C5a and C5a(desArg) enhance the susceptibility of monocyte-derived macrophages to HIV infection.

Mononuclear phagocytes, which include circulating blood monocytes and differentiated tissue macrophages, are believed to play a central role in the sexual transmission of HIV infection. The ability of HIV to productively infect these cells may be influenced by action of exogenous or host-derived substances at the site of viral entry. Given the potent capacities of inflammatory mediators to stimulate anaphylatoxic and immunomodulatory functions in mucosa, the effects of complement-derived anaphylatoxins on the susceptibility of monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) to HIV-1 infection were examined. In our in vitro system, the susceptibility to infection was up to 40 times increased in MDM that had been exposed to C5a or C5a(desArg), but not to C3a or C3a(desArg), for 2 days before adding of virus. By contrast, the treatment with complement anaphylatoxins did not affect HIV replication in fresh monocytes. Stimulatory effect of C5a and its desArg derivative on HIV infection correlated with the increase of TNF-alpha and IL-6 secretion from MDM. All these functional effects of C5a and C5a(desArg) were reversible by treatment of cells with the mAb that functionally blocks C5aR. Taken together, these results indicate that C5a and C5a(desArg) may increase the susceptibility of MDM to HIV infection through stimulation of TNF-alpha and IL-6 secretion from these cells.

Receptor activation by human C5a des Arg74 but not intact C5a is dependent on an interaction between Glu199 of the receptor and Lys68 of the ligand.

Despite the expression of only one type of receptor, there is great variation in the ability of different cell types to discriminate between C5a and its more stable metabolite, C5a des Arg74. The mechanism that underlies this phenomenon is not understood but presumably involves differences in the interaction with the C5a receptor. In this paper, we have analyzed the effects of a substitution mutation of the receptor (Glu199 --> Lys199) and the corresponding reciprocal mutants (Lys68 --> Glu68) of C5a, C5a des Arg74 and peptide analogues of the C-terminus of C5a on the ability of the C5a receptor to discriminate between ligands with and without Arg74. The use of these mutants indicates that the Lys68/Glu199 interaction is essential for activation of receptor by C5a des Arg74 but not for activation by intact C5a. The substitution of Asp for Arg74 of C5a [Lys68] produces a ligand with equal potency on both the wild-type and mutant receptors, suggesting that it is the C-terminal carboxyl group rather than the side chain of Arg74 that controls the responsiveness of the receptor to Lys68. In contrast, the mutation of Lys68 to Glu(68) has little effect on the ability of either C5a or C5a des Arg(74) to displace [(125)I]C5a from the receptors, indicating that binding of ligand and receptor activation are distinct but interdependent events. C5a and the truncated ligand, C5a des Arg74, appear to have different modes of interaction with the receptor and the ability of the human C5a receptor to discriminate between these ligands is at least partly dependent on an interaction with the receptor residue, Glu199.

The human mast cell line HMC-1 expresses C5a receptors and responds to C5a but not to C5a(desArg).

The expression of the receptor for the anaphylatoxin C5a (C5aR, CD88) on the human mast cell line HMC-1 was studied with four anti-C5aR monoclonal antibodies directed to the N-terminal domain of the receptor. All antibodies bound to the human mast cell line HMC-1. The binding could be blocked by recombinant C5a and by peptide EX-1 representing amino residues 1-31 on the N-terminal domain of the C5aR. In addition, FITC-labelled C5a bound to HMC-1, and this binding could be blocked by unlabelled C5a or C5aR antibodies. C5aR-specific mRNA was detected in HMC-1 cells by RT-PCR which confirmed the expression of the C5aR gene made by these cells. Lymphocyte-conditioned medium, interferon-gamma or phorbol esters which have been shown to induce a down-regulation of C5aR on myeloid cells did not influence the expression of C5aR on HMC-1. C5a led to a transient mobilization of intracellular calcium in HMC-1 which could be inhibited by pre incubation of C5a with a C5a-specific antibody. In contrast to findings with granulocytes, HMC-1 did not respond to C5a(desArg), confirming previous findings with human skin mast cells. The findings show that (i) although HMC-1 differ from granulocytes in their responsiveness to C5a(desArg), they express similar C5aR and (ii) HMC-1 cells resemble skin mast cells in the expression and function of C5aR and may therefore serve as a model in future studies addressing the biology of this anaphylatoxin receptor on skin mast cells.