Dendritic cells are rare haematopoietic cells that reside in a number of organs and tissues. By capturing, processing and presenting antigens to T cells, dendritic cells are essential for immune surveillance and the regulation of specific immunity. Several members of the tumour necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily are integral to the regulation of the immune response. These structurally related proteins modulate cellular functions ranging from proliferation and differentiation to inflammation and cell survival or deaths. The functional activity of dendritic cells is greatly increased by signalling through the TNFR family member CD40. Here we report the characterization of RANK (for receptor activator of NF-kappaB), a new member of the TNFR family derived from dendritic cells, and the isolation of a RANK ligand (RANKL) by direct expression screening. RANKL augments the ability of dendritic cells to stimulate naive T-cell proliferation in a mixed lymphocyte reaction, and increases the survival of RANK+ T cells generated with interleukin-4 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta. Thus RANK and RANKL seem to be important regulators of interactions between T cells and dendritic cells.

A homologue of the TNF receptor and its ligand enhance T-cell growth and dendritic-cell function

To characterize cell surface molecules involved in control of growth of malignant lymphocytes, monoclonal antibodies were raised against the human B lymphoblast cell line SKW6.4. One monoclonal antibody, anti-APO-1, reacted with a 52-kilodalton antigen (APO-1) on a set of activated human lymphocytes, on malignant human lymphocyte lines, and on some patient-derived leukemic cells. Nanogram quantities of anti-APO-1 completely blocked proliferation of cells bearing APO-1 in vitro in a manner characteristic of a process called programmed cell death or apoptosis. Cell death was preceded by changes in cell morphology and fragmentation of DNA. This process was distinct from antibody- and complement-dependent cell lysis and was mediated by the antibody alone. A single intravenous injection of anti-APO-1 into nu/nu mice carrying a xenotransplant of a human B cell tumor induced regression of this tumor within a few days. Histological thin sections of the regressing tumor showed that anti-APO-1 was able to induce apoptosis in vivo. Thus, induction of apoptosis as a consequence of a signal mediated through cell surface molecules like APO-1 may be a useful therapeutic approach in treatment of malignancy.

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Monoclonal antibody-mediated tumor regression by induction of apoptosis

The receptors for tumor necrosis factor (TNF) exist in cell-associated as well as soluble forms, both binding specifically to TNF. Since the soluble forms of TNF receptors (sTNF-Rs) can compete with the cell-associated TNF receptors for TNF, it was suggested that they function as inhibitors of TNF activity; at high concentrations, the sTNF-Rs indeed inhibit TNF effects. However, we report here that in the presence of low concentrations of the sTNF-Rs, effects of TNF whose induction depend on prolonged treatment with this cytokine are augmented, reflecting an attenuation by the sTNF-Rs of spontaneous TNF activity decay. Evidence that this stabilization of TNF activity by the sTNF-Rs follows from stabilization of TNF structure within the complexes that TNF forms with the sTNF-Rs is presented here, suggesting that the sTNF-Rs can affect TNF activity not only by interfering with its binding to cells but also by stabilizing its structure and preserving its activity, thus augmenting some of its effects.

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Stabilization of the bioactivity of tumor necrosis factor by its soluble receptors.

Gene transfer into hemopoietic stem cells could offer a lasting cure for a variety of congenital disorders. As a preclinical test for such a gene therapy, rhesus monkeys were transplanted with autologous bone-marrow cells infected with helper-free recombinant retroviruses carrying the human adenosine deaminase gene. The in vivo regenerative capacity of the infected bone marrow could be conserved, suggesting survival of repopulating hemopoietic stem cells. In the hemopoietic system of transplanted animals the foreign gene could be observed for as long as the animals were analyzed (in two monkeys greater than 1 yr after transplantation). Genetically modified cell types and tissues included peripheral blood mononuclear cells, granulocytes, bone-marrow cells of various densities, and spleen and lymph nodes. The presence of the provirus in the short-living granulocytes greater than 1 yr after bone-marrow transplantation provided evidence for the transduction of very primitive hemopoietic progenitors. Moreover, the gene transfer resulted in sustained production of functional human adenosine deaminase enzyme in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results demonstrate the feasibility of bone-marrow gene-therapy approaches, in particular for treating adenosine deaminase deficiency.

http://www.pnas.org/content/89/16/7640.full.pdf

Long-term expression of human adenosine deaminase in rhesus monkeys transplanted with retrovirus-infected bone-marrow cells.

In this report we describe a quantitative in vitro assay for the most primitive type of leukemic precursors yet defined in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). This assay is based on the recently described "long-term culture-initiating cell" (LTC-IC) assay for primitive normal human hematopoietic cells. Such cells, when cocultured with competent fibroblast feeder layers, give rise after a minimum of 5 weeks to multiple single and multilineage clonogenic progenitors detectable in secondary semisolid assay cultures. Similar cultures initiated by seeding a highly enriched source of leukemic cells from patients onto normal feeders showed the clonogenic cell output after 5 weeks to be linearly related to the input innoculum over a wide range down to limiting numbers of input cells, thus allowing absolute frequencies of leukemic LTC-ICs to be determined using standard limiting dilution analysis techniques. Leukemic LTC-IC concentrations in CML marrow were found to be decreased, on average to less than 10% of the normal LTC-IC concentration in normal marrow, but were greatly increased (up to greater than 10(5) times) in CML blood. Assessment of the number of clonogenic cells produced per leukemic LTC-IC by comparison to normal blood or marrow LTC-IC values showed this function to be unchanged in leukemic LTC-ICs [i.e., 3.1 +/- 0.4 clonogenic cells per CML LTC-IC (mean +/- SEM, n = 6) versus 3.7 +/- 1.2 (n = 3) and 4.3 +/- 0.4 (n = 5), respectively, for normal blood and marrow LTC-ICs]. In contrast, leukemic LTC-IC maintenance in LTC proved to be highly defective by comparison to normal LTC-IC of either blood or marrow origin. Thus, when cells from primary LTC were subcultured into secondary LTC-IC assays, leukemic LTC-IC rapidly declined (greater than 30-fold) within the first 10 days of culture, whereas normal LTC-IC numbers remained unchanged during this period. These findings illustrate how self-maintenance and differentiation events in primitive human hematopoietic cells can be differentially modulated by an oncogenic process and provide a framework for further studies of their manipulation, analysis, and therapeutic exploitation.

Rapid decline of chronic myeloid leukemic cells in long-term culture due to a defect at the leukemic stem cell level.

Isolation of human T and B lymphocytes by E-rosette gradient centrifugation. Characterization of the isolated subpopulations☆

Human Purified Protein Derivative of tuberculin- (PPD-) specific cytotoxic cells have been detected in cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated for 6 days with PPD. These cytotoxic cells are demonstrated by their ability to lyse PPD-pulsed autologous monocyte target cells, but not unpulsed targets. In a series of checkerboard experiments each involving 3-5 randomly combined donors, effector cells from 35 donors have been tested in autologous and 130 allogeneic combinations. Analysis of results from the pooled allogeneic combinations reveals that HLA-B - and even more pronounced HLA-DR - antigen sharing correlates positively to high lysis. No effect of HLA-A antigen sharing is found. A more detailed analysis shows that the effect of HLA-B sharing may be fully accounted for by HLA-B-DR linkage disequilibrium. The results thus indicate that cell-mediated PPD specific cytotoxicity is HLA-restricted. Further, the correlation to HLA-DR sharing indicates that the restriction element in this system in all probability is a class II antigen.

Cell-mediated PPD-specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: evidence for restriction by class II HLA antigens

The HLA-restriction specificity of a set of Cytotoxic T-Lymphocytes (CTLs) derived from 20 different individuals and with specificity for antigenic components in Purified Protein Derivative of tuberculin (PPD) were examined against a panel of 50 unrelated target cell donors. PPD pulsed monocytes were used as antigen presenting target cells. CTLs were generated by Interleukin-2 (IL-2) expansion of in vitro PPD activated Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBM). The results confirm our previous finding that PPD-specific CTLs are restricted by HLA-class II - and not by class I antigens. The 20 CTLs used together provide reliable cellular typing reagents for the antigens HLA-DR2, -3, -4 and -7 and less so for the antigens HLA-DR1 and -5. In contrast, sharing between CTL- and target cell donors of HLA-DRw6 and -w8 correlates poorly to PPD-specific cytotoxicity. A few consistent exceptional patterns were observed. In one case lack of lysis in spite of HLA-DR antigen sharing could be explained by a split of HLA-DR2 into a normal and a short variant. Positive reactions in combinations, where no HLA-DR antigens are shared, were only few and evenly distributed among CTLs. Thus our findings indicate that our bulk CTLs predominantly contain clones restricted by determinants strongly associated to the serologically defined HLA-DR antigens.

Cell mediated PPD specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: III. Cellular typing with CTLs restricted by class II HLA antigens.

Two brothers with hypogammaglobulinaemia classified as common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) were investigated for distribution of peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) subpopulations, DNA synthesis and plaque-forming cell (PFC) capability of pokeweed mitogen (PWM) activated autologous and allogenic cocultures. Both patients had a decreased absolute number of T cells and normal or elevated levels of surface immunoglobulin (SmIg) bearing cells.



Isolated B cells cocultured with autologous or allogeneic 4000 r irradiated T cells responded subnormally to PWM monitored by the 3H-thymidine incorporation in microcultures whereas B cells cocultured with allogeneic untreated normal T cells proliferated normally.



PBL from parallel macrocultures of unfractionated or T/B separated patients' cells were not able to produce plaques using a reversed haemolytic protein A assay. Addition of glucocorticoid to unfractionated PBL did not reverse the unresponsiveness. In allogeneic co-cultures patients' untreated or 2000 r irradiated T cells induced a normal PFC response. Normal untreated T cells induced a reduced number of IgM- and IgG-PFC from patients' B cells but this response was almost eliminated using irradiated normal T cells.



These results demonstrate a primary B cell defect in the patients and indicate an impaired cooperation between patients' B and T cells. Activation of patients' B cells to Ig secretion requires the presence of proliferating T cells.

Functional studies on lymphocytes from two siblings with congenital hypogammaglobulinaemia.

Large batches of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes (CTLs) specific for antigenic components of Purified Protein Derivative of tuberculin (PPD) were generated from 20 donors. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear cells (PBM) were stimulated with PPD, expanded with Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and finally aliquotted and cryopreserved. It was found that CTLs could be cryopreserved without loss of activity, and compared to generating CTLs in primary culture alone, IL-2 expanded CTLs were stronger and discriminated better.



To study their HLA restriction specificity, the CTLs were tested against a panel of 50 target cell donors using PPD pulsed monocytes as antigen presenting target cells. Reproducibility was examined by analysis of variance. Guided by the results, the mean value of 2 tests was selected as the basis for qualitative assignments.

Cell mediated PPD specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: II. IL-2 expansion improves the strength and discriminatory power of CTLs used for cellular typing

Peter Wendelboe Hansen

Papers

Isolation of human T and B lymphocytes by E-rosette gradient centrifugation. Characterization of the isolated subpopulations☆

Cell-mediated PPD-specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: evidence for restriction by class II HLA antigens

Cell mediated PPD specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: III. Cellular typing with CTLs restricted by class II HLA antigens.

Functional studies on lymphocytes from two siblings with congenital hypogammaglobulinaemia.

Cell mediated PPD specific cytotoxicity against human monocyte targets: II. IL-2 expansion improves the strength and discriminatory power of CTLs used for cellular typing