Natural killer T cells (NKT cells) are a subset of T cells. They regulate a wide range of diseases including infection, tumor growth, and autoimmune diseases, through recognizing glycolipid antigens in the context of CD1d. An understanding of the scope of glycolipid antigens would facilitate use of this cell type in controlling immune responses. Till today, a lysosomal glycolipid, isoglobotrihexosylceramide (iGb3), is the only natural glycolipid that has been found to be recognized by both human and mouse NKT cells. To elucidate the molecular basis of this specific recognition, iGb3 variants were designed and prepared: i) replacement of the C26 acyl chain with shortened acyl chains; ii) replacement of the distal galactose with glucose and mannose; iii) replacement of the intermediate galactose with glucose; iv) replacement of the proximal glucose with galactose. Among these glycolipids, the iGb3 variants with shortened acyl chains are potent stimulators of NKT cells. The iGb3 variant with intermediate glucose also showed the ability to stimulate NKT cells, but this finding needs to be verified. Our findings support the specific recognition of iGb3 by NKT cells. The search for other natural glycolipid antigens focuses on glycolipids that are isolated from bacteria and parasites. Recently, glycosphingolipids (GSL-1, -3, and -4) isolated from the sphingomonodaceae family of bacteria were characterized. GSL-1 has been shown to be a potent stimulator of NKT cells. Moreover, it has been reported that GSL-4 is a stimulator as well. To verify the structures and stimulatory properties of GSLs, GSL-1 to -4 were prepared and tested for their abilities to stimulate NKT cells. The result that only GSL-1 can stimulate NKT cells suggests that synthesis of these higher order GSLs would be an immune evasion mechanism. Neutral glycosphingolipids from sheep-derived F. hepatica liver flukes, a causative agent of fascioliasis, were isolated and characterized. Their structures are closely related to iGb3. Among these glycolipids, neo-iGb4s could be truncated to iGb3 in the lysosome and thus stimulate NKT cells. To test this hypothesis, these glycosphingolipids were prepared and tested. None of these synthetic glycolipids stimulates NKT cells, which suggests that the secretion of these glycolipids by F. hepatica could be the result of the parasite-immune-evasion mechanism.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:50:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-11-25 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Células iNKT restritas a CD1d são protetoras contra o desenvolvimento de melanoma murino, B16F10-Nex2, subcutaneamente em animais singênicos. Essa proteção pode ser deduzida pelo desenvolvimento acelerado do tumor em animais geneticamente deficientes na expressão de CD1d (CD1d-KO), com sobrevida significantemente menor do que a observada com animais WT submetidos ao mesmo desafio de células tumorais. CD1d é uma família de glicoproteínas relacionadas a MHC classe I, envolvidas na apresentação, principalmente em células dendríticas, de antígenos lipídicos para células iNKT. No presente trabalho focalizamos a identificação do lipídeo endógeno expresso em células de melanoma capaz de induzir uma resposta de vigilância imune baseada em células iNKT. Verificamos também a possibilidade de proteger animais contra o desenvolvimento tumoral utilizando células dendríticas primadas com o lipídeo endógeno. A extração dos componentes lipídicos de melanoma foi realizada a partir de tumores crescidos in vivo, evitando-se assim artefatos do cultivo celular in vitro. Foram testados três diferentes protocolos de extração (A, B e C), obtendo-se 14 frações diferentes que foram testadas na ativação do hibridoma DN32.D3, uma linhagem de células NKT murinas imortalizadas. A fração F3 do protocolo A (F3A) ativou o hibridoma DN32.D3 medido pela produção de IL-2. Para uma eficiente apresentação dos lipídeos dessa fração utilizamos com sucesso células dendríticas de medula óssea (BMDC) nos ensaios in vitro e in vivo, para apresentação de F3A e glicolipídeos ativadores de células NKT, agalactosilceramida (a-GalCer) e isoglobotrihexosilceramida (iGb3). Na tentativa de isolar o composto estimulatório presente em F3A de melanoma, essa fração foi analisada por HPTLC revelada com diversos reagentes específicos para resíduos de ácido siálico, açúcares neutros, fosfato e lipídeos totais. A fração também foi submetida a separações em colunas de sílica, ensaio de “immunostaining” quimioluminescente com lectina de Bandeiraea simplicifolia e análises em espectrometria de massa, onde foram identificados gangliosídeos como GM3 bem como glicoesfingolipídeos neutros como iGb3, Gb3, iGb4 e Gb4 por ESI-LIT-MS (electrosptray ionization-linear íon trap-mass spectrometry). Quando iGb3 foi incubado com BMDC e testado com células DN32D3 essas foram ativadas produzindo IL-2. GM3 consistentemente era um inibidor dessa ativação de células iNKT. Ensaios de citotoxicidade foram então realizados e verificamos que células de NKT estimuladas por BMDC incubadas com a-GalCer ou iGb3 circundavam as células tumorais B16F10-Nex2 visualizadas em microscopia de fluorescência e, em ensaio in vitro, as células NKT promoviam lise de até 40% das células tumorais B16F10-Nex2. Realizamos então ensaios in vivo, onde camundongos foram inoculados endovenosamente com células do melanoma murino e tratados ou não com células dendríticas primadas com a-GalCer ou iGb3. Ao excisarmos os pulmões dos animais, notamos que os grupos tratados com lipídeos ativadores de células NKT tinha cerca de 4 vezes menos nódulos pulmonares que o grupo não tratado. Nossos resultados mostram que o melanoma murino B16F10-Nex2 possui a molécula iGb3 e sua precursora iGb4, capaz de ativar células NKT conferindo a essas capacidade citotóxica in vitro contra o melanoma. Esse lipídeo (iGb3) também mostrou um efeito protetor contra metástases pulmonares oriundas do melanoma murino quando apresentado por células dendríticas utilizadas em protocolo de terapia celular. Esse é o primeiro trabalho mostrando que efetivamente um glicolipídeo endógeno ligante de CD1d é capaz de ativar células NKT com efeito protetor antitumoral, através de terapia celular com células dendríticas. Palavras chave: Melanoma B16F10-Nex2, células iNKT, glicoesfingolipídeos iGb3 e iGb4 GM3, células dendríticas, imuno vigilância. / CD1d-restricted iNKT cells are protective against the murine melanoma B16F10- Nex2 growing subcutaneously in syngeneic animals. This is inferred from the fast tumor growth in animals genetically deficient in CD1d (CD1d-KO), which showed a survival time significantly shorter than that of WT animals equally challenged with tumor cells. CD1d belongs to a family of glycoproteins resembling MHC class I, involved in the presentation, chiefly in dendritic cells, of lipidic antigens to iNKT cells. In the present work we focus on the identification of an endogenous lipid component expressed in melanoma cells able to induce an immunosurveillance response based on iNKT. We also investigated the possibility of animal protection against tumor development by using dendritic cells primed with the endogenous lipid. The extraction of membrane lipid components was carried out from in vivo grown tumors, thus avoiding artifacts from the in vitro grown cultures. Three different extraction protocols were tested (A, B, C), and 14 different fractions were obtained and tested for the activation of hybridoma DN32.D3, a cell line of immortalized murine NKT cells. Fraction F3 of protocol A (F3A) activated hybridoma DN32.D3 to produce IL-2. For an efficient presentation of lipids from this fraction we successfully used bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDC) on in vitro and in vivo assays. F3A and NKT-cell activating glycolipids, agalactosylceramide (a-GalCer) and isoglobohexosylceramide (iGb3), were tested. In the attempt to isolate the stimulatory component present in the melanoma F3A fraction, HPTLC was used and revealed with several specific reagents for sialic acid residues, neutral sugars, phosphate and total lipids. The fraction was also separated in silica columns, immunostained with Bandeiraea simplicifolia BS-1 lectin and analyzed by mass spectrometry. Ganglioside GM3 and neutral glycosphingolipids iGb3, Gb3, iGb4 and Gb4 were identified by ESI-LIT-MS (electrospray ionization- linear ion trap- mass spectrometry). By incubation of iGb3 with BMDC and these with DN32.D3 cells, the latter were activated to produce IL-2. GM3 consistently inhibited the activation of iNKT cells. Cytotoxicity assays were then carried out, in which we found that NKT cells stimulated by BMDC, primed with a-GalCer or iGb3, encircled the B16F10-Nex2 tumor cells as visualized by fluorescent microscopy. NKT cells promoted lysis of up to 40% of tumor cells. In vivo tests showed that mice injected endovenously with murine melanoma cells and treated with dendritic cells primed with a-GalCer or iGb3, had lungs with 4-fold fewer nodules than an equally challenged but untreated group. The present results show that the murine melanoma B16F10-Nex2 expresses iGb3 and its precursor iGb4, being able to activate NKT cells and conferring them a cytotoxic activity in vitro against melanoma. Such lipid (iGb3) was also protective in vivo reducing the melanoma pulmonary metastases when presented by dendritic cells used in cellular therapy protocol. This is the fist work showing effectively that an endogenous CD1d-restricted glycolipid able to activate iNKT cells display a protective antitumor effect, using cellular therapy with dendritic cells. / TEDE / BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

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Die Funktion und Spezifität von Natürlichen-Killer-T-Zellen (NKT) in angeborener und erworbener Immunität ist nicht vollständig geklärt. Die Mehrheit der NKT-Zellen erkennt alpha-galactosylceramid (alphaGalCer), ein Lipid eines marinen Schwamms mit ungeklärter Relevanz. Verschiedene mykobakterielle Lipide wurden isoliert und auf ihre CD1d-Bindung und NKT-Zell-Aktivierung untersucht. Phospatidylinositol-mannosid (PIM) von Mycobacterium bovis BCG konnte als erstes bakterielles NKT-Zell-Antigen identifiziert werden. PIM aktiviert CD1d-abhängig murine und humane NKT-Zellen zur IFN-gamma aber nicht zur IL-4 Produktion. Mehrere andere Lipid-Fraktionen aktivierten ebenfalls NKT-Zellen. Diese Stimulation war entweder eine direkte, T-Zell-Rezeptor (TZR)-vermittelte und/oder indirekte, Toll-like-receptor 2 (TLR2) vermittelte Aktivierung. Iso-globotrihexosylceramide (iGb3) wurde als das endogene NKT-Zell-Antigen beschrieben. IGb3 ist ubiquitär in Lysosomen vorhanden. Dies wirft die Frage nach der Regulation der Antigen-Verfügkarkeit und der Kontrolle der NKT-Zell-Aktivierung auf. Es konnte gezeigt werden dass die Regulation der Antigen-Verfügbarkeit essentiell für die Regulation der NKT-Zell-Aktivität ist. Unkontrolliertes Auftreten und erhöhte Konzentration von iGb3 führte zu einer substantiellen Reduktion der NKT-Zell-Zahl, vermutlich durch Aktivierungs-induziertem-Zelltod. Mit Hilfe von DNS-Microarray Analysen wurden die Gen-Expressionsprofile von naïven NKT-Zellen und klassischen CD4 T-Zellen, regulatorischen T-Zellen, NK-Zellen und aktivierten NKT-Zellen verglichen. Es konnte sowohl ein NKT-Zell-spezifisches Expressionsmuster etabliert als auch eine gemeinsame Expression von Genen in allen verglichenen Zelltypen identifiziert werden. Naive und aktivierte NKT-Zellen zeigen eine erhöhte Expression von Apoptose-regulierenden Genen welches auf eine starke Selbst-Kontrolle zur präzisen Regulation der eigenen Aktivität hinweist. / The function and specificity of Natural Killer T (NKT) cells in innate and acquired immunity still remains elusive. The vast majority of CD1d restricted NKT cells recognise alpha-galactosylceramid (alphaGalCer), derived from a marine sponge, a lipid of unclear physiological significance. Different mycobycterial glycolipids were isolated and examined for binding to CD1d as well as for their capacity of NKT cell stimulation. Phospatidylinositol-mannoside (PIM) derived from Mycobacterium bovis BCG was identified as the first bacterial lipid antigen presented by CD1d. PIM activated both murine and human NKT cells to secrete IFN-gamma but not IL-4 in a CD1d dependent manner. Additionally, several other lipid fractions with NKT cell activation capacities were identified. This activation was either a direct, T-cell-receptor (TCR) mediated and/or an indirect, toll-like-receptor 2 (TLR2) mediated activation. Iso-globotrihexosylceramide (iGb3) was described as the endogenous NKT cell antigen. iGb3 is a ubiquitously present lysosomal glycolipid which raises the question of regulation of antigen availability and NKT cell activation control. It could be shown that regulation of antigen availability plays a crucial role in regulation of NKT cell activation. Moreover, uncontrolled appearance and increased concentrations of the endogenous antigen iGb3 led to substantial decrease in NKT cell number, presumably by activation induced cell death. Using DNA Microarray analysis, the gene expression profiles of naïve NKT cells and classical CD4 T cells, regulatory T cells, NK cells as well as to activated NKT cells were compared. The profiles revealed a NKT cell specific gene expression pattern as well as expression of genes which NKT cells share with NK cells, conventional CD4+ T cells and Treg cells. Both, naïve and activated NKT cells display elevated expression of apoptosis regulating genes providing NKT cells with high degree of self-control to precisely regulate their own activity.