Extensive repertoire of membrane-bound and soluble dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3-grabbing nonintegrin 1 (DC-SIGN1) and DC-SIGN2 isoforms. Inter-individual variation in expression of DC-SIGN transcripts.

Expression in dendritic cells (DCs) of DC-SIGN, a type II membrane protein with a C-type lectin ectodomain, is thought to play an important role in establishing the initial contact between DCs and resting T cells. DC-SIGN is also a unique type of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) attachment factor and promotes efficient infection in trans of cells that express CD4 and chemokine receptors. We have identified another gene, designated here as DC-SIGN2, that exhibits high sequence homology with DC-SIGN. Here we demonstrate that alternative splicing of DC-SIGN1 (original version) and DC-SIGN2 pre-mRNA generates a large repertoire of DC-SIGN-like transcripts that are predicted to encode membrane-associated and soluble isoforms. The range of DC-SIGN1 mRNA expression was significantly broader than previously reported and included THP-1 monocytic cells, placenta, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and there was cell maturation/activation-induced differences in mRNA expression levels. Immunostaining of term placenta with a DC-SIGN1-specific antiserum showed that DC-SIGN1 is expressed on endothelial cells and CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5)-positive macrophage-like cells in the villi. DC-SIGN2 mRNA expression was high in the placenta and not detectable in PBMCs. In DCs, the expression of DC-SIGN2 transcripts was significantly lower than that of DC-SIGN1. Notably, there was significant inter-individual heterogeneity in the repertoire of DC-SIGN1 and DC-SIGN2 transcripts expressed. The genes for DC-SIGN1, DC-SIGN2, and CD23, another Type II lectin, colocalize to an approximately 85 kilobase pair region on chromosome 19p13.3, forming a cluster of related genes that undergo highly complex alternative splicing events. The molecular diversity of DC-SIGN-1 and -2 is reminiscent of that observed for certain other adhesive cell surface proteins involved in cell-cell connectivity. The generation of this large collection of polymorphic cell surface and soluble variants that exhibit inter-individual variation in expression levels has important implications for the pathogenesis of HIV-1 infection, as well as for the molecular code required to establish complex interactions between antigen-presenting cells and T cells, i.e. the immunological synapse.

Genealogy of the CCR5 locus and chemokine system gene variants associated with altered rates of HIV-1 disease progression.

Allelic variants for the HIV-1 co-receptors chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) and CCR2, as well as the ligand for the co-receptor CXCR4, stromal-derived factor (SDF-1), have been associated with a delay in disease progression. We began this study to test whether polymorphisms in the CCR5 regulatory regions influence the course of HIV-1 disease, as well as to examine the role of the previously identified allelic variants in 1,090 HIV-1 infected individuals. Here we describe the evolutionary relationships between the phenotypically important CCR5 alleles, define precisely the CCR5 regulatory sequences that are linked to the CCR5-delta32 and CCR2-641 polymorphisms, and identify genotypes associated with altered rates of HIV-1 disease progression. The disease-retarding effects of the CCR2-641 allele were found in African Americans but not in Caucasians, and the SDF1-3'A/3'A genotype was associated with an accelerated progression to death. In contrast, the CCR5-delta32 allele and a CCR5 promoter mutation with which it is tightly linked were associated with limited disease-retarding effects. Collectively, these findings draw attention to a complex array of genetic determinants in the HIV-host interplay.

Human dendritic cell (DC)-based anti-infective therapy: engineering DCs to secrete functional IFN-gamma and IL-12.

An imbalance in the Th1- and Th2-type cytokine responses may allow certain microbes to modify the host response to favor their own persistence. We now show that infection/pulsing of human CD34+ peripheral blood hemopoietic progenitor cell-derived dendritic cells (DCs) with Leishmania donovani promastigotes, Histoplasma capsulatum, and Mycobacterium kansasii impairs the constitutive production of IL-12 from these cells. Thus, strategies aimed at modulating a dysregulated Th1/Th2 response to infection would be of great interest. To both augment the host immune response and deliver potent immunomodulatory cytokines such as IL-12 and IFN-gamma, our goal is to develop a therapeutic strategy using genetically modified, microbial Ag-pulsed DCs. Toward developing such immunotherapies, we used retrovirus-mediated somatic gene transfer techniques to engineer human DCs to secrete biologically active IL-12 and IFN-gamma. DCs pulsed with microbial antigens (e.g., leishmania and histoplasma Ags) were capable of inducing proliferative responses in autologous CD4+ lymphocytes. CD4+ lymphocytes cocultured with IL-12-transduced autologous DCs had enhanced Ag-specific proliferative responses compared with CD4+ lymphocytes cocultured with nontransduced or IFN-gamma- transduced DCs. In this cell culture model system we demonstrate that IL-12 has a negative effect on IL-4 secretion that is independent of its ability to induce IFN-gamma secretion. Taken together, these results indicate that IL-12-transduced DCs may be specifically suited in inducing or down-modulating Ag-specific Th1 or Th2 responses, respectively, and thus may be useful as adjunctive therapy in those intracellular infections in which a dominant Th1 response is critical for the resolution of infection.