Thymic Epithelial Cell Support of Thymopoiesis Does Not Require Klotho.

Age-related thymic involution is characterized by a decrease in thymic epithelial cell (TEC) number and function parallel to a disruption in their spatial organization, resulting in defective thymocyte development and proliferation as well as peripheral T cell dysfunction. Deficiency of Klotho, an antiaging gene and modifier of fibroblast growth factor signaling, causes premature aging. To investigate the role of Klotho in accelerated age-dependent thymic involution, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of thymopoiesis and peripheral T cell homeostasis using Klotho-deficient (Kl/Kl) mice. At 8 wk of age, Kl/Kl mice displayed a severe reduction in the number of thymocytes (10-100-fold reduction), especially CD4 and CD8 double-positive cells, and a reduction of both cortical and medullary TECs. To address a cell-autonomous role for Klotho in TEC biology, we implanted neonatal thymi from Klotho-deficient and -sufficient mice into athymic hosts. Kl/Kl thymus grafts supported thymopoiesis equivalently to Klotho-sufficient thymus transplants, indicating that Klotho is not intrinsically essential for TEC support of thymopoiesis. Moreover, lethally irradiated hosts given Kl/Kl or wild-type bone marrow had normal thymocyte development and comparably reconstituted T cells, indicating that Klotho is not inherently essential for peripheral T cell reconstitution. Because Kl/Kl mice have higher levels of serum phosphorus, calcium, and vitamin D, we evaluated thymus function in Kl/Kl mice fed with a vitamin D-deprived diet. We observed that a vitamin D-deprived diet abrogated thymic involution and T cell lymphopenia in 8-wk-old Kl/Kl mice. Taken together, our data suggest that Klotho deficiency causes thymic involution via systemic effects that include high active vitamin D levels.

Bone marrow myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) inhibit graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) via an arginase-1-dependent mechanism that is up-regulated by interleukin-13.

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a well-defined population of cells that accumulate in the tissue of tumor-bearing animals and are known to inhibit immune responses. Within 4 days, bone marrow cells cultured in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor resulted in the generation of CD11b(+)Ly6G(lo)Ly6C(+) MDSCs, the majority of which are interleukin-4Rα (IL-4Rα(+)) and F4/80(+). Such MDSCs potently inhibited in vitro allogeneic T-cell responses. Suppression was dependent on L-arginine depletion by arginase-1 activity. Exogenous IL-13 produced an MDSC subset (MDSC-IL-13) that was more potently suppressive and resulted in arginase-1 up-regulation. Suppression was reversed with an arginase inhibitor or on the addition of excess L-arginine to the culture. Although both MDSCs and MDSC-IL-13 inhibited graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) lethality, MDSC-IL-13 were more effective. MDSC-IL-13 migrated to sites of allopriming. GVHD inhibition was associated with limited donor T-cell proliferation, activation, and proinflammatory cytokine production. GVHD inhibition was reduced when arginase-1-deficient MDSC-IL-13 were used. MDSC-IL-13 did not reduce the graft-versus-leukemia effect of donor T cells. In vivo administration of a pegylated form of human arginase-1 (PEG-arg1) resulted in L-arginine depletion and significant GVHD reduction. MDSC-IL-13 and pegylated form of human arginase-1 represent novel strategies to prevent GVHD that can be clinically translated.

A Flt3- and Ras-dependent pathway primes B cell development by inducing a state of IL-7 responsiveness.

Ras plays an important role in B cell development. However, the stage at which Ras governs B cell development remains unclear. Moreover, the upstream receptors and downstream effectors of Ras that govern B cell differentiation remain undefined. Using mice that express a dominant-negative form of Ras, we demonstrate that Ras-mediated signaling plays a critical role in the development of common lymphoid progenitors. This developmental block parallels that found in flt3(-/-) mice, suggesting that Flt3 is an important upstream activator of Ras in early B cell progenitors. Ras inhibition impaired proliferation of common lymphoid progenitors and pre-pro-B cells but not pro-B cells. Rather, Ras promotes STAT5-dependent pro-B cell differentiation by enhancing IL-7Ralpha levels and suppressing socs2 and socs3 expression. Our results suggest a model in which Flt3/Ras-dependent signals play a critical role in B cell development by priming early B cell progenitors for subsequent STAT5-dependent B cell differentiation.

IkappaB kinase beta inhibition induces cell death in Imatinib-resistant and T315I Dasatinib-resistant BCR-ABL+ cells.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a malignant disease of the hematopoietic stem cell compartment, which is characterized by expression of the BCR-ABL fusion protein. Expression of BCR-ABL allows myeloid cells to grow in the absence of the growth factors interleukin-3 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The tyrosine kinase activity of BCR-ABL constitutively activates signaling pathways associated with Ras and its downstream effectors and with the Jak/STAT pathway. Additionally, we reported previously that BCR-ABL activates the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in a manner dependent on Ras and that inhibition of NF-kappaB by expression of a modified form of IkappaBalpha blocked BCR-ABL-driven tumor growth in a xenograft model. Here, we show that a highly specific inhibitor of IkappaB kinase beta, a key upstream regulator of the NF-kappaB pathway, induces growth suppression and death in cells expressing wild-type, Imatinib-resistant, or the T315I Imatinib/Dasatinib-resistant forms of BCR-ABL. Cell cycle variables were not affected by this compound. These data indicate that blockage of BCR-ABL-induced NF-kappaB activation via IkappaB kinase beta inhibition represents a potential new approach for treatment of Imatinib- or Dasatinib-resistant forms of chronic myelogenous leukemia.

NF-kappaB pathways in the immune system: control of the germinal center reaction.

The NF-kappaB signaling pathway plays a critical role in regulating innate and adaptive immunity. This is clearly evident as mouse models deficient for numerous NF-kappaB subunits and upstream activators exhibit defects in the immune system ranging from impaired development of lymphocytes to defective adaptive immune responses. In this review, we focus on the role that NF-kappaB plays in the germinal center (GC) reaction. Specifically, we discuss the major NF-kappaB subunits and the IkappaB homolog, Bcl-3. Recent findings reveal that Bcl-6, an unrelated transcriptional repressor, is functionally similar to Bcl-3 as both factors may suppress p53 activity to allow for efficient GC formation to occur. We discuss potential mechanisms of action for Bcl-3 and Bcl-6 in this highly complex, but important process of B-cell affinity maturation.

Attenuation of IL-7 receptor signaling is not required for allelic exclusion.

Allelic exclusion prevents pre-B cells from generating more than one functional H chain, thereby ensuring the formation of a unique pre-BCR. The signaling processes underlying allelic exclusion are not clearly understood. IL-7R-dependent signals have been clearly shown to regulate the accessibility of the Ig H chain locus. More recent work has suggested that pre-BCR-dependent attenuation of IL-7R signaling returns the H chain loci to an inaccessible state; this process has been proposed to underlie allelic exclusion. Importantly, this model predicts that preventing pre-BCR-dependent down-regulation of IL-7R signaling should interfere with allelic exclusion. To test this hypothesis, we made use of transgenic mice that express a constitutively active form of STAT5b (STAT5b-CA). STAT5b-CA expression restores V(D)J recombination in IL-7R(-/-) B cells, demonstrating that IL-7 regulates H chain locus accessibility and V(D)J recombination via STAT5 activation. To examine the effects of constitutively active STAT5b on allelic exclusion, we crossed STAT5b-CA mice (which express the IgM(b) allotype) to IgM(a) allotype congenic mice. We found no difference in the percentage of IgM(a)/IgM(b)-coexpressing B cells in STAT5b-CA vs littermate control mice; identical results were observed when crossing STAT5b-CA mice with hen egg lysozyme (HEL) H chain transgenic mice. The HEL transgene enforces allelic exclusion, preventing rearrangement of endogenous H chain genes; importantly, rearrangement of endogenous H chain genes was suppressed to a similar degree in STAT5b-CA vs HEL mice. Thus, attenuation of IL-7R/STAT5 signaling is not required for allelic exclusion.

Restricted STAT5 activation dictates appropriate thymic B versus T cell lineage commitment.

The molecular mechanisms regulating lymphocyte lineage commitment remain poorly characterized. To explore the role of the IL7R in this process, we generated transgenic mice that express a constitutively active form of STAT5 (STAT5b-CA), a key downstream IL7R effector, throughout lymphocyte development. STAT5b-CA mice exhibit a 40-fold increase in pro-B cells in the thymus. As documented by BrdU labeling studies, this increase is not due to enhanced B cell proliferation. Thymic pro-B cells in STAT5b-CA mice show a modest increase in cell survival ( approximately 4-fold), which correlates with bcl-x(L) expression. However, bcl-x(L) transgenic mice do not show increases in thymic B cell numbers. Thus, STAT5-dependent bcl-x(L) up-regulation and enhanced B cell survival are not sufficient to drive the thymic B cell development observed in STAT5b-CA mice. Importantly, thymic pro-B cells in STAT5b-CA mice are derived from early T cell progenitors (ETPs), suggesting that STAT5 acts by altering ETP lineage commitment. Supporting this hypothesis, STAT5 binds to the pax5 promoter in ETPs from STAT5b-CA mice and induces pax5, a master regulator of B cell development. Conversely, STAT5b-CA mice exhibit a decrease in the DN1b subset of ETPs, demonstrating that STAT5 activation inhibits early T cell differentiation or lineage commitment. On the basis of these findings, we propose that the observed expression of the IL-7R on common lymphoid progenitors, but not ETPs, results in differential STAT5 signaling within these distinct progenitor populations and thus helps ensure appropriate development of B cells and T cells in the bone marrow and thymic environments, respectively.

Membrane localization, oligomerization, and phosphorylation are required for optimal raf activation.

Activation of the serine/threonine kinase c-Raf-1 requires membrane localization, phosphorylation, and oligomerization. To study these mechanisms of Raf activation more precisely, we have used a membrane-localized fusion protein, myr-Raf-GyrB, which can be activated by coumermycin-induced oligomerization in NIH3T3 transfectants. By introducing a series of point mutations into the myr-Raf-GyrB kinase domain (S338A, S338A/Y341F, Y340F/Y341F, and T491A/S494A) we can separately study the role that membrane localization, phosphorylation, and oligomerization play in the process of Raf activation. We find that phosphorylation of Ser-338 plays a critical role in Raf activation and that this requires membrane localization but not oligomerization of Raf. Mutation of Tyr-341 had a limited effect, whereas mutation of both Ser-338 and Tyr-341 resulted in a synergistic loss of Raf activation following coumermycin-induced dimerization. Importantly, we found that membrane localization and phosphorylation of Ser-338 were not sufficient to activate Raf in the absence of oligomerization. Thus, our studies suggest that three key steps are required for optimal Raf activation: recruitment to the plasma membrane by GTP-bound Ras, phosphorylation via membrane-resident kinases, and oligomerization.

STAT5 activation underlies IL7 receptor-dependent B cell development.

Signals initiated by the IL7R are required for B cell development. However, the roles that distinct IL7R-induced signaling pathways play in this process remains unclear. To identify the function of the Raf and STAT5 pathways in IL7R-dependent B cell development, we used transgenic mice that express constitutively active forms of Raf (Raf-CAAX) or STAT5 (STAT5b-CA) throughout lymphocyte development. Both Raf-CAAX and STAT5b-CA mice exhibit large increases in pro-B cells. However, crossing the Raf-CAAX transgene onto the IL7R(-/-) background fails to rescue B cell development. In contrast, STAT5 activation selectively restores B cell expansion in IL7R(-/-) mice. Notably, the expansion of pro-B cells in STAT5b-CA mice correlated with an increase in cyclin D2, pim-1, and bcl-x(L) expression, suggesting that STAT5 directly affects pro-B cell proliferation and survival. In addition, STAT5 activation also restored B cell differentiation in IL7R(-/-) mice as determined by 1) the restoration of V(H) Ig gene rearrangement and 2) the appearance of immature and mature B cell subsets. These findings establish STAT5 as the key player entraining B cell development downstream of the IL7R.

Distinct effects of STAT5 activation on CD4+ and CD8+ T cell homeostasis: development of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells versus CD8+ memory T cells.

Using transgenic mice that express a constitutively active version of STAT5b, we demonstrate that STAT5 plays a key role in governing B cell development and T cell homeostasis. STAT5 activation leads to a 10-fold increase in pro-B, but not pro-T, cells. Conversely, STAT5 signaling promotes the expansion of mature alphabeta T cells (6-fold increase) and gammadelta and NK T cells (3- to 4-fold increase), but not of mature B cells. In addition, STAT5 activation has dramatically divergent effects on CD8(+) vs CD4(+) T cells, leading to the selective expansion of CD8(+) memory-like T cells and CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells. These results establish that activation of STAT5 is the primary mechanism underlying both IL-7/IL-15-dependent homeostatic proliferation of naive and memory CD8(+) T cells and IL-2-dependent development of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells.