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Original Article |
Correspondence to: Dieter Maurer, Department of Dermatology/CeMM, University of Vienna Medical School, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. Tel:43-1-40400-7769 Fax:43-1-4031-900 E-mail:dieter.maurer{at}akh-wien.ac.at.
Endo/lysosomal proteases control two key events in antigen (Ag) presentation: the degradation of protein Ag and the generation of peptide-receptive major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules. Here we show that the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor
and interleukin (IL)-1ß rapidly increase the activity of cathepsin (cat) S and catB in human dendritic cells (DCs). As a consequence, a wave of MHC class II sodium dodecyl sulfate stable dimer formation ensues in a catS-dependent fashion. In contrast, the antiinflammatory cytokine IL-10 renders DCs incapable of upregulating catS and catB activity and in fact, attenuates the level of both enzymes. Suppressed catS and catB activity delays MHC class II sodium dodecyl sulfate stable dimer formation and impairs Ag degradation. In DCs exposed to tetanus toxoid, IL-10 accordingly reduces the number of MHC class IIpeptide complexes accessible to tetanus toxoidspecific T cell receptors, as analyzed by measuring T cell receptor downregulation in Ag-specific T cell clones. Thus, the control of protease activity by pro- and antiinflammatory cytokines is an essential feature of the Ag presentation properties of DCs.
Key Words: antigen-presenting cell, cathepsin, class II maturation, antigen degradation, TCR
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