HIV-1 infection of CD4 T cells impairs antigen-specific B cell function.

Failures to produce neutralizing antibodies upon HIV-1 infection result in part from B-cell dysfunction due to unspecific B-cell activation. How HIV-1 affects antigen-specific B-cell functions remains elusive. Using an adoptive transfer mouse model and ex vivo HIV infection of human tonsil tissue, we found that expression of the HIV-1 pathogenesis factor NEF in CD4 T cells undermines their helper function and impairs cognate B-cell functions including mounting of efficient specific IgG responses. NEF interfered with T cell help via a specific protein interaction motif that prevents polarized cytokine secretion at the T-cell-B-cell immune synapse. This interference reduced B-cell activation and proliferation and thus disrupted germinal center formation and affinity maturation. These results identify NEF as a key component for HIV-mediated dysfunction of antigen-specific B cells. Therapeutic targeting of the identified molecular surface in NEF will facilitate host control of HIV infection.

HIV-1 Nef Disrupts CD4+ T Lymphocyte Polarity, Extravasation, and Homing to Lymph Nodes via Its Nef-Associated Kinase Complex Interface.

HIV-1 Nef is a multifunctional protein that optimizes virus spread and promotes immune evasion of infected cells to accelerate disease progression in AIDS patients. As one of its activities, Nef reduces the motility of infected CD4+ T lymphocytes in confined space. In vivo, Nef restricts T lymphocyte homing to lymph nodes as it reduces the ability for extravasation at the diapedesis step. Effects of Nef on T lymphocyte motility are typically mediated by its ability to reduce actin remodeling. However, interference with diapedesis does not depend on residues in Nef required for inhibition of host cell actin dynamics. In search for an alternative mechanism by which Nef could alter T lymphocyte extravasation, we noted that the viral protein interferes with the polarization of primary human CD4+ T lymphocytes upon infection with HIV-1. Expression of Nef alone is sufficient to disrupt T cell polarization, and this effect is conserved among lentiviral Nef proteins. Nef acts by arresting the oscillation of CD4+ T cells between polarized and nonpolarized morphologies. Mapping studies identified the binding site for the Nef-associated kinase complex (NAKC) as critical determinant of this Nef activity and a NAKC-binding-deficient Nef variant fails to impair CD4+ T lymphocyte extravasation and homing to lymph nodes. These results thus imply the disruption of T lymphocyte polarity via its NAKC binding site as a novel mechanism by which lentiviral Nef proteins alter T lymphocyte migration in vivo.

Constitutive CD40 Signaling Calibrates Differentiation Outcomes in Responding B Cells via Multiple Molecular Pathways.

CD40 signaling during B cell activation is known to inhibit terminal differentiation and promote memory generation. Blimp-1 is essential for efficient plasma cell (PC) generation, and although CD40 signaling is known to inhibit Blimp-1 induction during B cell activation, the mechanisms involved have been unclear. We report that CD40 signaling induces miR-125b that targets Blimp-1 transcripts, and increases amounts of the ubiquitin ligase Hrd1 that targets BLIMP-1 protein for proteasomal degradation. CD40 signaling also inhibits the early unfolded protein response (UPR) of activated B cells that precedes the induction of terminal differentiation, and Hrd1 feeds into this pathway by targeting the core UPR component IRE-1α. Strikingly, CD40 signaling in the absence of BCR- or TLR-ligation also repressed Blimp-1 transcripts, suggesting that noncognate ligation of CD40 via T-B interactions may repress Blimp-1 in vivo. In support of this, we find that naive B cells purified from CD40-CD154 interaction-deficient mice express higher amounts of Blimp-1 and lower amounts of microRNAs and Hrd1. Higher basal amounts of Blimp-1 in naive CD40(-/-) B cells correlate with an increased tendency of the cells to undergo terminal differentiation upon LPS stimulation. Conversely, a 24-h exposure to CD40 ligation during LPS stimulation of wild-type B cells is sufficient to inhibit PC generation. The data show that CD40-mediated inhibition of PC generation is via engagement of multiple pathways that involve repression of Blimp-1 and inhibition of the UPR that prepares cells to become professional secretors. They also show that constitutive CD40 signaling in vivo involving bystander T-B interactions can calibrate B cell differentiation outcomes.

Recruitment of memory B cells to lymph nodes remote from the site of immunization requires an inflammatory stimulus.

Successful recall Ab responses require recruitment of quiescent memory B cells to secondary lymphoid organs. However, the cellular dynamics of memory cells responding to local antigenic challenge at lymphoid sites distal from the initial Ag encounter are not well understood. We show in this study that memory B cells generated following s.c. immunization in one footpad generate secondary responses to soluble Ag given i.p. but not to Ag given s.c. in the contralateral footpad unless LPS is coadministered. Memory B cells do not express CD62L, and CD62L(-ve) cells cannot enter lymph nodes unless LPS-mediated inflammation is induced there. Functional TLR4 is required on the B cells, as well as on non-B cells, in the lymph node to achieve full recruitment. Furthermore, splenectomized mice fail to respond to such inflammatory s.c. challenge in contralateral footpads, unlike lymphadenectomized mice lacking the original draining lymph nodes. Splenectomized mice also fail to respond to i.p. challenge with soluble Ag. Together, these data indicate that, unlike the central memory pool of T cells, which circulates through resting lymph nodes, the majority of long-lived memory B cells are spleen resident and require inflammatory signals for mounting recall responses at distal challenge sites.

Inhibition of terminal differentiation of B cells mediated by CD27 and CD40 involves signaling through JNK.

B cells responding to cognate Ag in vivo undergo clonal expansion that is followed by differentiation into Ab-secreting plasma cells or into quiescent restimulable memory. Both these events occur in the germinal center and require that cells exit from proliferation, but the signals that lead to one or the other of these mutually exclusive differentiation pathways have not been definitively characterized. Previous experiments have shown that signals transduced through the TNFRs CD27 and CD40 at the time of B cell stimulation in vitro or in vivo can influence this cell fate decision by inhibiting terminal differentiation and promoting memory. In this study, we show that the PIQED domain of the cytoplasmic tail of murine CD27 and the adapter molecule TNFR-associated factor 2 are involved in this effect. Using pharmacological inhibitors of signaling intermediates, we identify JNK as being necessary and sufficient for the observed inhibition of terminal differentiation. While JNK is involved downstream of CD40, inhibition of the MEK pathway can also partially restore plasma cell generation, indicating that both signaling intermediates may be involved. We also show that inhibition of induction of IFN regulatory factor 4 and B lymphocyte induced maturation protein 1 are downstream events common to both receptors.