Purification of the Membrane Compartment for Endoplasmic Reticulum-associated Degradation of Exogenous Antigens in Cross-presentation

Summary

The method described here is a new vesicle isolation protocol, which allows for the purification of the cellular compartments where exogenous antigens are processed by endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation in cross-presentation.

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) are highly capable of processing and presenting internalized exogenous antigens upon major histocompatibility class (MHC) I molecules also known as cross-presentation (CP). CP plays an important role not only in the stimulation of naïve CD8⁺ T cells and memory CD8⁺ T cells for infectious and tumor immunity but also in the inactivation of self-acting naïve T cells by T cell anergy or T cell deletion. Although the critical molecular mechanism of CP remains to be elucidated, accumulating evidence indicates that exogenous antigens are processed through endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) after export from non-classical endocytic compartments. Until recently, characterizations of these endocytic compartments were limited because there were no specific molecular markers other than exogenous antigens. The method described here is a new vesicle isolation protocol, which allows for the purification of these endocytic compartments. Using this purified microsome, we reconstituted the ERAD-like transport, ubiquitination, and processing of the exogenous antigen in vitro, suggesting that the ubiquitin-proteasome system processed the exogenous antigen after export from this cellular compartment. This protocol can be further applied to other cell types to clarify the molecular mechanism of CP.

Introduction

The MHC I molecules are expressed on the surface of all nucleated cells, with short antigenic peptides derived from endogenous antigens, which are processed by the ubiquitin-proteasome system in the cytosol¹. After processing, antigenic peptides are transported into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lumen by the peptide transporter TAP. In the ER lumen, a series of specific chaperones assist the peptide loading and the correct folding of the MHC I complex. This series of molecules is called the peptide-loading complex (PLC), indicating that the ER is a central compartment for peptide loading upon MHC I². After peptide loadi....

Protocol

1. Growing Cells and Addition of Exogenous Antigens

1. Prepare bOVA using a biotin-protein labeling kit following the manufacturer's protocol.
   NOTE: Ordinarily, bOVA contains 2 M biotin per 1 M OVA on average.
2. Grow DC2.4 cells in RPMI-1640 supplemented with 2 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 0.1 mM nonessential amino acids, 100 U/mL penicillin-streptomycin, 55 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, 10 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), and 10% fetal calf serum (hereafter RPMI) at 37 °C in 5% CO₂ in a humidified incubator (hereafter without mention, cells are incubated at this condition). It is also possible to use DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal cal....

Results

To elucidate the molecular mechanism of CP, it is necessary to identify the cellular compartments, where exogenous antigens undergo ERAD-like transport and processing. While observations by immunofluorescent microscopy or by electron microscopy identified the cellular compartment where exogenous antigens accumulated^16,17,18,19,.......

Discussion

In previous studies of CP, the incorporated exogenous antigens accumulated in the restricted area of the late endosome or ER by immunofluorescent microscopy^16,30,31,32. It is estimated that ERAD-like transport and processing of exogenous antigens are carried out in these specialized areas of the ER or late endosome, as the cellular compartment was identified by sucrose or iodixanol density grad.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
RPMI 1640	gibco by life technologies	11875-093
Fetal bovine serum	Equitech bio	SFB30
Sodium pyruvate	gibco by life technologies	11360-070
MEM non-essential amino acids	gibco by life technologies	11140-050
HEPES	gibco by life technologies	15630-080
2-mercaptoethanol	gibco by life technologies	21985-023
L-glutamine	gibco by life technologies	25030-164
Penisicillin-Sreptomycin	gibco by life technologies	15140-122
DMEM	gibco by life technologies	12100-46
OVA	SIGMA	A5503
Biotin-protein labelling kit	Thermo Fisher Scientific	F6347
MG-132	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	201270
lactacystin	SIGMA	L6785
Dounce homogenizer	IUCHI	131703
protease inhibitor cocktails	SIGMA	P8340
iodixanol	Cosmo bio	1114542
SA-magnetic beads	New England Biolabs	201270
control magnetic beads	Chemagen	M-PVA012
magnetic stand	BD Biosciences	552311
BCA protein assay kit	Thermo Fisher Scientific	23225
silver staining kits	Cosmo bio	423413
Reticulocyte Lysate	Promega	1730714
Flag-tagged ubiquitin	SIGMA	U5382
anti-ovalbumin (OVA,mouse)	Antibody Shop	HYB 094-06
ant-multi-ubiquitin (mouse)	MBL	D058−3
anti-Flag (mouse)	SIGMA	F3165
trypsin	SIGMA	85450C