title: Natural Sphingomonas glycolipids vary greatly in their ability to activate natural killer T cells.
abstract: Mouse natural killer T (NKT) cells expressing an invariant T cell antigen receptor (TCR) recognize glycosphingolipids (GSLs) from Sphingomonas bacteria. The synthetic antigens previously tested, however, were designed to closely resemble the potent synthetic agonist alpha-galactosyl ceramide (alphaGalCer), which contains a monosaccharide and a C18:0 sphingosine lipid. Some Sphingomonas bacteria, however, also have oligosaccharide-containing GSLs, and they normally synthesize several GSLs with different sphingosine chains including one with a cyclopropyl ring-containing C21:0 (C21cycl) sphingosine. Here we studied the stimulation of NKT cells with synthetic GSL antigens containing natural tetrasaccharide sugars, or the C21cycl sphingosine. Our results indicate that there is a great degree of variability in the antigenic potency of different natural Sphingomonas glycolipids, with the C21cycl sphingosine having intermediate potency and the oligosaccharide-containing antigens exhibiting limited or no stimulatory capacity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Developmental Immunology, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinjo
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bufali
authors.forename: Ravinder
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raju
authors.forename: Stewart K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujio
authors.forename: Douglass
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Archana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawahara
authors.forename: Chi-Huey
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Amy R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Seeberger
authors.forename: Mitchell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kronenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry; D002460:Cell Line; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D006825:Hybridomas / Q000378:metabolism; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology*; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D020578:Sphingomonas / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D016207:Cytokines; D006017:Glycolipids; D008055:Lipids; D009844:Oligosaccharides