MT2 Flashcards
Cytokine general physical properties
- low molecular weight
- <30 kDa
- Mostly single polypeptide chains; can be in aggregated forms (eg TNF, a homotrimer in circulation)
- Potent. Effective at picomolar concentrations
Cytokines regulate the intensity and duration of the immune response by… (6)
- (1) stimulating or inhibiting the activation, (2)proliferation and/or (3)differentiation and (4)migration of multiple cell types
- (5)regulating the synthesis and secretion of immunoglobulins and other cytokines
- in some cases by (6)inducing programmed cell death of a target cell
Autocrine
binds receptors on the same cell that secretes the cytokine
paracrine
binds to receptors on a nearby cell
juxtacrine
binds a neighbouring cell
endocrine
binds to receptors on distant target cells
pleiotropy
a cytokine has different effects on different target cells
redundancy
different cytokines have the same effect on target cell
synergistic cytokines - means?
an effect greater than the additive effect of each cytokine alone
antagonistic cytokines
opposing activities of cytokines
cascade - cytokines
stimulating other cytokines, forming cytokine networks
lymphokines
cytokines secreted by lymphocytes
monokines
cytokines secreted by macrophages and monocytes
chemokines
- Family of small polypeptides that selectively control (1)adhesion, (2)chemotaxis, and (3)activation of leukocytes
- Can be constitutively expressed and likely involved in homeostatis or developmental roles.
- Others expressed only after stim of the cell
interferons
chemokines initially described as having anti-viral activity
tumor necrosis factor
a more specific form of cytokine
Colony stimulating factors
are?
A specific term for a cytokine.
Interleukins
Cytokines with a role in communication between leukocytes.
the six groups of cytokines and their receptors
- IL-1 family
- Hematopoietin family (Class I)
- Interferon Family (Class II)
- Tumor necrosis factor family
- IL-17
- Chemokines
7 ways that nonspecific cytokines maintain the specificity of the immune response
- REgulated production of the cytokine.
- Of only one chain of a heterodimer is made
- Limited radius of effectiveness
- Short half-life
- Regulation of cytokine receptor expression (ex. lymphocytes need to interact with antigen to express particular cytokine receptors)
- Antagonism
Antagonism of Cytokines (4)
There are multiple means of intercepting a cytokine.
- shedding receptors that will occupy a cytokine is solution, preventing it from binding another receptor.
- decoy receptors - that even in TM form do not transmit a signal
- Specific cytokine antagonists - eg IL-1 receptor antagonist and IL-36 receptor antagonist
- Binding proteins - bind the cytokine, preventing it from binding the receptor
IL-1Ra
IL-1 (cytokine) receptor antagonist
An example of a specific cytokine antagonist. Binds the receptor, without inducing a signal
Example of a binding protein that demonstrated antagonism of cytokines
IL-18 has a specific IL-18 binding protein that binds the cytokine preventing it from binding the receptor.
Four classes of chemokines are based on
the position of two of four conserved cysteines.
Can have up to four cysteines
What are the four families of chemokines
- CXC or alpha chemokines where X is a variable AA. SUbclasses: ELR motif (neutrophil chemoattractants) and without ELR motif (mononuclear - monocytes/lymphocytes - chemoattractants)
- CC or beta chemokines - mononuclear cell chemoattractants
- C or XC or gamma chemokines. Has two members
- CX3C or delta chemokines, consist or a single member, FRACTALKINE - a neutrophil chemoattractant that can be membrane-bound
What is meant by, ‘chemokines show considerable promiscuity’
Chemokines interact with a large number of receptors/cells
Subsets of T helper cells
arise from..
CD4+ lymphocytes.
Th1
Th2
Th17
They all arise from a common Th0 precursor.
Th1
- Induced by
- make
- Master gene regulator (transcription factor)
- roles (3)
- Induced by IL-12, IL-18, IFN-y
- Make: TNF, IFN-y
- T-Bet
- Promote opsonizing Ig isotypes
- cell-mediated immunity (intracell. parasites)
- Differentiation of CD8+ cells to become cytotoxic
Th2
- Induced by
- Make
- Master gene regulator (transcription factor)
- Roles (2)
- Induced by IL-4
- Make IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13
- GATA-3
- Allergy
- B cell activation and antibody responses
Th17
- Induced by
- Makes
- Master gene regulator (transcription factor)
- Roles (2)
- Induced by TGF-beta, IL-6, IL-23
- Makes IL-17
- RORy
- Contributes to inflammation, autoimmunity
- Resistance to fungal infection
Cross-regulation by Th subsets (2)
Examples (3)
Cytokines that promote differentiation of one Th subset may also suppress the development of the alternate subset
Explains the inverse relationship bt classical cell-mediated and antibody responses leading to allergy
Th2 production is favoured - presence of IL-4, IL-12 and IFN-y will stim Th-2
IL-4 and L-10 indirectly downregulate Th1 cells
IFN-y inhibits Th2 proliferation (aside from when IL-4 is present)
Families of cytokine receptors
6 families based on conserved structural features
- IL-1 (Immunoglobulin superfamily) receptors
- Class I / hematopoietin receptor family
- Class II / interferon receptor family
- TNF receptor fmaily
- Chemokine receptor family
- IL-17
IL-2R
- cytokine receptor among the hematopoietin receptor family.
- ALpha, beta, gamma polypeptides
- Can exist in 3 forms - more chains, stronger affinity
- Low affinity = alpha chain
- Intermed affinity = beta and gamma chains
- high affinity = alpha, beta, gamma chains
- signal transduction requires both beta and gamma chains.
- gamma chain expressed constitutively on T cells
- alpha/beta expression enhanced by antigen stimulation
- NKT cells expression gamma/beta dimer constitutively (int. affinity)
IL-2R subunits - redundancy
- alpha chain is unique to IL-2R, but the gamma chain is the same for a lot of other Class 1 receptors and so their TM signals are similar for diff receptors.
IL-2 subunits - antagonism
Unique alpha subunits for members in CLass 1 receptors may compete for association with a limited number of Beta subunits so if there is more of one cytokine, that signal might win out because all of the B monomers will be paired up.
Soluble cytokine receptors
- no longer attached to a cell
- soluble forms typically retain high affinity for cytokine and are thus able to bind cytokine in solution.
Soluble cytokine receptors: mechanisms that result in solubilization (2)
- Proteolytic cleavage of the EC domain
- release receptor form PM
- Often a result of specific activation event in acting on the cell - Splicing out of the TM encoding exon of the primary RNA transcript resulting in a protein that is secreted.
Roles of soluble cytokine receptors (4)
- Receptor down-regulation: can no longer signal in cell, limits cell response.
- Soluble receptor can be a binding proteins that protects the ligand from being degraded or cleared: receptor no longer signals, but can deliver the ligand to other membrane-bound receptors.
- Direct Antagonism: soluble receptor binds the cytokine, preventing it from binding membrane-bound receptors
- Soluble alpha chain may bind to a ligand, thus conferring sensitivity to another cell that may have only the signalling chain. Expands the number and types of cells sensitive to the soluble receptor/ligand complex
Many Class 1 and Class 2 cytokine receptors lack _____
intrinsic tyrosine kinase domains
To a great extent, cytokine receptor signaling is achieved by:
phosphorylation of proteins already present int he cytoplasm, which results in a rapid pattern of alterations in multiple proteins
Signalling of Class II / Interferon-type receptors
- Subunits of the receptors associated with inactive protein tyrosine kinases
- alpha chain associated with JAK (Janus Kinase) even in the absence of bound cytokine
- In absence of bound ligand, JAKs lack protein tyrosine kinase activity
- Cytokine binding induces association of the alpha and beta subunit and activation of the JAKs (phosphorylated)
- Activated JAKs create docking sites for signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT transcription factors) by phosphorylation of specific tyrosine residues on the receptors.
- Docking occurs between SH2 domain of STAT and phosphorylated tyrosine on the receptor
- JAK then phosphorylates the docked STAT
- Phosphoylated STATs translocate from the receptor as dimers, and go to nucleus to initiate transcription of specific genes.
- The genes that are transcribed are determined by specific DNA sequences in promotor regions that monomeric or dimeric STATs bind to.
- Multiple JAKs and STATs act in different permutations, providing specificity of the response.
Cross-regulation of Th subtype at level of transcription factors
Expression of TF, T-Bet drives cell to Th1 differentiation and suppresses Th2 differentiation.
Expression of TF, GATA-3 promotes development of Th2 but inhibits development of Th1
Dimerization of STATs
STATs typically form homodimers in the cytoplasm and go on to regulate transcription in the nucleus.
Heterodimers are possible due to simultaneous activation of different cytokine receptors that result in phosphorylation of different STATs
Formation of heterodimers can cause synergy or antagonism.
Three factors that determine the specificity of a cytokine effect
- The particular JAK/STAT pathway
- STAT-specific sequences int he promotor regions of genes
- Only certain target genes can be activated in a particular cell type. Only a subset of potential target genes of a particular STAT may be permitted expression in any given cell type (some may be masked).
Chemokine receptor family signalling (4)
(1) Chemokine receptors are couple with large, heterotrimeric G proteins.
(2) The signal transduction process generates second messengers such as Ras (MAPK), Rho, PLCBeta, (3)Ultimately inducing AP-1 and NF-kappaB
(4) ALso able to signal through JAK-STAT phosphorylation events. Contingent on dimerization of chemokine receptors (homodimers or heterodimers)
NFkappaB mechanism
- Sequestered in the cytoplasm by IkappaB
- IkappaBalpha phosphorylated by IKK (IkappaBkinase) and is then ubiquitinated and destroyed by the proteosome
- The freed NFkappaB is then able to translocate to the nucleus where it can direct gene transcription.