RESUMO
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein (LMP)2 is a multiple membrane spanning molecule which lacks ectodomains projecting into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Human CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL)s recognize a number of epitopes within LMP2. Assays with epitope-specific CTLs in two different cell backgrounds lacking the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) consistently show that some, but not all, LMP2 epitopes are presented in a TAP-independent manner. However, unlike published examples of TAP-independent processing from endogenously expressed antigens, presentation of TAP-independent LMP2 epitopes was abrogated by inhibition of proteasomal activity. We found a clear correlation between hydrophobicity of the LMP2 epitope sequence and TAP independence, and experiments with vaccinia minigene constructs expressing cytosolic epitope peptides confirmed that these more hydrophobic peptides were selectively able to access the HLA class I pathway in TAP-negative cells. Furthermore, the TAP-independent phenotype of particular epitope sequences did not require membrane location of the source antigen since (i) TAP-independent LMP2 epitopes inserted into an EBV nuclear antigen and (ii) hydrophobic epitope sequences native to EBV nuclear antigens were both presented in TAP-negative cells. We infer that there is a proteasome-dependent, TAP-independent pathway of antigen presentation which hydrophobic epitopes can selectively access.
Assuntos
Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP/imunologia , Apresentação de Antígeno/imunologia , Cisteína Endopeptidases/imunologia , Herpesvirus Humano 4/imunologia , Complexos Multienzimáticos/imunologia , Transdução de Sinais/imunologia , Linfócitos T Citotóxicos/imunologia , Proteínas da Matriz Viral/imunologia , Membro 2 da Subfamília B de Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP , Membro 3 da Subfamília B de Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP , Transportadores de Cassetes de Ligação de ATP/genética , Linhagem Celular Transformada , Inibidores de Cisteína Proteinase/farmacologia , Células Epiteliais , Mapeamento de Epitopos , Epitopos de Linfócito T/imunologia , Antígenos HLA-A/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-A24 , Antígenos HLA-B/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-B27/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-B40 , Humanos , Complexos Multienzimáticos/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteínas Nucleares/imunologia , Complexo de Endopeptidases do Proteassoma , Células Tumorais CultivadasRESUMO
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is implicated in the induction of several malignancies. The nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) is the only viral protein that is expressed consistently in all EBV-associated tumors. EBNA1 is involved in the replication and maintenance of the viral episome in the infected cell and exhibits oncogenic activity in transgenic mice. Here we report the identification of the nuclear transporter karyopherin alpha2 as a cellular partner of EBNA1 using the yeast "two-hybrid system." Karyopherin alpha2 is also called importin alpha or Rch1. The binding to karyopherin alpha2 was mediated through a C-terminal region of EBNA1 encompassing the nuclear localization signal, whereas clones of EBNA1 devoid of the nuclear localization signal failed to bind to karyopherin alpha2. The interaction was biochemically confirmed by far-Western analysis using bacterially expressed karyopherin alpha2 and karyopherin alpha2-specific monoclonal antibodies. The nuclear transport of EBNA1 was impaired by expression of N-terminally truncated karyopherin alpha2. Zone velocity sedimentation in a sucrose gradient indicated that: (i) EBNA1 and Rch1 colocalize; and (ii) the association of karyopherin alpha2 with high molecular weight protein complexes might be impeded by the presence of EBNA1.