SUMMARY Cytolytic granule mediated killing of virus-infected cells is an essential function of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Analysis of lytic granule delivery shows that the granules can take long or short paths to the secretory domain where they are released. Both paths utilize the same intracellular molecular events, which have different spatial and temporal arrangements in each path and are regulated by the kinetics of downstream Ca2+ mediated signaling. Rapid and robust signaling causes swift granule concentration near the MTOC and subsequent delivery by the polarized MTOC directly to the secretory domain - the shortest and fastest path. Indolent signaling leads to late recruitment of granules that move along microtubules to the periphery of the synapse and then move tangentially to fuse at the outer edge of the secretory domain - a longer path. The short pathway is associated with faster granule release and more efficient killing than the long pathway.

Lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) interaction with intercellular adhesion molecules (ICAMs) facilitates T cell antigen receptor (TCR)-mediated killing. To dissect TCR and LFA-1 contributions, we evaluated cytolytic activity and granule release by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) as well as intracellular granule redistribution and morphology of CTL stimulated with natural TCR ligand in the presence or absence of LFA-1 engagement. Although other adhesion mechanisms, e.g., CD2-CD58 interaction, could substitute for LFA-1 to trigger CTL degranulation, productive LFA-1 ligation was indispensable for effective target cell lysis by the released granules. LFA-1-mediated adhesion to glass-supported bilayers containing intercellular adhesion molecule-1 was characterized by a much larger junction area, marked by LFA-1 segregation, and a more compact cell shape compared with those observed for CD2-mediated adhesion to bilayers containing CD58. A larger contact induced by intercellular adhesion molecule 1 determined a unique positioning of granules near the interface. These data provide evidence that LFA-1 delivers a distinct signal essential for directing released cytolytic granules to the surface of antigenbearing target cells to mediate the effective destruction of these cells by CTL.cytolytic granules ͉ immunological synapse ͉ T cell receptor K illing of virus-infected cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) is triggered by interactions of T cell antigen receptor (TCR) with viral peptides presented by MHC class I proteins on the surface of infected cells and can be mediated by cytotoxic granule exocytosis or FasL-Fas interaction (1, 2). This is a sensitive response often requiring less than a dozen cognate peptide-MHC [complex of antigenic peptide with MHC protein (pMHC)] complexes on the target cell (3, 4). Although productive TCR engagement is necessary and essential to induce CTL cytolytic activity, other accessory and costimulatory molecules are thought to play a role in mediating CTL degranulation and effective cytolytic activity of released granules. For example, both lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) and CD2 contribute to CTL adhesion and killing of target cells (5). Ligation of LFA-1 on CTL by high densities of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is sufficient to initiate large-scale molecular segregation and formation of peripheral supramolecular-activating cluster (6), which typically requires antigen for helper T cells (7,8) and CTL precursors (9). In contrast, ligation of CD2 with its natural ligand CD58 (5) mediates formation of a very small adhesion area by CTL (10). However, how specifically LFA-1, CD2, and other adhesion molecules mediate granuleinduced cytotoxicity has not been defined.Here we have investigated the role of productive LFA-1 engagement for antigen-induced granule release and target cell lysis in vitro as well as for granule polarization in CTL exposed to the glasssupported bilayer. We have found that, although blocking of LFA-1-ICAM-1 interaction abrogates ...

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) can respond to a few viral peptide-MHC-I (pMHC-I) complexes among a myriad of virus-unrelated endogenous self pMHC-I complexes displayed on virus-infected cells.To elucidate the molecular recognition events on live CTL, we have utilized a self-assembled biosensor composed of semiconductor nanocrystals, quantum dots, carrying a controlled number of virus-derived (cognate) and other (noncognate) pMHC-I complexes and examined their recognition by antigen-specific T cell receptor (TCR) on anti-virus CD8 ؉ T cells. The unique architecture of nanoscale quantum dot͞pMHC-I conjugates revealed that unexpectedly strong multivalent CD8 -MHC-I interactions underlie the cooperative contribution of noncognate pMHC-I to the recognition of cognate pMHC-I by TCR to augment T cell responses. The cooperative, CD8-dependent spread of signal from a few productively engaged TCR to many other TCR can explain the remarkable ability of CTL to respond to virus-infected cells that present few cognate pMHC-I complexes.CD8 coreceptor ͉ peptide-MHC clustering ͉ sensitivity of T cell responses ͉ antivirus immunity R ecognition of peptide-MHC (pMHC) complexes presented on the surface of infected cells by T cell receptors (TCR) initiates the T cell response against these cells. While TCR specifically recognizes peptide and polymorphic helices of MHC class I and class II proteins (1), the nonpolymorphic domain of these MHC proteins also interacts with the CD8 and CD4 coreceptors that mark distinct populations of T lymphocytes, i.e., CD8 ϩ and CD4 ϩ T cells. The MHC-coreceptor interactions occur regardless of the nature of MHC-bound peptide (2). Because MHC-I is expressed on every nucleated cell, CD8 ϩ T cells (also known as cytotoxic T lymphocytes or CTL), can recognize and, if necessary, respond to virtually any infected cell in the body, and thus play a key role in anti-virus immunity.Unraveling molecular recognition events as they occur at the cell membrane of T cells is essential for understanding mechanisms responsible for the unique sensitivity and selectivity of the T cell response. Soluble MHC proteins and their oligomers (3) have been extensively used for this purpose. However, the majority of these oligomers, MHC tetramers in particular, may not mimic the orientation and the typical distances between MHC monomers in their natural environment, and these limitations may influence the results of experiments in which these oligomers are used to explore TCR-mediated molecular events on the T cell surface. Indeed, the architecture of a multivalent ligand that binds to clustered receptors can strongly influence the ligand's biological activity (4).Luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots, QDs) provide excellent nanoscaffolds to array several receptor molecules on their surfaces by metal-affinity-driven self-assembly, providing aggregate-free solutions of QD conjugates that specifically recognize their respective ligands (5-9).In this report, we use self-assembled QD͞pMHC-I conjugates (in which the MHC...

Destruction of virus-infected cells by CTL is an extremely sensitive and efficient process. Our previous data suggest that LFA-1-ICAM-1 interactions in the peripheral supramolecular activation cluster (pSMAC) of the immunological synapse mediate formation of a tight adhesion junction that might contribute to the sensitivity of target cell lysis by CTL. Herein, we compared more (CD8+) and less (CD4+) effective CTL to understand the molecular events that promote efficient target cell lysis. We found that abrogation of the pSMAC formation significantly impaired the ability of CD8+ but not CD4+ CTL to lyse target cells despite having no effect of the amount of released granules by both CD8+ and CD4+ CTL. Consistent with this, CD4+ CTL break their synapses more often than do CD8+ CTL, which leads to the escape of the cytolytic molecules from the interface. CD4+ CTL treatment with a protein kinase Cθ inhibitor increases synapse stability and sensitivity of specific target cell lysis. Thus, formation of a stable pSMAC, which is partially controlled by protein kinase Cθ, functions to confine the released lytic molecules at the synaptic interface and to enhance the effectiveness of target cell lysis.

Noncognate or self peptide-MHC (pMHC) ligands productively interact with T-cell receptor (TCR) and are always in a large access over the cognate pMHC on the surface of antigen presenting cells. We assembled soluble cognate and noncognate pMHC class I (pMHC-I) ligands at designated ratios on various scaffolds into oligomers that mimic pMHC clustering and examined how multivalency and density of the pMHCs in model clusters influences the binding to live CD8 T cells and the kinetics of TCR signaling. Our data demonstrate that the density of self pMHC-I proteins promotes their interaction with CD8 co-receptor, which plays a critical role in recognition of a small number of cognate pMHC-I ligands. This suggests that MHC clustering on live target cells could be utilized as a sensitive mechanism to regulate T cell responsiveness.