RP105 Engages Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase p110δ To Facilitate the Trafficking and Secretion of Cytokines in Macrophages during Mycobacterial Infection.

Cytokines are key regulators of adequate immune responses to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We demonstrate that the p110δ catalytic subunit of PI3K acts as a downstream effector of the TLR family member RP105 (CD180) in promoting mycobacteria-induced cytokine production by macrophages. Our data show that the significantly reduced release of TNF and IL-6 by RP105(-/-) macrophages during mycobacterial infection was not accompanied by diminished mRNA or protein expression. Mycobacteria induced comparable activation of NF-κB and p38 MAPK signaling in wild-type (WT) and RP105(-/-) macrophages. In contrast, mycobacteria-induced phosphorylation of Akt was abrogated in RP105(-/-) macrophages. The p110δ-specific inhibitor, Cal-101, and small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of p110δ diminished mycobacteria-induced TNF secretion by WT but not RP105(-/-) macrophages. Such interference with p110δ activity led to reduced surface-expressed TNF in WT but not RP105(-/-) macrophages, while leaving TNF mRNA and protein expression unaffected. Activity of Bruton's tyrosine kinase was required for RP105-mediated activation of Akt phosphorylation and TNF release by mycobacteria-infected macrophages. These data unveil a novel innate immune signaling axis that orchestrates key cytokine responses of macrophages and provide molecular insight into the functions of RP105 as an innate immune receptor for mycobacteria.

High-throughput quantification of early stages of phagocytosis.

Phagocytosis--the engulfment of cells and foreign bodies--is an important cellular process in innate immunity, development, and disease. Quantification of various stages of phagocytosis, especially in a rapid screening fashion, is an invaluable tool for elucidating protein function during this process. However, current methods for assessing phagocytosis are largely limited to flow cytometry and manual image-based assays, providing limited information. Here, we present an image-based, semi-automated phagocytosis assay to rapidly quantitate three distinct stages during the early engulfment of opsonized beads. Captured images are analyzed using the image-processing software ImageJ and quantified using a macro. Modifications to this method allowed quantification of phagocytosis only in fluorescently labeled transfected cells. Additionally, the time course of bead internalization could be measured using this approach. The assay could discriminate perturbations to stages of phagocytosis induced by known pharmacological inhibitors of filamentous actin and phosphoinositol-3-kinase. Our methodology offers the ability to automatically categorize large amounts of image data into the three early stages of phagocytosis within minutes, clearly demonstrating its potential value in investigating aberrant phagocytosis when manipulating proteins of interest in drug screens and disease.