The subpopulation of CD4+CD25+ splenocytes that delays adoptive transfer of diabetes expresses L-selectin and high levels of CCR7.

Recently, CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells have been implicated in the control of diabetes, suggesting that the inflamed islets of Langerhans in prediabetic NOD mice are under peripheral immune surveillance. Here we show that CD4(+)CD25(+) splenocytes inhibit diabetes in cotransfer with islet-infiltrating cells. Furthermore, CD62L expression is necessary for this disease-delaying effect of CD4(+)CD25(+) cells in vivo, but not for their suppressor function in vitro. We demonstrate that the CD4(+)CD25(+)CD62L(+) splenocytes express CCR7 at high levels and migrate toward secondary lymphoid tissue chemokine and ELC (macrophage-inflammatory protein-3beta), lymphoid chemokines, whereas CD4(+)CD25(+)CD62L(-) splenocytes preferentially express CCR2, CCR4, and CXCR3 and migrate toward the corresponding inflammatory chemokines. These data demonstrate that CD4(+)CD25(+)CD62L(+), but not CD4(+)CD25(+)CD62L(-), splenocytes delay diabetes transfer, and that CD4(+)CD25(+) suppressor T cells are comprised of at least two subpopulations that behave differently in cotransfer in vivo and express distinct chemokine receptor and chemotactic response profiles despite demonstrating equivalent suppressor functions in vitro.

The gene related to anergy in lymphocytes, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is necessary for anergy induction in CD4 T cells.

Acquisition of the anergy phenotype in T cells is blocked by inhibitors of protein synthesis and calcineurin activity, suggesting that anergic T cells may have a unique genetic program. Retroviral transduction of hemopoietic stem cells from TCR transgenic mice and subsequent reconstitution of syngeneic mice to express the E3 ubiquitin ligase, gene related to anergy in lymphocytes (GRAIL), or an enzymatically inactive form, H2N2 GRAIL, allowed analysis of the role of GRAIL in T cell anergy in vivo. Constitutive expression of GRAIL was sufficient to render naive CD4 T cells anergic, however, when the enzymatically inactive form H2N2 GRAIL was expressed, it functioned as a dominant negative of endogenous GRAIL and blocked the development of anergy. These data provide direct evidence that a biochemical pathway composed of GRAIL and/or GRAIL-interacting proteins is important in the development of the CD4 T cell anergic phenotype in vivo.

GRAIL: an E3 ubiquitin ligase that inhibits cytokine gene transcription is expressed in anergic CD4+ T cells.

T cell anergy may serve to limit autoreactive T cell responses. We examined early changes in gene expression after antigen-TCR signaling in the presence (activation) or absence (anergy) of B7 costimulation. Induced expression of GRAIL (gene related to anergy in lymphocytes) was observed in anergic CD4(+) T cells. GRAIL is a type I transmembrane protein that localizes to the endocytic pathway and bears homology to RING zinc-finger proteins. Ubiquitination studies in vitro support GRAIL function as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Expression of GRAIL in retrovirally transduced T cell hybridomas dramatically limits activation-induced IL-2 and IL-4 production. Additional studies suggest that GRAIL E3 ubiquitin ligase activity and intact endocytic trafficking are critical for cytokine transcriptional regulation. Expression of GRAIL after an anergizing stimulus may result in ubiquitin-mediated regulation of proteins essential for mitogenic cytokine expression, thus positioning GRAIL as a key player in the induction of the anergic phenotype.