T-cell tolerance is the central program that prevents harmful immune responses against self-antigens, in which inhibitory PD-1 signal given by B7-H1 interaction plays an important role. Recent studies demonstrated that B7-H1 binds CD80 besides PD-1, and B7-H1/CD80 interaction also delivers inhibitory signals in T cells. However, a role of B7-H1/CD80 signals in regulation of T-cell tolerance has yet to be explored. We report here that attenuation of B7-H1/CD80 signals by treatment with anti-B7-H1 monoclonal antibody, which specifically blocks B7-H1/CD80 but not B7-H1/PD-1, enhanced T-cell expansion and prevented T-cell anergy induction. In addition, B7-H1/CD80 blockade restored Ag responsiveness in the previously anergized T cells. Experiments using B7-H1 or CD80-deficient T cells indicated that an inhibitory signal through CD80, but not B7-H1, on T cells is responsible in part for these effects. Consistently, CD80 expression was detected on anergic T cells and further up-regulated when they were reexposed to the antigen (Ag). Finally, blockade of B7-H1/CD80 interaction prevented oral tolerance induction and restored T-cell responsiveness to Ag previously tolerized by oral administration. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the B7-H1/CD80 pathway is a crucial regulator in the induction and maintenance of T-cell tolerance. (Blood. 2010;116(8): 1291-1298) Introduction B7-H1 (CD274, PD-L1), a transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily molecule, plays an integral role in the regulation of immune tolerance and homeostasis. 1 Mice deficient of B7-H1 gene or wild-type mice treated with anti-B7-H1 blocking monoclonal antibody (mAb) exhibit exacerbated autoimmune phenotypes associated with an activation of self-reactive CD4 ϩ and CD8 ϩ T cells. [2][3][4][5] Tolerogenic functions of B7-H1 are dependent on its expression on hematopoietic or parenchymal cells, and mediated by its interaction with PD-1 receptor. 6-8 PD-1 is inducibly expressed on T cells after activation and delivers coinhibitory signals via immunoreceptor tyrosine-based switch motif in the cytoplasmic domain. 9,10 PD-1 signal interferes with phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) activity and subsequently inhibits interleukin-2 (IL-2) production, which eventually renders T cells anergic. 11 The mice deficient of PD-1 gene spontaneously develop autoimmune phenotypes, and single nucleotide polymorphisms of human PD-1 gene are associated with an increased risk of autoimmune diseases. [12][13][14][15][16] Recent studies by Butte et al discovered that B7-H1 interacts with CD80 (B7-1) in addition to PD-1. 17,18 In vitro studies using CD4ϩ T cells deficient of PD-1, CD28, and/or CTLA-4 indicated that B7-H1/CD80 interaction delivers bidirectional inhibitory signals to T cells. 17 These findings are consistent with previous observations implicating the presence of non-PD-1 receptor(s) of B7-H1. For instance, when the B7-H1/PD-1 interaction is blocked in models of T-cell tolerance, the effects of anti-B7-H1 antagonistic mAb in rest...

The present study was designed to investigate the rewarding effect, G-protein activation and dopamine (DA) release following partial sciatic nerve ligation in the rat. Here we show for the first time that morphine failed to produce a place preference in rats with nerve injury. Various studies provide arguments to support that the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, which projects from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (N.Acc), is critical of the motivational effects of opioids. In the present study, there were no significant differences between sham-operated and sciatic nerve-ligated rats in the increases in guanosine-5¢-o-(3-

The suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3/CIS3) has been shown to be an important negative regulator of cytokines, especially cytokines that activate STAT3. To examine the role of SOCS3 in neutrophils and the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) signaling in vivo, we compared neutrophils from two types of conditional knockout mice, LysM-Cre:SOCS3 fl/fl mice and Tie2-Cre:SOCS3 fl/fl mice, in which the Socs3 gene had been deleted in mature neutrophils and hematopoietic stem cells, respectively. The size of the G-CSF-dependent colonies from Tie2-Cre:SOCS3 fl/fl mouse bone marrow was much larger than that of colonies from control wild-type mice, while the size of interleukin-3-dependent colonies was similar. Moreover, LysM-Cre:SOCS3 fl/fl mice had more neutrophils than SOCS3 fl/fl mice, suggesting that SOCS3 is a negative regulator of G-CSF signaling in neutrophils. Consistent with this notion, G-CSF-induced STAT3 as well as mitogen-activated protein kinase activation was much stronger and prolonged in SOCS3-deficient mature neutrophils than in wildtype neutrophils. The preventive effect of G-CSF on apoptosis was more prominent in SOCS3-deficient mature neutrophils than in control neutrophils. These data indicate that SOCS3 negatively regulates granulopoiesis and G-CSF signaling in neutrophils and may contribute to neutrophilia or neutropenia.Signaling from cytokine receptors is initiated by receptor oligomerization that is induced by cytokine binding, which brings associated Janus kinases (JAKs) 1 into close apposition and allows their cross-phosphorylation and activation. The active JAKs phosphorylate tyrosine residues on the receptors, which leads to the recruitment and activation of various signaltransduction proteins, including the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of transcription factors (1, 2). The Ras-mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK) pathway is another major signaling pathway that is downstream of JAKs. The strength of cytokine signals is regulated, in part, by a family of endogenous JAK kinase inhibitor proteins referred to as suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS), cytokine-inducible Src homology 2 (SH2) proteins (CIS), or STAT-induced STAT inhibitors (SSI) (3-7). Among these, SOCS3 is strongly induced by a variety of cytokines and other stimulations, including IL-6, IL-10, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), EPO, EGF, leptin, and LPS (1-10). Both SOCS1 and SOCS3 have an N-terminal kinase inhibitory region and inhibit JAK tyrosine kinase activity. However, SOCS3 inhibits JAKs through binding to cytokine receptor tyrosine residues, while SOCS1 directly binds to JAKs (11). The interaction of SOCS3 with cytokine receptors through its SH2 domain with high affinity probably ensures relatively specific inhibition of a particular cytokine signaling (3).SOCS3-deficient mice die as a result of placental defects during embryonic development (12)(13)(14). Embryonic lethality can be rescued by replacing wild-type placental function, demonstrating the essent...

Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS1/JAB) has been shown to play an important role in regulating dendritic cell (DC) function and suppressing inflammatory diseases and systemic autoimmunity. However, role of SOCS1 in DCs for the initiation of Th cell response has not been clarified. Here we demonstrate that SOCS1-deficient DCs induce stronger Th1-type responses both in vitro and in vivo. SOCS1-deficient DCs induced higher IFN-γ production from naive T cells than wild-type (WT) DCs in vitro. Lymph node T cells also produced a higher amount of IFN-γ when SOCS1-deficient bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) were transferred in vivo. Moreover, SOCS1−/− BMDCs raised more effective anti-tumor immunity than WT BMDCs. Microarray analysis revealed that IFN-inducible genes were highly expressed in SOCS1-deficient DCs without IFN stimulation, suggesting hyper STAT1 activation in SOCS1−/− DCs. These phenotypes of SOCS1-deficient DCs were similar to those of CD8α+ DCs, and in the WT spleen, SOCS1 is expressed at higher levels in the Th2-inducing CD4+ DC subset, relative to the Th1-inducing CD8α+ DC subset. We propose that reduction of the SOCS1 gene expression in DCs leads to CD8α+ DC-like phenotype which promotes Th1-type hyperresponses.

Dendritic cells (DCs) induce immunity and immunological tolerance as APCs. It has been shown that DCs secreting IL-10 induce IL-10+ Tr1-type regulatory T (Treg) cells, whereas Foxp3-positive Treg cells are expanded from naive CD4+ T cells by coculturing with mature DCs. However, the regulatory mechanism of expansion of Foxp3+ Treg cells by DCs has not been clarified. In this study, we demonstrated that suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3-deficient DCs have a strong potential as Foxp3+ T cell-inducing tolerogenic DCs. SOCS3−/− DCs expressed lower levels of class II MHC, CD40, CD86, and IL-12 than wild-type (WT)-DCs both in vitro and in vivo, and showed constitutive activation of STAT3. Foxp3− effector T cells were predominantly expanded by the priming with WT-DCs, whereas Foxp3+ Treg cells were selectively expanded by SOCS3−/− DCs. Adoptive transfer of SOCS3−/− DCs reduced the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Foxp3+ T cell expansion was blocked by anti-TGF-β Ab, and SOCS3−/− DCs produced higher levels of TGF-β than WT-DCs, suggesting that TGF-β plays an essential role in the expansion of Foxp3+ Treg cells. These results indicate an important role of SOCS3 in determining on immunity or tolerance by DCs.