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J Biol Chem, Vol. 273, Issue 48, 31932-31938, November 27, 1998
From the Molecular Immunology Unit, Department of Immunology,
Institut Pasteur, 25 Rue du Docteur Roux,
75724 Paris Cedex 15, France
In T cells, triggering of the T cell antigen
receptor or of the co-stimulatory receptor CD28 can direct tyrosine
phosphorylation of the signaling protein Vav. We investigated the role
played by the protein tyrosine kinases Fyn, Lck, and ZAP-70 in these processes in a T cell hybridoma after physiological stimulation of the
T cell receptor (TCR) and CD28. A dominant-negative mutant approach
based on overexpression of catalytically inactive alleles of these
kinases showed that CD28-induced Vav phosphorylation preferentially
requires Fyn, whereas ZAP-70 had no role. Consistently, Vav was
strongly phosphorylated in Lck-deficient JCAM-1 cells after CD28
ligation. In contrast, ZAP-70 appeared to control TCR-directed Vav
phosphorylation. However, overexpression of ZAP-70 carrying a mutated
Tyr315, contained within a motif previously suggested
to be a Vav Src homology 2 domain binding site, had little or no
effect. Immunoprecipitation assays showed that phosphorylated Vav
associated with Fyn after CD28 triggering and that this interaction,
likely to involve binding of Fyn Src homology 2 domain to Vav, was more
strongly detectable after concomitant CD28 and TCR stimulation. These
data suggest that Fyn plays a major role in controlling Vav
phosphorylation upon T cell activation and that the mechanism
implicating ZAP-70 in this process may be more complex than previously anticipated.
Vav is a signaling protein expressed almost exclusively in cells
of hematopoietic origin and is phosphorylated on tyrosine residues in
response to a wide variety of stimuli (1). Vav contains two
SH31 domains spaced by an SH2
domain, a cysteine-rich zinc-binding domain, a pleckstrin homology
domain, and a Dbl homology region characteristic of guanine nucleotide
exchange factors for the small GTPases of the Rho family (1, 2). Recent
studies have provided some clues as to the function of Vav. Thus, its
role in positive regulation of lymphocyte activation is inferred from the severe defect in TCR and B cells antigen receptor-mediated activation in Vav-null mice (3-6) and from studies showing that Vav
synergizes with TCR stimulation for IL-2 gene transcription (7).
Moreover, Vav has been reported to associate with PTKs, adapter
proteins such as Grb2, SLP-76, Nck, Crk, as well as cytoskeletal proteins (1) suggesting its potential implication in different signaling pathways. Tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav results in an
augmentation of its GDP/GTP exchange activity for the Rho family GTPases, Rac, CDC42, and RhoA (8, 9). These proteins regulate signaling
leading to actin cytoskeleton changes (10), and interestingly, T cells
lacking Vav are defective in actin cap formation induced by TCR
triggering (11, 12). In addition, Vav may be implicated, via the Rho
family of GTPases, in the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (8,
13).
In T cells, Vav becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated upon stimulation of the
TCR by antibodies (14) or of the co-stimulatory receptor CD28 by its
natural ligands B7-1 (CD80) or B7-2 (CD86) and by specific antibodies
(15). Why Vav is one of the few PTK substrates whose phosphorylation is
directed by the TCR and CD28 (15) is unclear. However, this dual
control on Vav may reflect an important regulatory mechanism in
lymphocyte activation. Indeed, TCR ligation alone by antigen-major
histocompatibility complexes is usually insufficient to trigger full T
cell activation and requires co-engagement of CD28 (16). Moreover, also
in B cells, Vav phosphorylation is controlled by both the antigen
receptor and co-stimulatory molecules (1, 17). Thus, establishing how
these receptors control Vav activation is important for understanding its specific function in the context of lymphocyte activation.
The identity of the PTKs that phosphorylate Vav during T cell
activation, that is the PTKs connecting the TCR and CD28 to Vav,
remains unclear as little effort has been made to address this question
in a physiological setting. Co-expression experiments in heterologous
cell systems and in vitro kinase assays with recombinant proteins indicated that either Lck, Fyn, Syk, or ZAP-70 could phosphorylate Vav (8, 18-20). Moreover, Vav was reported to form a
complex with Lck (21) or with ZAP-70 in anti-TCR-stimulated Jurkat T
cells (19, 22, 23). However in other works (24, 25), the association of
Vav with ZAP-70 was not clearly detected.
In this work, we investigated which PTKs control Vav phosphorylation in
T cells upon physiological engagement of CD28 and TCR by their
respective ligands. Toward this end, we expressed catalytically
inactive mutants of Lck, Fyn, and ZAP-70 in a T cell hybridoma and
monitored the effect on Vav phosphorylation. This approach provided
evidence for a preferential role of Fyn in the phosphorylation of Vav
after CD28 ligation. Moreover, following CD28 stimulation, Vav
physically associated with Fyn, and this interaction was more strongly
detected upon concomitant engagement of CD28 and TCR. We also show that
ZAP-70 influences Vav phosphorylation after TCR engagement by
antigen-major histocompatibility complex, but mutation of
Tyr315 of ZAP-70, a site previously suggested to be a
Vav-binding site, has little or no influence on phosphorylation of
the latter.
Antibodies and Peptides--
Goat anti-hamster IgG (Southern
Biotechnology, Inc.) was used to cross-link anti-CD3 mAb. Polyclonal
rabbit antisera used were as follows: anti-Fyn N-terminal sc-16 (Santa
Cruz Biotechnology); anti-Fyn serum 428 generated against a trpE fusion
protein containing amino acids 25-141 of murine Fyn (26) (a gift from
A. Veillette, McGill Cancer Center, Montreal, Canada); anti-Lck
N-terminal 3810 directed against a synthetic peptide corresponding to
amino acids 39-64 (27) (provided by S. Fischer, Hopital Cochin,
Paris), anti-Lck C-terminal 2102 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), anti-Vav (Upstate Biotechnology Inc.), and anti-ZAP-70 antiserum 4.07 (28). The
mAb used were as follows: anti-Lck 3A5 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology); anti-Vav (Vav 30, kindly given by J. Griffin, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA); and anti-phosphotyrosine 4G10 (Upstate Biotechnology). Anti-CD3 Plasmids and Constructs--
The mammalian expression vector
pSRa-puro containing the gene coding for the puromycin
resistance and ZAP-70-VSV-G (ZAP-70 WT) or kinase-defective ZAP-70 KD
obtained by mutation of Asp461 to Asn were previously
described (30). The ZAP-70-Y315F
mutant,2 containing a
phenylalanine substitution at Tyr315, was derived from the
ZAP-70WT construct bearing a C-terminal VSV G-protein tag, previously
described (30); a 5' primer (713-734 base pairs) encompasses the
MluI unique site; the 3' primer, encoding the Y315F
mutation, included 1147-1184 base pairs and contained a
SacI site. The MluI-SacI-digested
polymerase chain reaction products were ligated with both a
SacI-NsiI fragment (1179-1736 base pairs) and a
3.8-kilobase pair ZAP-70WT pBS fragment restricted with MluI
and NsiI. ZAP-70 constructs were subcloned into the EcoRI-XbaI sites of the pSR Cell Lines--
The murine T cell hybridoma T8.1 was previously
described and referred to as T.AL.8.1 (31). Murine L transfectant cells were as follows: L625.7 expressing murine B7-1 (CD80) and HLA-DR*1102 (32); Dap-3 cells expressing or not murine B7-1 (a gift from G. Lombardi, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK); 5-3.1 cells expressing HLA-DRB1*0101 and human B7-1 or not (33). Expression of CD28 and B7-1
was assessed by immunofluorescence by flow cytometry. T8.1 was
maintained in DMEM with 10% fetal calf serum, 2 mM
L-glutamine, and antibiotics (complete medium) supplemented
with 400 nM methotrexate, 1 mg/ml G418, 10 mM
Hepes, 50 µM Cell Transfections--
Stable transfectants expressing the
above constructs were obtained as follows. T8.1 cells (1 × 107 in DMEM, 20% fetal calf serum) were electroporated in
a Gene Pulse cuvette (Bio-Rad) with 30 µg of plasmid at 960 microfarads, 0.25 V. After 48 h in normal medium, cells were
placed in 96-well tissue culture plates in DMEM containing metothrexate
(400 nM), G418 (1 mg/ml), and puromycin (1 µg/ml).
Puromycin-resistant transfectants were analyzed for T cell marker
expression of CD3, CD4, CD28, CD11a/CD18, CD102 by
fluorescence-activated cell sorter (Becton Dickinson) and screened by
Western blot for overexpression of the corresponding PTK.
Quantification of the proteins was performed by immunoblotting cell
lysates with primary antibodies followed by 125I-labeled
protein A (Amersham, France) and by using ImageQuant software after
scanning in a PhosphorImager (Molecular Dynamics).
T Cell Stimulation and Immunoprecipitation--
T8.1 and
derived transfectants were stimulated with B7-1+L625.7
prepulsed or not for 3 h with tt830-843 peptide at the indicated concentrations and as previously described (25). Ab activation was as
follows: cells (1 x 108/ml) were incubated with 10 µg/ml
anti-CD3 CD28 Engagement by B7-1 Induces Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Vav in
the T Cell Hybridoma T8.1--
T8.1 is a murine T cell
hybridoma expressing CD28 as well as a chimeric human-mouse TCR
specific for a tetanus toxin peptide (tt830-843) presented by DR*1102
(31, 35). Fig. 1A shows that a
substantial increase in tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav occurred in
T8.1 cells following incubation for 1-2 min with the
DR*1102+ L625.7 fibroblast line (APC) in the absence of
antigen, confirming previous results (25). Under the same conditions,
addition of an optimal concentration (10 µg/ml) of tt830-843 peptide
antigen (Ag) inducing maximal IL-2 production (not shown) resulted in further phosphorylation of Vav (Fig. 1A) which could be
detected associated with the adapter protein SLP-76 (25).
Antigen-independent tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav has been described
in the human Jurkat T cell line to depend on CD28 stimulation by its
natural ligands B7-1 (CD80) or B7-2 (CD86) (36). This was also the case for the T8.1 hybridoma as incubation with B7-1+ L625.7
cells in the presence of murine CTLA-4Ig, which inhibits the
interaction of CD28 with B7 family proteins, resulted in a strong
reduction of Vav phosphorylation (Fig. 1B), whereas IgG1 control had no effect. These data were further substantiated by demonstrating that only Dap-3 fibroblasts expressing B7-1, but not
control Dap-3 cells, were able to induce Vav tyrosine phosphorylation in T8.1 cells (Fig. 1C). The lower panels of Fig.
1, B and C, show that similar amounts of Vav,
which is expressed only in T8.1 cells (25), were immunoprecipitated.
Thus, as for human T cells (36), in T8.1 murine hybridoma CD28 ligation
by B7-1 induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav independently of
antigen-mediated TCR stimulation.
Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Vav Induced by CD28/B7-1 Interaction in
T8.1 Cells Is Predominantly Controlled by the PTK Fyn--
Previous
studies have indicated that the Src-like PTKs Lck, Fyn, and the Syk
family PTK ZAP-70 are able to phosphorylate Vav when co-expressed in a
heterologous cell system (20). T8.1 hybridoma stimulated by
B7-1+ APC provided a more physiological setting to
investigate the possible involvement of these PTKs in the
phosphorylation of Vav induced by CD28 or TCR stimulation. To this end,
a dominant-negative mutant approach was utilized. Thus,
kinase-defective (KD) mutants of Fyn (Fyn-KD), Lck (Lck-KD), and ZAP-70
(ZAP-70-KD) were overexpressed in T8.1 to test their relative ability
to interfere with the phosphorylation of Vav by the corresponding
endogenous wild-type PTKs. Fig. 2, B and D, shows the detection of Fyn-KD, Lck-KD,
or ZAP-70-KD in a number of transfectants and the calculated fold of
expression over the wild-type endogenous counterparts (KD/WT ratio) by
comparing anti-PTKs immunoblotting of cell lysates from the
transfectants and T8.1 parental cells. All the transfectants expressed
CD28 and TCR/CD3 at levels similar to those detected in T8.1 cells, as
determined by flow cytometry (not shown). Moreover, they exhibited a
decrease in IL-2 production in response to Ag stimulation which correlated with increasing levels of KD mutants expression (not shown).
Fig. 2A shows that basal (
To provide additional evidence for a role of Fyn in Vav
phosphorylation, we made use of the Jurkat-derived T cell line JCAM-1 that lacks Lck but still retains Fyn expression (37) and asked whether
CD28 engagement could still induce Vav phosphorylation. Previous
studies have indicated that TCR-mediated signaling is largely inhibited
in JCAM-1 cells (37). However, similarly to T8.1 stimulated with L625.7
cells, tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav was strongly induced in JCAM-1
following incubation with murine fibroblasts expressing human B7-1
(5-3.1 B7-1+ cells) but not with the same cells lacking
B7-1 (Fig. 3A) or in the
presence of human CTLA4Ig (not shown). Immunoblots with anti-Fyn and
anti-Vav Abs revealed that both proteins were comparably detectable in
JCAM-1 and T8.1 cells (Fig. 3B).
CD28 Ligation by B7-1 Induces an Association of Fyn with Vav That
Augments after Concomitant TCR Engagement--
Src kinases have often
been found to associate with their substrates via their regulatory SH2
and/or SH3 domains (38). In view of the above results (Fig. 2), we
assessed whether Fyn was associated with Vav after T cell stimulation.
As illustrated in Fig. 4A,
when T8.1 hybridoma was stimulated with L625.7 cells (APC), lysed and
subjected to immunoprecipitation with anti-Fyn Ab, a
tyrosine-phosphorylated 95-kDa molecular species was detected that
co-migrated with tyrosine-phosphorylated Vav (cf.
lanes 2 and 4). Moreover, the intensity of the
95-kDa phosphoprotein detected in anti-Fyn immunoprecipitate increased
when L625.7 cells were prepulsed with tt830-841 peptide (Ag). Similar
results were obtained with another anti-Fyn antiserum (not shown).
Re-immunoprecipitation of denatured anti-Fyn immunoprecipitates with
anti-Vav Ab from antigen-stimulated cells confirmed that the 95-kDa
species was Vav (Fig. 4B). These latter experiments also
showed that a substantial fraction of tyrosine-phosphorylated Vav was
found associated with Fyn especially after Ag stimulation
(cf. Fig. 4B, lanes 2 and 3).
Co-immunoprecipitation of Fyn with Vav was also seen after anti-CD3
stimulation (data not shown). The reverse experiment, namely the
immunoprecipitation with anti-Vav Ab and the detection of Fyn by
immunoblotting or by re-immunoprecipitation, was attempted. However,
because of the high background caused by the immunoglobulin heavy
chains, it was impossible to visualize Fyn. Other proteins of 110-130
kDa coprecipitated with Fyn of which the major one is likely to be p116
Cbl, previously reported to form a complex with Fyn (39-41). The
association of Fyn with Vav could be mediated by the SH2 domain of Fyn.
Indeed, Vav possesses in its acidic region a phosphorylatable tyrosine
(Tyr174) in a YEDL motif (19) similar to the YEEI optimal
binding motif for Src-PTK SH2 domains (42), and Vav SH2 domain does not
bind to Fyn (23). If Fyn bound via its SH2 domain to Vav, a
phosphorylated YEEI peptide, but not its unphosphorylated form, should
be able to dissociate their complex, as we have previously shown for
other SH2-mediated protein-protein interactions (33, 34). Thus, lysates
of T8.1 cells stimulated with antigen presented by L625.7 cells were
preincubated with different concentrations of phosphorylated YEEI
(Y*EEI) or with its unphosphorylated analog and then subjected to
immunoprecipitation with anti-Fyn Ab. Fig. 4C shows that
Y*EEI was able to dissociate Fyn from Vav, in agreement with the
hypothesis that their interaction is SH2-mediated. Of note is that Fyn
was also dissociated from the 110-130-kDa phosphoproteins.
To test whether the association of Vav with Fyn is preferential or
whether it can also involve Lck, the capacity of these PTKs to
coprecipitate with Vav was compared. As shown in Fig. 4D,
coprecipitation of Vav with Lck was barely detectable when using an Ab
directed at the N terminus of Lck. Similar data were obtained with
another antiserum directed at the C terminus of Lck (data not shown).
These anti-Lck Abs do not seem to sterically interfere with the SH2
domain of Lck as they have been shown to reveal an SH2-mediated
association of Lck with ZAP-70 (30, 34). The other proteins of 110-130
kDa usually present in anti-Fyn precipitates were also not seen
associated with Lck. These results indicated that upon stimulation of
T8.1 cells via CD28 or CD28 plus TCR, Vav associates preferentially
with Fyn and reinforces the notion that Fyn may be implicated in Vav phosphorylation.
ZAP-70-KD Mutant Inhibits Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Vav by TCR
Triggering, Whereas ZAP-70-Y315F Mutant Has Little or No
Effect--
Stimulation of the T8.1 hybridoma with Ag-pulsed
B7-1+ APC leads to an increase in Vav phosphorylation above
the level induced by CD28 engagement alone (Fig. 1). Studies in Jurkat
cells stimulated with agonistic anti-TCR Abs and in heterologous cell
systems co-expressing Vav and Syk family PTKs have suggested that the
phosphorylation of Vav can be mediated by Syk and/or ZAP-70 (19, 20,
43). Although in our T cell hybridoma we could detect Vav association with Fyn after Ag stimulation (Figs. 3 and 4) but not with ZAP-70 (25),3 the involvement of
ZAP-70 in Vav phosphorylation was investigated using the transfectant
Zap-KD 3.3 expressing high levels of ZAP-70-KD (Fig. 2A).
Fig. 5A shows that
phosphorylation of Vav induced by anti-CD3 was nearly abolished in the
transfectant Zap-KD 3.3 as well as detection of coprecipitating SLP-76
and is in agreement with similar data obtained by overexpressing in
Jurkat cells a ZAP-70 mutant lacking the catalytic domain (43). When
Zap-KD 3.3 was stimulated by Ag (Fig. 5B), Vav
phosphorylation also decreased but returned approximately to the level
induced by the CD28/B7-1 interaction (APC) and SLP-76 detection was
lost. The same observations were reproduced in another transfectant,
Zap-KD 1.1, expressing similar high levels of ZAP-70-KD (data not
shown). These results are consistent with ZAP-70 playing a role in the
additional phosphorylation of Vav due to TCR engagement. In contrast,
SLP-76 appears to be a PTK substrate exclusively controlled through the
TCR, most likely via ZAP-70 (20, 44). The reason why Vav coprecipitated
only with the faster migrating band of the SLP-76 doublet when using anti-CD3 while both bands were seen after Ag stimulation is unclear. However, this observation appears to be in accordance with a previous work (45) showing that concomitant engagement of CD28 and TCR favors
TCR-dependent substrate phosphorylation.
It has been proposed that Vav binds through its SH2 domain to a
conserved Tyr315 ESP motif present in the linker region of
Syk and ZAP-70, and as a consequence, Vav is phosphorylated by these
PTKs (19, 46). Therefore, to provide a more precise basis for the
control of Vav phosphorylation by ZAP-70, we tested in our system the
effect of mutating Tyr315 of ZAP-70. T8.1 transfectants
were generated expressing levels of a ZAP-70-Y315F mutant comparable to
those attained with ZAP-70-KD. The results for two of them, Zap-Y315F
1.2 and Zap-Y315F 3.2 (KD/WT of 15 and 16, respectively), are shown. In
contrast to ZAP-70-KD mutant, overexpression of ZAP-70-Y315F did not
appreciably modify Vav phosphorylation induced by anti-CD3 stimulation
compared with T8.1 parental cells (Fig. 5C). Fig.
5D shows also that in the same transfectants Ag-mediated Vav
phosphorylation (and coincidentally SLP-76 association) was only
slightly decreased, and in repeated experiments, we could never observe
a return to the phosphorylation levels induced by APC alone in these
transfectants. Moreover, in two other transfectants tested that
expressed comparable levels of ZAP-70-Y315F little or no change in
Ag-induced Vav phosphorylation was observed (data not shown). In
ZAP-70-Y315F-overexpressing cells, Ag-induced IL-2 production was not
or only weakly decreased compared with T8.1 cells, whereas it was
markedly altered in Zap-KD 3.3 and Zap-KD 1.1 transfectants.2 Taken together, these data suggest that
TCR-mediated phosphorylation of Vav induced by antigenic stimulation is
dependent on ZAP-70 activity but that mutation of the previously
described Vav-binding site on ZAP-70 had little or no effect on Vav phosphorylation.
In this work we investigated which of the PTKs, Lck, Fyn, and
ZAP-70 that play a major role in T cell activation, control Vav
phosphorylation upon TCR and CD28 engagement with Ag/major histocompatibility complex and B7-1, respectively. By employing a
dominant-negative mutant approach, we show that Vav phosphorylation due
to CD28 ligation is dependent on the Src PTKs, in particular on Fyn. In
contrast, ZAP-70 did not appear to play any role in CD28-induced Vav
phosphorylation. We show also that co-engagement of CD28 and TCR leads
to additional accumulation of phosphorylated Vav. We have recently
demonstrated that under conditions that mimic physiological stimulation
(e.g. Ag presented by APC), the absence of CD28 engagement
results in a dramatic reduction of TCR-proximal signaling capacity
(e.g. tyrosine phosphorylation of Three lines of evidence suggest that Fyn may play a major role in
CD28-driven phosphorylation of Vav. First, when expressed at comparably
low mutant/wild-type ratios in T8.1 cells, Fyn-KD was more effective
than Lck-KD as a dominant-negative mutant to inhibit Vav
phosphorylation. Second, upon CD28 ligation Fyn was found associated
with Vav, an interaction that may promote efficient Vav phosphorylation
(discussed below). We found no gross difference between Fyn and Lck
expression in T8.1 cells with the antisera used in this study, whereas
in Jurkat cells the same reagents evidenced higher levels of Lck over
Fyn (data not shown). It is therefore unlikely that our results were
biased by an abnormally higher expression of Fyn over Lck. Third, Vav
phosphorylation occurred efficiently in CD28-stimulated JCAM-1 cells
which lack Lck but express Fyn. This result is of relevance since in
this cell line TCR-driven tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular
substrates is dramatically inhibited (37). Fyn (and Lck) can
phosphorylate Tyr173 (48) in the intracellular portion of
CD28. However, the inhibition of Vav phosphorylation produced by Fyn-KD
(and to a minor extent by Lck-KD) cannot be due to an indirect effect
on Tyr173 as it was recently shown that a Y173F mutation
does not modify CD28-induced Vav phosphorylation (47). Nevertheless,
the neighboring sequence C-terminal to Tyr173 was found to
be critical for Vav phosphorylation (47, 49), but the underlying
mechanism remains to be understood. Alternatively, Itk, a PTK reported
to interact with, and be activated by, CD28 could be responsible for
Vav phosphorylation. Since Itk is activated by Src PTKs, including Lck
(50-52), the effects of Fyn-KD on Vav could be explained by an
inhibition of Itk activation. However, Gibson et al. (52)
have reported that Itk is not activated via CD28 in JCAM-1 and requires
expression of Lck, whereas Vav phosphorylation occurs in this mutant
cell line, as shown here. Moreover, mutation of Tyr173
considerably reduced CD28-induced Itk activation (53) but not Vav
phosphorylation (47). These data argue against Itk being implicated in
Vav phosphorylation. Thus, in light of our results, Fyn is the most
likely candidate to phosphorylate Vav directly.
We found that ZAP-70 catalytic activity was critical for directing
phosphorylation of Vav after physiological engagement of the TCR.
However, Tyr315 present in the linker region of ZAP-70,
thought to be important for Vav phosphorylation (23, 46), appears to be
essentially dispensable for this function (Fig. 5) and also for IL-2
production.2 Our results contrast with those of Wu et
al. (46) who found that the same mutation could not complement a
Syk PTK-deficient chicken B cell lymphoma for a defective
phosphorylation of several signaling proteins including Vav and for
nuclear factor of activated T cell activation. This discrepancy may be
due to the different cellular systems utilized. However, we also found
that, compared with ZAP-70-KD, ZAP-70Y315F exerted a very weak effect
on TCR-induced nuclear factor of activated T cell activation when
overexpressed in Jurkat cells.2 Thus, additional
experiments are needed to definitively establish whether
Tyr315 of ZAP-70 has a role in Vav phosphorylation, leaving
open the question of how ZAP-70 exerts this function during TCR
ligation. In this context, it is intriguing that, despite the
inhibiting effect of ZAP-70-KD on TCR-directed Vav phosphorylation, we
found that Fyn, but not ZAP-70 (this work and Refs. 24 and 25), was
detected associated with Vav. In line with this observation, others
(21) have previously reported that in Jurkat cells Vav forms a complex
with Lck after TCR stimulation. The difference with our results in the
T8.1 cells can be explained by the non-physiological high levels of Lck
expressed in Jurkat cells compared with T cell hybridomas (Ref. 54 and
data not shown) and by the largely, although not completely, redundant
roles of Lck and Fyn in T cell activation (55-57). Our result
indicating that Vav-Fyn interaction requires tyrosine phosphorylation
is consistent with the observation that recombinant SH2 domain of Fyn
binds to phosphorylated Vav (58). A direct SH2-mediated association is
likely to promote an effective catalytic reaction as it has been
suggested for Fyn and Src with some of their known substrates (38, 59,
60). According to a processive mechanism proposed for Src PTKs (59, 61), Fyn could phosphorylate Vav at the very same tyrosine serving as
an SH2-docking site to ensure further phosphorylation of Vav. Support
for a kinase-substrate relationship between Fyn and Vav comes from
in vitro data (8, 18, 20) but also from in vivo data in T cells overexpressing wild-type or activated Fyn (62) and in
CD4/CD8 double negative T cells from lpr mice that presented elevated Fyn kinase activity and showed a constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav (63). ZAP-70 may also contribute to Vav phosphorylation and may be necessary for fine-tuning the Vav function requested during TCR engagement. In this context, it will be
interesting to ascertain in our system whether qualitative or
quantitative differences exist in the phosphorylation pattern of Vav
after CD28 or CD28 plus TCR triggering. If a sequential involvement of
Syk and Src PTKs in Vav phosphorylation does exist as suggested by
in vitro experiments (19), this could apply to the TCR but not the CD28 pathway. Finally, we cannot exclude the possibility that
in vivo ZAP-70 exerts an indirect effect on Vav
phosphorylation by favoring a better access of some substrates to
activated Src PTKs during TCR ligation. By showing that Vav interacts
with Fyn after physiological stimulation of TCR and CD28, our data may contribute to define better their function during T cell activation.
We thank Drs. D. Davidson and A. Veillette
for the Fyn-KD cDNA and anti-Fyn Ab, D. Littman for the Lck-KD
cDNA, and W. Houssin for secretarial assistance. We also thank M. Pelosi and V. Di Bartolo for helpful suggestions and for reading the manuscript.
*
This work was supported by grants from the Institut Pasteur,
the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, the Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique.The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the
payment of page charges. The article
must therefore be hereby marked
"advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section
1734 solely to indicate this fact.
The abbreviations used are:
SH, Src homology; Ab, antibodies; Ag, antigen; APC, antigen-presenting cell; KD, kinase-defective; IL-2, interleukin 2; mAb, monoclonal antibody; PTK, protein tyrosine kinase; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; TCR, T cell antigen receptor; WT, wild-type.
2
V. Di Bartolo, D. Mège, V. Germain, M. Pelosi, E. Dufour, J.-M. Pascussi, F. Michel, G. Magistrelli, A. Isacchi, and O. Acuto, manuscript in preparation.
3
F. Michel, L. Tuosto, and O. Acuto, unpublished observations.
Fyn and ZAP-70 Are Required for Vav Phosphorylation in T
Cells Stimulated by Antigen-presenting Cells*
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ABSTRACT
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
INTRODUCTION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
![]()
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
mAb 145-2C11 (29) was purified from ascites by protein A. The tetanus toxin peptide tt830-843 was purchased
from Neosystem (Strasbourg, France). Unphosphorylated and
tyrosine-phosphorylated peptide EPQYEEIPI (27) was obtained from the
Organic Chemistry Unit (Institut Pasteur, Paris).
-puro expression
vector (pSR
-puro) (30). Mutations were verified by nucleotide
sequencing. Kinase-defective Fyn, FynT-MF, was provided from D. Davidson (26) (McGill Cancer Center, Montreal, Canada). This cDNA
was then subcloned into pSR
-puro and is referred to as Fyn-KD. The
Lck cDNA carrying the mutation at the ATP-binding site (K273A) (a
gift of D. Littman, Skirball Institute, New York, NY) was subcloned as
an EcoRI-XbaI fragment into pSR
-puro and is
referred to as Lck-KD.
-mercaptoethanol. Media for L cells were
as follows: complete minimum Eagle's medium with 250 µg/ml G418 for
L625.7 cells; complete DMEM for B7-1
L cells and complete
DMEM supplemented with 50 µg/ml hygromycin for B7-1+
5-3.1 and Dap-3 cells. Lck-deficient JCAM-1 human T cells (ATCC) were
grown in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum, antibiotics, and L-glutamine.
145-2C11 mAb at 4 °C for 30 min and then washed and
further incubated after a short prewarming with goat anti-hamster IgG
(10 µg/ml) for 1-2 min at 37 °C. Cells were rapidly pelleted and
lysed for 20 min on ice in 1% Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer containing 20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 150 mM NaCl, 1 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EGTA in the presence
of inhibitors of proteases and phosphatases (10 µg/ml leupeptin, 10 µg/ml aprotinin, 1 mM Pefabloc-sc, 50 mM NaF,
10 mM Na4P2O7, and 1 mM
NaVO4). Postnuclear lysates were precleared for 1 h at
4 °C with protein A-Sepharose (Pharmacia Biotech Inc., Uppsala,
Sweden) and then incubated for 2-3 h with antibodies preadsorbed to
protein A. Immunoprecipitates were washed twice in 1% Nonidet P-40,
twice in 0.05% Nonidet P-40 lysis buffer, and boiled in 2×
SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis reducing sample buffer before
electrophoresis on 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Re-immunoprecipitation
experiments, immunoblotting, and detection of proteins were performed
by enhanced chemiluminescence as previously described (34).
![]()
RESULTS
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References

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Fig. 1.
Tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav is induced by
the CD28 engagement by B7-1 in T8.1 cells. A, T8.1
cells (10 × 106) were incubated for 1.5 min at
37 °C alone (
), with L625.7 cells B7-1+ (3.3 × 106) (APC), or L625.7 B7-1+ cells prepulsed
with 10 µg/ml tt830-843 peptide antigen (Ag). Vav was
immunoprecipitated from cell lysates with purified polyclonal antiserum
and was analyzed after 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel by
anti-phosphotyrosine (anti-Ptyr) immunoblotting.
B, T8.1 cells (6 × 106) were stimulated
for 1.5 min at 37 °C with L625.7 B7-1+ (1.2 × 106) in the presence of 50 µg/ml murine CTLA-4Ig or
control IgG1. C, T8.1 cells (6 × 106) were
incubated alone (
) or with L625.7 B7-1+ (APC),
Dap-3 B7-1
, or Dap-3 B7-1+ cells (2 × 106) for 1.5 min at 37 °C. Dap-3 cells do not express
B7-2 (data not shown). Bottom panels in B and
C, blots were stripped and reprobed with mAb against
Vav.

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Fig. 2.
Preferential involvement of Fyn in
CD28-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav. A and
C, comparison of CD28-induced Vav phosphorylation between
T8.1 cells and transfectants expressing Fyn-KD (A and
C), Lck-KD (C), and ZAP-70-KD (A).
T8.1 cells and the indicated transfectants (7 × 106
in A and 5 × 106 in C) were
incubated at 37 °C for 1.5 min alone (
) or in the presence of
L625.7 (APC). Vav was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates
with polyclonal antiserum and analyzed for tyrosine phosphorylation.
Bottom panels, immunoblots were stripped and reprobed with
mAb anti-Vav. B and D, quantitation of Fyn-KD
(B), ZAP-70-KD (B) and Lck-KD (D) in
T8.1 transfectants. Equivalent cell lysates from transfectants and T8.1
cells (0.6-1.2 × 106) were loaded on gels,
immunoblotted with the indicated antibodies followed by
125I-protein A, and analyzed with a PhosphorImager as
described under "Experimental Procedures." KD/WT
indicates the ratios of KD mutant over endogenous WT protein expression
and was determined from band volume values as follows: (KD
WT)/WT. Numbers indicated are the means of three different
quantification assays. anti-Ptyr,
anti-phosphotyrosine.
) and CD28-mediated (APC)
tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav were considerably inhibited in the
transfectant Fyn-KD 1.5 (KD/WT: 2), and a greater effect was observed
in the transfectant Fyn-KD 4.5 expressing a higher level of the mutant (KD/WT: 2.9). Similar inhibitions were observed with two other transfectants expressing comparable amounts of Fyn-KD (not shown). In
contrast, no inhibition of CD28-induced phosphorylation of Vav was
obtained in the transfectant Lck-KD 1.6 expressing the mutant protein
2.5-fold more than the endogenous Lck (Fig. 2C). The
difference in the effect of Fyn-KD versus Lck-KD was also evident when comparing directly transfectants expressing higher levels
of the mutants such as Fyn-KD 4.5 and Lck-KD 3.1, respectively (Fig.
2D). Although CD28-mediated Vav phosphorylation began to decrease in the Lck-KD 3.1 cells (KD/WT: 4.2), this effect was less
pronounced than in Fyn-KD 4.5 which had a lower KD/WT ratio (2.9).
Other transfectants with KD/WT ratios of ~10 for the two Src PTKs
were also analyzed. However, in these cells the inhibition of Vav
phosphorylation was complete irrespective of the mutant overexpressed
(data not shown). The strong dominant-negative effect produced by only
a 2-3-fold excess of Fyn-KD over endogenous wild-type was somewhat
surprising but may be explained in part by a threshold effect. These
data suggested that Fyn has a role in controlling the phosphorylation
of Vav upon CD28 physiological ligation and may be dominant with
respect to Lck. In contrast to Src PTKs, a ZAP-70 kinase-defective
mutant expressed at much higher levels over endogenous wild-type in the
T8.1 transfectant Zap-KD 3.3 (KD/WT: 13.4, see Fig. 2B)
caused no detectable change in CD28-mediated Vav phosphorylation (Fig.
2A). This same mutant behaves as a dominant-negative to
inhibit TCR-mediated signaling in Jurkat (30) and in T8.1 cells2 (and see below).

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Fig. 3.
CD28-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav
in the Lck-deficient human JCAM-1. A, JCAM-1 (6 × 106) was incubated for 1.5 min at 37 °C with 5-3.1 L
cells (2 × 106) expressing or not human B7-1. In
parallel, T8.1 cells were kept unstimulated (
) or incubated in the
same conditions with L625.7 cells expressing murine B7-1. Vav was
immunoprecipitated with polyclonal antiserum and analyzed for tyrosine
phosphorylation by immunoblotting. Bottom panel, immunoblots
were stripped and reprobed with mAb anti-Vav. B, equivalent
amounts of protein determined by Bradford colorimetric assay were
immunoblotted with polyclonal antiserum against Fyn.
anti-Ptyr, anti-phosphotyrosine.

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Fig. 4.
Coprecipitation of Vav with Fyn after
B7-1 and antigenic stimulation of T8.1 cells. A, T8.1
cells (20 × 106) were incubated for 2 min at 37 °C
alone (
), with L625.7 cells (7 × 106)
(APC), or L625.7 cells prepulsed with tt830-843 (10 µg/ml) (Ag). Cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with
anti-Fyn polyclonal antiserum. In parallel, T8.1 cells (5 × 106) were stimulated with antigen-pulsed L.625.7 cells as
above, and Vav was immunoprecipitated from cell lysates with polyclonal
antiserum. B, T8.1 cells (30 × 106) were
stimulated with antigen-pulsed L625.7 cells as in A. Cell
lysate was divided into three aliquots; one-third (Fyn) was
precipitated with anti-Fyn polyclonal antiserum; one-third (Fyn
Vav) was first immunoprecipitated with anti-Fyn antiserum, subjected to
denaturation in SDS to elute bound material, quenched with Nonidet P-40
as described (34), and re-immunoprecipitated with polyclonal anti-Vav
antiserum; one-third (Vav
Vav) was first immunoprecipitated with
anti-Vav polyclonal antiserum, subjected to a denaturation/quenching
cycle as above, and re-immunoprecipitated with anti-Vav antiserum. This
sample served as a control for total Vav recovered. C, T8.1
cells (40 × 106) were stimulated with antigen as in
A. Lysates corresponding to 10 × 106 cells were
immunoprecipitated with polyclonal anti-Fyn antiserum in the presence
of the phosphorylated QY*EEIPI or unphosphorylated peptide at the
indicated concentrations. D, T8.1 cells (20 × 106) were incubated for 1.5 min at 37 °C alone (
),
with L625.7 cells (7 × 106) (APC), or
peptide-pulsed L625.7 cells (Ag). One-half of each lysate
was immunoprecipitated with polyclonal anti-Fyn antiserum and the
second half with antiserum against Lck N-terminus (N-term)
(3810). Immunoprecipitates were immunoblotted with anti-phosphotyrosine
mAb. anti-Ptyr, anti-phosphotyrosine.

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Fig. 5.
TCR-mediated Vav tyrosine phosphorylation is
dependent on ZAP-70 kinase activity but not or only weakly so on the
Tyr315. A, T8.1 cells and the transfectant
Zap-KD 3.3 expressing catalytically inactive ZAP-70 (10 × 106) were stimulated or not with anti-CD3
145-2C11 for
2 min at 37 °C. B, the same cells were stimulated for 2 min at 37 °C with L625.7 (3.3 × 106) prepulsed
with peptide (10 µg/ml) (Ag) or not (APC).
C, T8.1 cells and the indicated Zap-Y315F transfectants were
stimulated with anti-CD3
as in A. D,
hybridomas were stimulated by antigen as in B. Vav was
immunoprecipitated from cell lysates with polyclonal Ab and
immunoblotted with anti-phosphotyrosine mAb. Bottom panels,
immunoblots were stripped and reprobed with mAb anti-Vav.
anti-Ptyr, anti-phosphotyrosine.
![]()
DISCUSSION
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
and ZAP-70) (45),
suggesting that some CD28 signals may directly feed into the TCR. Thus,
the sole contribution of the TCR to Vav phosphorylation could not be
formally analyzed under the stimulatory conditions used here
(e.g. antigen presentation). However, our data strongly
suggest that ZAP-70 is implicated in this pathway, as the increment of
Vav phosphorylation due to TCR engagement was abolished by
overexpression of the ZAP-70-KD mutant. The observation that a sizable
fraction of phosphorylated Vav was co-immunoprecipitated with Fyn after
Ag stimulation (Fig. 4) supports the idea that Fyn is also implicated
in controlling Vav activation via the TCR. Although Fyn-KD inhibited
also TCR-mediated Vav phosphorylation (data not shown), this latter
result cannot be unambiguously interpreted as this mutant may interfere
with immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif phosphorylation and
therefore with ZAP-70 activation. The substantial levels of phosphorylated Vav already attained with CD28 alone and the additive accumulation after TCR triggering suggest that the co-stimulatory signal plays a major role in Vav activation. Thus, it is possible that
when a T cell encounters a professional APC (e.g. a
dendridic cell expressing high levels of B7 family proteins) Vav
phosphorylation is primarily directed by CD28 due to the higher density
of its ligands compared with the density of TCR ligands
(e.g. orders of magnitude lower) and have a critical role in
helping to sustain TCR signaling (45). Interestingly, Klasen et
al. (47) reported that CD28-induced Vav phosphorylation is more
persistent than the one stimulated via the TCR.
![]()
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
![]()
FOOTNOTES
To whom correspondence should be addressed: Molecular Immunology
Unit, Dept. of Immunology, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux,
75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. Tel.: 33-1-4568-8637; Fax: 33-1-4061-3204; E-mail: oacuto{at}pasteur.fr.
![]()
REFERENCES
Top
Abstract
Introduction
Procedures
Results
Discussion
References
Copyright © 1998 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
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