Lymphopenia-Induced Proliferation Lymphocytes During and After
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The Journal of Immunology Effects of Increasing IL-7 Availability on Lymphocytes during and after Lymphopenia-Induced Proliferation1 Nabil Bosco,* Fabien Agene`s,* and Rhodri Ceredig2† IL-7 is critically involved in regulating peripheral T cell homeostasis. To investigate the role of IL-7 on lymphopenia-induced proliferation of polyclonal lymphocytes, we have transferred CFSE-labeled cells into a novel T-lymphopenic, IL-7-transgenic mouse line. Results obtained indicate that T and B cells do not respond in the same way to IL-7-homeostatic signals. Overex- pression of IL-7 enhances proliferation of both CD4؉ and CD8؉ T cells but with distinctly temporal effects. Expansion of naturally arising CD4؉-regulatory T cells was like that of conventional CD4؉ T cells. IL-7 had no effect on B cell proliferation. By immunohistology, transferred T cells homed to T cell areas of spleen lymphoid follicles. Increasing IL-7 availability enhanced T cell recovery by promoting cell proliferation and reducing apoptosis during early stages of lymphopenia-induced proliferation. Taken together, these results provide new insights into the pleiotropic effects of IL-7 on lymphopenia-induced T cell proliferation. The Journal of Immunology, 2005, 175: 162–170. espite declining thymic output with age, the peripheral T either IL-7-deficient or wild-type mice treated with anti-IL-7 or cell pool of an adult animal remains remarkably stable anti-IL-7R␣ mAb show that perturbation of IL-7 signals prevents D (1, 2). How the T cell pool is maintained remains a cen- the expansion of transferred T cells (1, 10). Although several tral question in immunology. Compelling data have been provided groups have shown that IL-7 is crucial for T cell survival and LIP, indicating that long term survival and homeostatic proliferation of the mechanisms by which IL-7 levels regulate the size and diver- T lymphocytes is dependent on a combination of low level TCR sity of the peripheral T cell pool are still not well understood. and cytokine stimulation. After transfer into a lymphopenic envi- Differences in experimental systems used to investigate the role ronment, T cells sense the absence of T cells and proliferate of IL-7 in LIP may account for some apparently conflicting data. slowly, a process that has been termed lymphopenia-induced pro- These differences concern either the nature of the recipient mouse liferation (LIP)3 (3). Cytokines, such as IL-7 and IL-15, have been or that of the transferred cells. Preconditioning the recipient mouse shown to play a major role in both LIP and T cell survival in mice by irradiation or other lymphocyte-depleting regimens probably (1, 4). IL-7 is also a crucial cytokine for lymphocyte development alters lymphoid organ architecture, Ag-presenting cell function, providing survival-promoting signals for immature and mature T and/or cytokine milieu (11, 12). For instance, after irradiation, IL-7 as well as for immature B cells (5). and TGF levels may change, thereby affecting LIP (12, 13). Fur- Different experimental procedures have been designed to study thermore, in sublethally irradiated recipients, residual bystander T the role of IL-7 in LIP. IL-7 enhances survival of mature T cells in cells persist and compete with transferred T cells for cytokine and vitro (6, 7), and exogenous IL-7 administration increases both the or self peptide-MHC complexes, thereby influencing reconstitu- pool size of peripheral T cells (8) and the rate of hemopoietic tion of the T cell compartment (12). Transferred cells are fre- reconstitution after bone marrow (BM) transplantation in vivo (9). quently derived from TCR-transgenic, recombinase-activating Nevertheless, when IL-7 is injected into normal mice, it has been gene-deficient (RAGϪ/Ϫ) mice. Such monoclonal T cell popula- difficult to distinguish between its effects on thymic output and that tions express a TCR of predefined specificity and affinity, two on peripheral T cells. Syngenic adoptive transfer experiments into parameters that correlate with CD5 expression and that may dictate whether a T cell undergoes LIP (14–16). Second, such monoclonal T cell populations lack naturally arising CD4ϩCD25ϩ-regulatory *Institut National de la Sante´ et de la Recherche Me´dicale Unite´ 548, De´partement de T cells (17, 18) known to alter the behavior of cells during LIP (19, Re´ponse et Dynamique Cellulaire, Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique-G, Grenoble, France; and †Institut National de la Sante´ et de la Recherche Me´dicale Unite´ 645, 20). In such experiments, long term survival is rarely monitored Institut Federatif de Recherche 133, Etablissement Franc¸ais du Sang, Besanc¸on, because for various reasons, including the absence of France CD4ϩCD25ϩ-regulatory T cells, recipients frequently develop au- Received for publication January 4, 2005. Accepted for publication April 21, 2005. toimmune diseases (21, 22). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page Under normal T cell-replete, nonlymphopenic conditions, IL-7 charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. probably acts as a survival factor for T cells (4). In normal mice, 1 This work was supported by institutional grants from Institut National de la Sante´ the net level of IL-7 availability is low, resulting both from limited et de la Recherche Me´dicale and the Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique, a specific production by stromal cells and simultaneous consumption by T grant “The´matiques Prioritaires de la Re´gion Rhoˆne-Alpes.” M.N.B. has a PhD schol- cells (23). In T cell-lymphopenic conditions, the net IL-7 level arship from the Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique. increases by a poorly defined mechanism, thereby allowing resid- 2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Rod Ceredig, Institut National de la Sante´ et de la Recherche Me´dicale Unite´ 645, Institut Federatif de Recherche ual T cells to sense lymphopenia, augment TCR signaling, and 133, Etablissement Franc¸ais du Sang, 1 Boulevard Alexander Fleming, 25020 Be- consequently triggering LIP. This notion is consistent with avail- sanc¸on, France. E-mail address: [email protected] able data and particularly with the previously reported phenotype 3 Abbreviations used in this paper: LIP, lymphopenia-induced proliferation; LN, of IL-7-transgenic (IL-7Tg) mice (24) that contain a stable ex- lymph nodes; PALS, periarteriolar lymphocyte sheaths; RAG-2, recombinase-acti- ϳ vating gene-2; Tg, transgenic; SP, CD4ϩ or CD8ϩ single-positive; BM, bone marrow; panded ( 20-fold) T cell pool (25, 26). It could be postulated that CEA, Commissariat a` l’Energie Atomique; mEF1␣, mouse elongation factor 1␣. net IL-7 availability provides the main clue whereby T cells sense Copyright © 2005 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. 0022-1767/05/$02.00 The Journal of Immunology 163 lymphopenia. Thus, in IL-7Tg mice, T cells increase in number CD4ϩCD45RBhigh and CD8ϩCD44low T cells were sorted from spleen of until capable of absorbing the increased available IL-7. Recently, 8-wk-old B6 mice with a Moflo (Cytomation) with a purity of 97%, then Li et al. (27) predicted that in lymphopenic recipients, where IL-7 labeled with CFSE, and cotransferred as described above. availability was increased, T cell LIP would be triggered. How- Apoptosis assay ever, to date, this hypothesis has not been directly demonstrated, and no study has systematically examined the behavior of poly- Externalization of phosphatidylserine was detected by PE-conjugated an- nexin V mAb using the apoptosis detection kit (BD Pharmingen) according clonal T and B cells transferred together into mice differing in IL-7 to the instructions of the manufacturer. In brief, 106 splenocytes from adop- availability. tively transferred mice at day 3 or 28 were surface stained and then washed For the studies reported herein, we have developed a novel T with binding buffer. Cells were incubated for 15 min at room temperature cell lymphopenic mouse strain that overexpresses IL-7. The IL-7 in the dark with annexin V Ϯ 7-aminoactinomycin D in binding buffer. Then, 106 cells were analyzed by FACS as described above. transgene was introduced into C57BL/6.CD3⑀ gene-deficient Ϫ/Ϫ Ϫ/Ϫ (CD3⑀ ) mice (28). IL-7Tg.CD3⑀ and nontransgenic In vivo BrdU labeling CD3⑀Ϫ/Ϫ littermate controls provide a pair of T-lymphopenic, B lymphocyte-containing mice differing only in net IL-7 availability At 23 days after T cell transfer, mice were given 1 mg of BrdU (Sigma- Aldrich) by i.p. injection and 1 mg/ml BrdU in their drinking water for 5 and not requiring further conditioning before use as recipients. To days. Recipient mice were sacrificed at day 28 after T cell transfer, and investigate how IL-7 availability influences the behavior of cells spleen cell suspensions were prepared, surface stained as described above, undergoing LIP in T-lymphopenic animals, we transferred CFSE- washed, fixed, and permeabilized before labeling with anti-BrdU mAb as labeled polyclonal T and B cells into recipient mice. Parameters described previously (32, 33) using the BrdU flow kit (BD Pharmingen). Then, 106 cells were analyzed by FACS. investigated included the kinetics of both CD4ϩ and CD8ϩ T cell as well as B cell growth and division, anatomical localization, the Intracellular staining for Bcl-2 kinetics of Bcl-2 expression and cell loss by apoptosis, as well as As described above, 106 total spleen cells from unmanipulated B6 or adop- long term cell recovery and turnover. Taken together, our results tively transferred mice were prepared and surface stained. After unbound provide new insights into the dynamics of IL-7-dependent LIP and mAb were washed, cells were subjected to intracellular staining for Bcl-2 the pleiotropic effects of IL-7 on T and B cell homeostasis.