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GPIs isolated from Toxoplasma gondii, as well as a chemically synthesized GPI lacking the lipid moiety, activated a reporter gene in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing TLR4, while the core glycan and lipid moieties cleaved from the GPIs activated both TLR4- and TLR2-expressing cells. MyD88, but not TLR2, TLR4, or CD14, is absolutely needed to trigger TNF-alpha production by macrophages exposed to T. gondii GPIs. Importantly, TNF-alpha response to GPIs was completely abrogated in macrophages from TLR2/4-double-deficient mice. MyD88(-/-) mice were more susceptible to death than wild-type (WT), TLR2(-/-), TLR4(-/-), TLR2/4(-/-), and CD14(-/-) mice infected with the ME-49 strain of T. gondii. The cyst number was higher in the brain of TLR2/4(-/-), but not TLR2(-/-), TLR4(-/-), and CD14(-/-), mice, as compared with WT mice. Upon infection with the ME-49 strain of T. gondii, we observed no decrease of IL-12 and IFN-gamma production in TLR2-, TLR4-, or CD14-deficient mice. Indeed, splenocytes from T. gondii-infected TLR2(-/-) and TLR2/4(-/-) mice produced more IFN-gamma than cells from WT mice in response to in vitro stimulation with parasite extracts enriched in GPI-linked surface proteins. Together, our results suggest that both TLR2 and TLR4 receptors may participate in the host defense against T. gondii infection through their activation by the GPIs and could work together with other MyD88-dependent receptors, like other TLRs or even IL-18R or IL-1R, to obtain an effective host response against T. gondii infection.

CD36 is a scavenger receptor that has been implicated in malaria pathogenesis as well as innate defense against blood-stage infection. Inflammatory responses to Plasmodium falciparum GPI (pfGPI) anchors are believed to play an important role in innate immune response to malaria. We investigated the role of CD36 in pfGPI-induced MAPK activation and proinflammatory cytokine secretion. Furthermore, we explored the role of this receptor in an experimental model of acute malaria in vivo. We demonstrate that ERK1/2, JNK, p38, and c-Jun became phosphorylated in pfGPI-stimulated macrophages. In contrast, pfGPI-induced phosphorylation of JNK, ERK1/2, and c-Jun was reduced in Cd36(-/-) macrophages and Cd36(-/-) macrophages secreted significantly less TNF-alpha in response to pfGPI than their wild-type counterparts. In addition, we demonstrate a role for CD36 in innate immune response to malaria in vivo. Compared with wild-type mice, Cd36(-/-) mice experienced more severe and fatal malaria when challenged with Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi AS. Cd36(-/-) mice displayed a combined defect in cytokine induction and parasite clearance with a dysregulated cytokine response to infection, earlier peak parasitemias, higher parasite densities, and higher mortality rates than wild-type mice. These results provide direct evidence that pfGPI induces TNF-alpha secretion in a CD36-dependent manner and support a role for CD36 in modulating host cytokine response and innate control of acute blood-stage malaria infection in vivo.

Host inflammatory responses to Plasmodium falciparum GPI (pfGPI) anchors are believed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of severe malaria. However, relatively little is known about the signal transduction pathways involved in pfGPI-stimulated inflammatory response and its potential contribution to severe malaria syndromes. In this study, we investigated the role of MAPK activation in pfGPI-induced cytokine secretion and examined the role of selected MAPKs in a model of cerebral malaria in vivo. We demonstrate that ERK1/2, JNK, p38, c-Jun, and activating transcription factor-2 became phosphorylated in pfGPI-stimulated macrophages. A JNK inhibitor (1,9-pyrazoloanthrone) inhibited pfGPI-induced phosphorylation of JNK, c-Jun, and activating transcription factor-2 and significantly decreased pfGPI-induced TNF-alpha secretion. pfGPI-stimulated JNK and c-Jun phosphorylation was absent in Jnk2(-/-) macrophages but unchanged in Jnk1(-/-) and Jnk3(-/-) macrophages compared with wild-type macrophages. Jnk2(-/-) macrophages secreted significantly less TNF-alpha in response to pfGPI than macrophages from Jnk1(-/-), Jnk3(-/-), and wild-type counterparts. Furthermore, we demonstrate a role for JNK2 in mediating inflammatory responses and severe malaria in vivo. In contrast to wild-type or Jnk1(-/-) mice, Jnk2(-/-) mice had lower levels of TNF-alpha in vivo and exhibited significantly higher survival rates when challenged with Plasmodium berghei ANKA. These results provide direct evidence that pfGPI induces TNF-alpha secretion through activation of MAPK pathways, including JNK2. These results suggest that JNK2 is a potential target for therapeutic interventions in severe malaria.

IL-12 is a key cytokine in directing the development of type 1 Th cells, which are critical to eradicate intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here, we report that mannose-capped lipoarabinomannans (ManLAMs) from Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin and Mycobacterium tuberculosis inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, the LPS-induced IL-12 production by human dendritic cells. The inhibitory activity was abolished by the loss of the mannose caps or the GPI acyl residues. Mannan, which is a ligand for the mannose receptor (MR) as well as an mAb specific for the MR, also inhibited the LPS-induced IL-12 production by dendritic cells. Our results indicate that ManLAMs may act as virulence factors that contribute to the persistence of M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin and M. tuberculosis within phagocytic cells by suppressing IL-12 responses. Our data also suggest that engagement of the MR by ManLAMs delivers a negative signal that interferes with the LPS-induced positive signals delivered by the Toll-like receptors.

Infection with Trypanosoma cruzi results in the development of both type 1 and type 2 patterns of cytokine responses during acute and chronic stages of infection. To investigate the role of Th1 and Th2 subsets of CD4(+) T cells in determining the outcome of T. cruzi infection in mice, we have developed T. cruzi clones that express OVA and have used OVA-specific TCR-transgenic T cells to generate OVA-specific Th1 and Th2 cells. BALB/c mice receiving 10(7) OVA-specific Th1 cells and then challenged with OVA-expressing T. cruzi G-OVA.GPI showed significantly lower parasitemia and increased survival in comparison to mice that received no cells. In contrast, recipients of OVA-specific Th2 cells developed higher parasitemias, exhibited higher tissue parasitism and inflammation, and had higher mortality than recipients of Th1 cells after infection with T. cruzi G-OVA.GPI. Mice receiving a mixture of both Th1 and Th2 OVA-specific cells also were not protected from lethal challenge. The protective effect of the OVA-specific Th1 cells was OVA dependent as shown by the fact that transfer of OVA-specific Th1 or Th2 cells failed to alter the course of infection or disease in mice challenged with wild-type T. cruzi. Immunohistochemical analysis of OVA-specific Th1 and Th2 cells at 4, 15, and 30 days postinfection revealed the persistence and expansion of these cells in mice challenged with T. cruzi G-OVA.GPI but not in mice infected with wild-type T. cruzi. We conclude that transfer of Ag-specific Th1 cells but not Th2 cells protect mice from a lethal infection with T. cruzi.

Receptors involved in the phagocytosis of microorganisms under nonopsonic conditions have been little studied in neutrophils. Complement receptor type 3 (CR3) is a pattern recognition receptor able to internalize zymosan and C3bi-coated particles. We report that Abs directed against CR3 strongly inhibited nonopsonic phagocytosis of Mycobacterium kansasii in human neutrophils. In these cells CR3 has been found associated with several GPI-anchored proteins localized in cholesterol-rich microdomains (rafts) of the plasma membrane. Cholesterol sequestration by nystatin, filipin, or beta-cyclodextrin as well as treatment of neutrophils with phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C to remove GPI-anchored proteins from the cell surface markedly inhibited phagocytosis of M. kansasii, without affecting phagocytosis of zymosan or serum-opsonized M. kansasii. Abs directed against several GPI-anchored proteins inhibited phagocytosis of M. kansasii, but not of zymosan. N:-acetyl-D-glucosamine, which is known to disrupt interactions between CR3 and GPI proteins, also strongly diminished phagocytosis of these mycobacteria. In conclusion, phagocytosis of M. kansasii involved CR3, GPI-anchored receptors, and cholesterol. In contrast, phagocytosis of zymosan or opsonized particles involved CR3, but not cholesterol or GPI proteins. We propose that CR3, when associated with a GPI protein, relocates in cholesterol-rich domains where M. kansasii are internalized. When CR3 is not associated with a GPI protein, it remains outside of these domains and mediates phagocytosis of zymosan and opsonized particles, but not of M. kansasii.

Human CD1 proteins present lipid and glycolipid Ags to T cells. Cellular trafficking patterns of CD1 proteins may determine the ability of differing isoforms of CD1 to acquire, bind, and present these Ags to T cells. To test this hypothesis, glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-modified variants of CD1b and CD1c were engineered by chimerization with a GPI modification signal sequence derived from decay-accelerating factor (DAF). GPI reanchoring was confirmed by demonstrating the phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C sensitivity of the CD1b. DAF and CD1c. DAF fusion proteins expressed on transfectant cell surfaces. Using cytotoxicity and cytokine release assays as functional readouts, we demonstrated that CD1c. DAF is as efficient as native CD1c in presenting mycobacterial Ags to the human CD1c-restricted T cell line CD8-1. In contrast, CD1b. DAF, although also capable of presenting Ag (in this case to the CD1b-restricted T cell line LDN5), was less efficient than its native CD1b counterpart. The data support the idea that CD1c. DAF maintains the capacity to access CD1c Ag-loading compartment(s), whereas CD1b. DAF is diverted by its GPI anchor away from the optimal CD1b Ag-loading compartment(s). This constitutes the first GPI reanchoring of CD1 proteins and provides evidence that CD1b and CD1c have nonoverlapping Ag-presenting pathways, suggesting that these two Ag-presenting molecules may have distinct roles in lipid Ag presentation.

Thy-1 protein, a member of the Ig superfamily, is bound to the cell membrane by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor. We demonstrate that following anchor cleavage by phospholipase C, the reactivity of the solubilized Thy-1 with several mAbs is lost, and its reactivity with polyclonal anti-Thy-1 Abs is markedly decreased. Hence, solubilized Thy-1 cannot be detected by a range of mAbs. In contrast, enzymatic cleavage of biotinylated Thy-1 yields an intact solubilized protein that can be detected by streptavidin. These results exclude a possible proteolytic degradation of solubilized Thy-1 and suggest that the marked decrease in Thy-1 immunoreactivity following delipidation is due to conformational changes in the Thy-1 protein. We further demonstrate that addition of phospholipase C to preformed Ab-Ag complexes causes dissociation and removal of Thy-1 from the complex, indicating that delipidation of Thy-1 induces a conformational change in Thy-1 that is sufficient to dissociate bound Ab. The possibility should therefore be considered that the GPI anchor affects the conformation of a protein to which it is linked.

The significance of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is unknown. Since GPI-anchored proteins mediate signaling, it has been suggested that the GPI structure serves as a signal-transducing element. However, the division of signaling functions between transmembrane and GPI-anchored proteins is unclear. Studies of distinct membrane-anchored forms of the same protein may resolve this issue. The adhesion molecule CD58 is expressed on the cell surface in both a transmembrane and a GPI-anchored form and hence provides a useful model. We studied CD58 in the human B lymphoblastoid cell line JY. In addition to mediating adhesion, CD58 is involved in signal transduction. Incubation of JY cells with immobilized anti-CD58 Abs results in extensive tyrosine phosphorylation and in secretion of TNF-alpha. We demonstrate that CD58 is associated with protein kinase(s) and with several kinase substrates. We further demonstrate that both CD58 isoforms are involved. CD58 in JY variant cells, which express only the transmembrane form, as well as CD58 in JY variant cells, which express only the GPI-anchored form, are associated with kinase activity. This association results in a phosphorylation pattern that is common to the variant and to wild-type JY cells. Thus, these findings suggest that the capacity of GPI-anchored proteins to interact with kinases is not always dependent on the GPI anchor itself.

In the present study, we investigated the role of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mucin-like glycoproteins (GPI-mucins) from Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes in triggering the synthesis of nitric oxide as well as the microbicidal activity in murine macrophages. Our results show that GPI-mucins isolated from trypomastigote membranes are potent inducers of nitric oxide synthesis by IFN-gamma-primed macrophages, even at concentrations as low as 10 ng/ml. Our data also indicate the important role of glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors from GPI-mucins as the second signal responsible for induction of nitric oxide synthesis by macrophages. To further investigate the role of these parasite molecules in inducing parasiticidal function, we cultured macrophages in the presence or absence of trypomastigote GPI-mucins and/or IFN-gamma and then infected these cells with either Leishmania spp. or T. cruzi. IFN-gamma was sufficient to induce microbial activity in macrophages infected with T. cruzi trypomastigotes. In contrast, killing of different species of Leishmania was further enhanced when macrophages exposed to IFN-gamma were also costimulated with trypomastigote-derived GPI-mucins. Our results also indicate that different glycolipids obtained from Leishmania major or Leishmania donovani (i.e., lipophosphoglycans or glycoinositolphospholipids) were unable to potentiate nitric oxide synthesis and/or microbicidal activity displayed by IFN-gamma-primed macrophages.

Components of Trypanosoma cruzi able to induce the production of IL-12 and other proinflammatory cytokines by macrophages were identified. Murine inflammatory macrophages were cultured with live parasites or with cellular components from different developmental forms of T. cruzi (i.e., trypomastigotes, amastigotes, metacyclic trypomastigotes, and epimastigotes), and the cytokine levels were measured after 24 and 48 h. Our results indicate that live trypomastigotes or live amastigotes (but not live epimastigotes or live metacyclic trypomastigotes) as well as trypomastigote extracts (but not extracts derived from epimastigotes) induce IL-12 and TNF-alpha synthesis by macrophages. Such biological activity is enhanced in membrane preparations from trypomastigotes. Further enrichment of the trypomastigote-derived monokine-inducing factor was obtained by solvent extraction and hydrophobic-interaction chromatography. The resultant purified molecules are a family of closely related glycoconjugates with predominant species at 70 to 80 and 120 to 200 kDa. These molecules are composed of carbohydrate chains O-linked to a polypeptide backbone that is anchored to the trypomastigote membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol structure. The trypomastigote-derived glycoconjugates are active in inducing cytokine synthesis by macrophages at concentrations of 100 ng/ml. These effects are highly potentiated by IFN-gamma. Mapping of the glycoconjugate molecules to characterize the structural requirements for macrophage activation suggested that nonsaturated acyl fatty acid chains and periodate-sensitive units from the glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor are important elements for the infective trypomastigote form to initiate cytokine synthesis by macrophages.

In this study we demonstrate that glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) of malaria parasite origin directly increases cell adhesion molecule expression in purified HUVECs in a dose- and time-dependent manner, resulting in a marked increase in parasite and leukocyte cytoadherence to these target cells. The structurally related glycolipids dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylinositol and iM4 glycoinositolphospholipid of Leishmania mexicana had no such activity. Malarial GPI exerts this effect by activation of an endogenous GPI-based signal transduction pathway in endothelial cells. GPI induces rapid onset tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple intracellular substrates within 1 min of addition to cells in a dose-dependent manner. This activity can be blocked by the protein tyrosine kinase-specific antagonist herbimycin A, genistein, and tyrphostin. These tyrosine kinase antagonists also inhibit GPI-mediated up-regulation of adhesion expression and parasite cytoadherence. GPI-induced up-regulation of adhesion expression and parasite cytoadherence can also be blocked by the NF kappa B/c-rel antagonist pyrrolidine-dithiocarbamate, suggesting the involvement of this family of transcription factors in GPI-induced adhesin expression. The direct activation of endothelial cells by GPI does not require the participation of TNF or IL-1. However, GPI is also responsible for the indirect pathway of increased adhesin expression mediated by TNF and IL-1 output from monocytes/macrophages. Total parasite extracts also up-regulate adhesin expression and parasite cytoadherence in HUVECs, and this activity is blocked by a neutralizing mAb to malaria GPI, suggesting that GPI is the dominant agent of parasite origin responsible for this activity. Thus, a parasite-derived GPI toxin activates vascular endothelial cells by tyrosine kinase-mediated signal transduction, leading to NF kappa B/c-rel activation and downstream expression of adhesins, events that may play a central role in the etiology of cerebral malaria.

In this study, we demonstrate that glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) is a major toxin of Plasmodium falciparum origin responsible for nitric oxide (NO) production in host cells. Purified malarial GPI is sufficient to induce NO release in a time- and dose-dependent manner in macrophages and vascular endothelial cells, and regulates inducible NO synthase expression in macrophages. GPI-induced NO production was blocked by the NO synthase-specific inhibitor L-N-monomethylarginine. GPI also synergizes with IFN-gamma in regulating NO production. The structurally related molecules dipalmitoylphosphatidylinositol and iM4 glycoinositolphospholipid from Leishmania mexicana had no such activity, and the latter antagonized IFN-gamma-induced NO output. GPI activates macrophages by initiating an early onset tyrosine kinase-mediated signaling process, similar to that induced by total parasite extracts. The tyrosine kinase antagonists tyrphostin and genistein inhibited the release of NO by parasite extracts and by GPI, alone or in combination with IFN-gamma, demonstrating the involvement of one or more tyrosine kinases in the signaling cascade. GPI-induced NO release was also blocked by the protein kinase C inhibitor calphostin C, demonstrating a role for protein kinase C in GPI-mediated cell signaling, and by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, indicating the involvement of the NF-kappa B/c-rel family of transcription factors in cell activation. A neutralizing mAb to malarial GPI inhibited NO production induced by GPI and total malarial parasite extracts in human vascular endothelial cells and murine macrophages, indicating that GPI is a necessary agent of parasite origin in parasite-induced NO output. Thus, in contrast to dipalmitoylphosphatidylinositol and glycoinositolphospholipids of Leishmania, malarial GPI initiates a protein tyrosine kinase- and protein kinase C-mediated signal transduction pathway, regulating inducible NO synthase expression with the participation of NF-kappa B/c-rel, which leads to macrophage and vascular endothelial cell activation and downstream production of NO. These events may play a role in the etiology of severe malaria.