cell-mediated specific immune responses. They are presented to T lymphocytes by a specific class ofMHC-Ilike proteins, termed CD1. The majority of the described CD1-presented mycobacterial antigens are presented by the CD1b isoform.Wepreviously demonstrated that the stimulation of CD1b-restricted T cells by the hexamannosylated phosphatidyl-myo-inositol (PIM6), a family of mycobacterial antigens, requires a prior partial digestion of the antigen oligomannoside moiety by α-mannosidase and that CD1e is an accessory protein absolutely required for the generation of the lipid immunogenic form. Here, we show that CD1e behaves as a lipid transfer protein influencing lipid immunoediting and membrane transfer of PIM lipids. CD1e selectively assists the α-mannosidase-dependent digestion of PIM6 species according to their degree of acylation. Moreover, CD1e transfers only diacylated PIM from donor to acceptor liposomes and also from membranes to CD1b. This study provides new insight into the molecular mechanisms by whichCD1econtributes to lipid immunoediting and CD1-restricted presentation toTcells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complexes between GDI molecules and self or microbial glycolipids represent important immunogenic ligands for specific subsets of T cells. However, the function of one of the GDI family members, CDIe, has yet to be determined. Here, we show that the mycobacterial antigens hexamannosylated phosphatidyl-myo-inositols (PIM[sub 6]) stimulate CD1b-restricted T cells only after partial digestion of the oligomannose moiety by lysosomal a-mannosidase and that soluble CD1e is required for this processing. Furthermore, recombinant CD1e was able to bind glycolipids and assist in the digestion of PIM[sub 6]. We propose that, through this form of glycolipid editing, CD1e helps expand the repertoire of glycolipidic T cell antigens to optimize antimicrobial immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease which cleaves plasminogen to its active form, plasmin. tPA plays a physiologic role in hemostasis, wound healing, and embryogenesis. Therapeutically, recombinant human tPA is used as a thrombolytic in myocardial infarction. Although production of therapeutic quantities of tPA in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells transfected with the human gene for tPA is practical, production costs remain high. One important factor which determines the ultimate cost of tPA (or any other recombinant protein expressed in mammalian cells) is its production level on a per cell basis. We have used postembedding immunocytochemical staining with colloidal gold to study the subcellular localization of tPA in CHO cells expressing recombinant tPA (rCHO) in an effort to understand the factor(s) which might limit secretion. Staining for tPA was evaluated visually and by morphometric analysis and was specific and reproducible. Serially passaged rCHO showed no significant change in staining density over 31 serial passages. Staining density was greatest over dilated cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and nuclear envelope. Golgi stacks and large acid phosphatase-positive vacuoles (probably lysosomes) were also heavily stained. Staining of lysosomal vacuoles suggested that rCHO might be degrading nascent tPA. Incubation of rCHO with 125I-tPA showed that the cells were not internalizing tPA from the media. These results suggest that rCHO fail to secrete a portion of the tPA they synthesize and that it is degraded in lysosomes. This observation may have important implications on the choice of expression systems for efficient production of large quantities of recombinant proteins.

Colloidal lanthanum salts have an average particle size of 40 degrees A; consequently, this electron-opaque marker remains extracellular and does not cross the intact plasma membrane. The affinity of lanthanum for calcium-binding sites on mitochondrial membranes makes it possible to demonstrate loss of plasma membrane integrity at the cellular level in ischemic myocardium. Biopsies were obtained from infarcted, marginal and normal areas 3 1/2 hours after ischemia was produced in 9 anesthetized closed-chest dogs by electrically induced thrombosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The tissue was immediately fixed in 4% glutaraldehyde and 0.1 M cacodylate buffer containing 1.3% La(NO3)3, pH 7.4, for 2 hours. In normal control tissue prepared this way the lanthanum tracer, as expected, was confirmed to the extracellular spaces, including, basement membranes, gap junctions and portions of the intercalated discs. Specimens taken near the center of frank infarctions all contained intracellular as well as extracellular lanthanum. Intracellular lanthanum could be seen evenly distributed around lipid droplets and in focal deposits around mitochondria. Only when mitochondria were disrupted did lanthanum gain access to internal sites on mitochondrial membranes. Areas marginal to the infarct contained cells in varying stages of degeneration including many that appeared normal by morphologic criteria alone. Intracellular lanthanum was present in many but not all of the marginal cells in which degenerative changes could be seen. Similarly a few of the cells that appeared morphologically normal contained intracellular lanthanum. The entry of lanthanum into some of these marginal cells and its exclusion from adjacent cells demonstrated that ischemic injury affects the permeability properties of the plasma membrane and independently of other intracellular morphologic changes and that lanthanum can be a sensitive indicator of such alteration in membrane permeability.

Human neutrophils in suspension undergo a metabolic burst and generate reactive O2- metabolites upon exposure to many soluble and particulate stimuli. They can also be stimulated to produce O2- when in contact with surfaces. We found that when neutrophils were allowed to settle into protein-coated surfaces the amount of O2- they generated varied with the nature of the protein: IgG greater than bovine serum albumin greater than plastic greater than gelatin greater than serum greater than collagen. However, when polymorphonuclear leukocytes were permitted to settle onto a surface and then were stimulated with either phorbol myristate acetate or N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine the O2- response was greatly diminished compared to control cells that were exposed to the stimulus in suspension. In contrast, superoxide production in response to the particulate stimulus opsonized zymosan was similar in both suspended and settled neutrophils. The degree of inhibition was not related to the degree of adherence since the diminished response occurred with all of the surfaces tested and in the presence of cytochalasin B. Onset of inhibition was very rapid as was recovery when cells were resuspended. Whereas production of O2- was greatly inhibited by surface contact, release of lysosomal enzymes was only slightly affected. The effect of surface contact did not appear to be mediated via activation of adenylate cyclase since the combination of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor and exogenous dibuteryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate did not inhibit phorbal myristate acetate O2- production, but surface contact did. These data indicate that surface contact such as would occur during diapedesis and chemotaxis profoundly alters neutrophil behavior by an unknown mechanism and imply that observations made on polymorphonuclear leukocytes in suspension cannot be generalized to polymorphonuclear leukocytes in tissue.

Generation of toxic oxygen metabolites by inflammatory cells is considered to be one of the mechanisms by which inflammation produces tissue injury. This concept is based on in vitro studies of purified leukocyte populations because it has not been possible to assess production of these metabolites in tissues. In order to determine whether or not inflammatory cells in tissue generate H2O2, the authors modified an earlier cytochemical method for the localization of H2O2. The incubation medium consists of 0.5 mM CeCl3 in a Hepes-buffered balanced salt solution with Cl- as the only anion. Synovial tissue from the knees of normal and 16-day adjuvant arthritic rats was incubated in this medium for 30 minutes and then fixed and processed for electron microscopy. No H2O2 reaction product was visible in normal synovium. In contrast, patchy deposits of H2O2 reaction product were seen adjacent to a subpopulation of synovial lining macrophages in synovium from inflamed knee joints. These data show that rat synovial macrophages are capable of generating H2O2 when appropriately stimulated and that such a stimulus is present in adjuvant arthritis.

Multilamellar vesicles (MLVs) have been used as drug carriers to increase efficacy or decrease toxicity of a variety of therapeutic agents, including antineoplastics, antibiotics, and immunomodulators. Although analysis of the disposition of encapsulated materials is relatively simple using radiolabels or single enzymes, determining the cellular and subcellular disposition of intact MLVs, i.e., those that still retain their encapsulated materials, is much less straightforward. We have developed a technique that allows demonstration of the uptake of intact MLVs by Kupffer cells. The method is based on co-localization of paired enzymes, glucose oxidase (GO), and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The rationale for the localization is that H2O2 generated from glucose and oxygen by GO acts as the substrate for the HRP-mediated oxidative polymerization of diaminobenzidine. Therefore, only sites of co-localization of GO and HRP should stain. Mice were injected IV with phosphatidyl choline MLVs encapsulating HRP and GO. Encapsulated enzymes were separated from non-encapsulated by passing the MLVs over a Sepharose 2B column. Control mice were injected with equivalent amounts of free GO. Mice were sacrificed 30 min after injection and liver tissue was fixed in 3% cacodylate-buffered glutaraldehyde for at least 18 hr. Tissues were washed in buffer, then stained in medium containing glucose, diaminobenzidine HCl, and dimethylsulfoxide in 0.1 M cacodylate buffer. In animals injected with MLV-encapsulated GO and HRP, vacuoles in Kupffer cells and some endothelial cells contained electron-dense reaction product. No other cell type, including polymorphonuclear leukocytes, was stained. In control animals no staining was seen. Our results indicate that encapsulation of paired enzymes may be a feasible method to demonstrate the cellular and subcellular disposition of intact liposomes.

Receptor-ligand interaction in mononuclear phagocytes is intimately linked to alterations in membrane phospholipids and release of arachidonic acid (AA). In addition, synthesis of bioactive lipids from released AA can result in further modification of cell responses. Upon challenge with opsonized zymosan, [3H]-arachidonic acid ([3H]-AA)-labeled human monocytes released 25 +/- 2% of their incorporated radiolabel within 30 min. Pretreatment of the monocytes with 5 X 10(-4) M isobutylmethylxanthine (IBMX) or 1 X 10(-3) M dibutyryl cyclic AMP (d-cAMP) inhibited total [3H]-AA release in the presence of zymosan by 47% and 42%, respectively. Analysis of incorporated [3H]-AA in cellular phospholipid pools indicated that significant amounts of label were lost from both phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) during zymosan stimulation. Treatment with d-cAMP substantially inhibited the loss of label from PC, but had no affect on PI. HPLC analysis of cell supernatants from zymosan-treated cells indicated that 5-HETE was the predominant metabolite generated from [3H]-AA, and its production was depressed during treatment with d-cAMP. Phospholipase activity in human monocyte homogenates was not effected by d-cAMP or IBMX at the highest concentrations used, whether these were added directly to the homogenate or by pretreatment of whole cells, demonstrating that inhibition required an intact cell. These results suggest that human monocytes exposed to opsonized zymosan release AA via two mechanisms and that modulation by cAMP is indirectly effecting a phospholipase directed towards PC.

The effect of ischemia on the integrity of myocardial lysosomes was observed 3 1/2 and 24 hours after the production of infarcts in 20 anesthetized closed-chest dogs by electrically induced thrombosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Biopsies from normal, marginal and infarcted areas were fixed and incubated to localize the lysosomal enzymes acid phosphatase and aryl sulphatase. Reaction product in normal cells was localized in small circular or oblong profiles between bundles of myofilaments and adjacent to mitochondria. In addition, curvilinear, membrane-bound profiles containing reaction product were found in close apposition to transverse tubules and near the free margins of the myocardial cells. Thus the distribution of elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Additional reaction product was also seen in residual bodies, on myelin figures, and in the few conventional appearing spherical lysosomes. Little or no acid phosphatase or aryl sulphatase reaction product was seen in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of infarcted myocardium. The degree of cellular degeneration correlated with disappearance of enzyme activity from the sarcoplasmic reticulum and included disruption of membranes and loss of mitochondrial matrix and erosion of I but not A bands. Marginal areas showed variable amounts of cellular degeneration. Separation of myofilament bundles and loss of glycogen correlated with the localized disappearance of acid phosphatase and aryl sulphatase activity in marginal tissue. Disruption of mitochondrial and erosion of I bands correlated with extensive loss of these enzymes. The data suggest that degeneration of myocardial cells following ischemic injury is associated with release of endogenous lysosomal enzymes from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

Many stimuli induce neutrophils to undergo an oxidative burst and generate toxic oxygen metabolites. The major products are O2- and H2O2, the latter being presumed to arise by spontaneous dismutation of the former. If H2O2 were indeed derived exclusively from released O2- according to the equation 2O2- + 2H+----H2O2 + O2, one would expect that relationship to be reflected in the ratio of the two metabolites detectable in the extracellular mileu of stimulated neutrophils. A second corollary is that H2O2 should not form when cytochrome c is present to scavenge O2- before it can dismutate. Although H2O2 cannot be measured directly in the presence of cytochrome c because it is consumed in reoxidizing reduced cytochrome c, its presence can be detected indirectly by the ability of catalase to improve the apparent yield of reduced cytochrome c. We found that the relative amounts of extracellular H2O2 and O2- that could be measured in the environment of stimulated neutrophils varied with the stimulus and that catalase protected reduced cytochrome c from H2O2 oxidation when some stimuli were used but not with others. For example, the ratio of O2- to H2O2 produced by neutrophils exposed to PMA was about 2:1, the expected result if H2O2 were derived from O2-. However when cytochalasin B was added to the cells before the stimulus, the yield of H2O2 was reduced but not the yield of O2-. When cells were allowed to settle and spread on tissue culture plastic they produced equimolar amounts of O2- and H2O2. Coating the plastic with IgG doubled cytochrome c reduction without effecting H2O2. In contrast, coating with albumin reduced H2O2 without effecting cytochrome c reduction. Soluble IgG aggregates induced production of mostly O2- whereas immune complexes resulted in release of both metabolites. FMLP and A23187 were similar to the soluble IgG aggregates in their effects and induced release of proportionately more O2- than H2O2. The addition of catalase to the cytochrome c solution improved the yield of reduced cytochrome c when PMA or IgG was used to stimulate the cells but not when FMLP was used. These and other data suggest that H2O2 release is not a linear function of the amount of O2- generated and that either a variable fraction of O2- spontaneously dismutates to H2O2 or the neutrophil NADPH oxidase, in a manner analogous to xanthine oxidase, is capable, under some circumstances, of producing H2O2 as well as O2-.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)