Link between organ-specific antigen processing by 20S proteasomes and CD8(+) T cell-mediated autoimmunity.
Adoptive transfer of cross-reactive HSP60-specific CD8(+) T cells into immunodeficient mice causes autoimmune intestinal pathology restricted to the small intestine. We wondered whether local immunopathology induced by CD8(+) T cells can be explained by tissue-specific differences in proteasome-mediated processing of major histocompatibility complex class I T cell epitopes. Our experiments demonstrate that 20S proteasomes of different organs display a characteristic composition of alpha and beta chain subunits and produce distinct peptide fragments with respect to both quality and quantity. Digests of HSP60 polypeptides by 20S proteasomes show most efficient generation of the pathology related CD8(+) T cell epitope in the small intestine. Further, we demonstrate that the organ-specific potential to produce defined T cell epitopes reflects quantities that are relevant for cytotoxic T lymphocyte recognition. We propose tissue-specific antigen processing by 20S proteasomes as a potential mechanism to control organ-specific immune responses.
Kuckelkorn
Ulrike
U
Institute of Biochemistry, Charite, Humboldt University, D-10117 Berlin, Germany.
Ruppert
Thomas
T
Strehl
Britta
B
Jungblut
Peter R
PR
Zimny-Arndt
Ursula
U
Lamer
Stephanie
S
Prinz
Immo
I
Drung
Ilse
I
Kloetzel
Peter-M
PM
Kaufmann
Stefan H E
SH
Steinhoff
Ulrich
U
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018834:Chaperonin 60 / Q000276:immunology; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000276:immunology*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex