A structural, profile-based algorithm was used to identify interleukin 20 (IL-20), a novel IL-10 homolog. Chromosomal localization of IL-20 led to the discovery of an IL-10 family cytokine cluster. Overexpression of IL-20 in transgenic (TG) mice causes neonatal lethality with skin abnormalities including aberrant epidermal differentiation. Recombinant IL-20 protein stimulates a signal transduction pathway through STAT3 in a keratinocyte cell line, demonstrating a direct action of this ligand. An IL-20 receptor was identified as a heterodimer of two orphan class II cytokine receptor subunits. Both receptor subunits are expressed in skin and are dramatically upregulated in psoriatic skin. Taken together, these results demonstrate a role in epidermal function and psoriasis for IL-20, a novel cytokine identified solely by bioinformatics analysis.

Thrombopoietin (TPO), the ligand for the receptor protooncogene c-mpl, has been cloned and shown to be the critical regulator of platelet production. Several features of c-Mpl expression, including its presence on erythroid cell lines, and the panmyeloid transformation characteristic of myeloproliferative leukemia (MPL) viral disease led us to investigate whether this receptor-ligand system may play a role in erythropoiesis. We report that although TPO alone did not support the growth of either early or late erythroid progenitors, it acted in synergy with erythropoietin to expand these populations. Moreover, while the effects on erythropoiesis in normal animals were modest, TPO greatly expanded the number of erythroid progenitors and blood reticulocytes and was associated with accelerated red cell recovery in myelosuppressed mice. Together, these data strongly suggest that erythroid progenitors respond to TPO and that this newly cloned cytokine, critical for platelet production, can augment erythropoiesis in states of marrow failure. (J. Clin. Invest. 1995. 96:1683-1687

The binding of antibody to the CD4 molecule inhibits mobilization of cytoplasmic free calcium ([Ca2+]i) in response to CD3 cross-linking on resting T cells. Similarly, when CD3 and CD4 are independently and simultaneously cross-linked, calcium mobilization is inhibited when compared to that induced by cross-linking CD3 alone. In contrast, when anti-CD4 and anti-CD3 are cross-linked together, calcium mobilization is substantially higher than from CD3 cross-linking alone. A heteroconjugate consisting of covalently bound CD3 and CD4 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) retains the ability to mobilize [Ca2+]i in CD4 cells at protein concentrations approximately two orders of magnitude lower than the free CD3 mAb, and the activity of the heteroconjugate is inhibitable by free CD4 mAb. The CD3/CD4 heteroconjugate also shows significantly greater activity in stimulation of inositol phosphate IP1, IP2 and IP3 synthesis in T cells than the CD3 mAb alone, and again the activity is inhibited by free CD4 mAb. The activity of the CD3/CD4 heteroconjugate is not simply due to oligomerization, since CD3/CD3 or CD4/CD4 homoconjugates or homoconjugate mixtures did not show increased activity. Other heteroconjugates (CD3/CD5 and CD3/CD28) were not different than the CD3/CD3 homoconjugate in their ability to increase [Ca2+]i. Purified CD4 T cells that do not respond to CD3 mAb in solution do respond to the CD3/CD4 heteroconjugate in solution by proliferating in the presence of a CD28 mAb, with a significant fraction of CD4 cells entering the second cycle within the first three days of stimulation. The CD3/CD4 heteroconjugate co-modulates the CD3 and CD4 receptors, indicating that the heteroconjugate is not simply anchoring the T cell receptor to the T cell surface like anti-CD3 on a solid surface. These results suggest that CD4 plays an active role in signal transduction when brought into close physical proximity to the CD3/T cell receptor complex during major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted antigen presentation.

No abstract

Early events in both T-cell receptor (CD3)- and CD4-induced signal transduction pathways include tyrosine phosphorylation of protein substrates, the generation of phosphatidylinositol-phosphate breakdown products, and the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+. Oxidative stress in T cells mediated by sulfhydryl-reactive nonpolar maleimides was shown previously to down-regulate both receptor-mediated Ca2+ mobilization and interleukin 2 production. Here we show that N-ethylmaleimide suppresses both CD3- and CD4-induced Ca2+ responses in human T cells correlating with a reduction in the level of phospholipase C gamma 1 (PLC gamma 1) tyrosine phosphorylation. The inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation of PLC gamma 1 and additional protein substrates was observed at concentrations of N-ethylmaleimide above 20 microM, whereas lower concentrations of oxidant appeared to increase tyrosine kinase activity following cell stimulation. Sulfhydryl oxidation did not directly affect the catalytic activity of PLC gamma 1, since immunopurified enzyme from N-ethylmaleimide-treated T cells was fully active. Although N-ethylmaleimide treatment of T cells did not cause a direct effect on total pp56lck kinase activity measured in vitro, the interaction between CD4 and pp56lck was oxidation-sensitive in vivo. However, CD3-induced signaling was inhibited at N-ethylmaleimide concentrations lower than that required for CD4/pp56lck dissociation, suggesting that CD3-associated tyrosine kinase activity involves acutely sensitive regulatory thiols. In addition to chemically induced sulfhydryl oxidation, naturally regulated cellular redox states appear to dictate the potential for T-cell responsiveness, since degranulating human peripheral blood neutrophils inhibited CD3-induced Ca2+ mobilization in T lymphocytes. These data indicate that signal transduction in T cells involves the activation of PLC gamma 1 by tyrosine phosphorylation through an oxidation-sensitive intermediate between surface receptors and tyrosine kinases, perhaps including the interaction between CD4 and pp56lck.