Annual Review of Immunology - Volume 14, 1996

The lifestyle of bacterial pathogens requires them to establish infection in the face of host immunity. Upon entering a potential host, a variety of interactions are initiated, the outcome of which depends upon a myriad of attributes of each of the participants. In this review we discuss the interactions that occur between pathogenic Salmonella species and the host immune systems, but when appropriate to broaden perspective, we have provided a general overview of the interactions between bacterial pathogens and animal hosts. Pathogenic Salmonella species possess an array of invasion genes that produce proteins secreted by a specialized type III secretion apparatus. These proteins are used by the bacteria to penetrate the intestinal mucosa by invading and destroying specialized epithelial M cells of the Peyer's patches. This manuever deposits the bacteria directly within the confines of the reticuloendothelial system. The host responds to these actions with nonspecific phagocytic cells and an imflammatory response as well as by activating specific cellular and humoral immune responses. Salmonella responds to this show of force directly. It appears that the bacteria invade and establish a niche within the very cells that have been sent to destroy them. Efforts are underway to characterize the factors that allow these intracellular bacteria to customize intracellular vacuoles for their own purposes. It is the constant play between these interactions that determines the outcome of the host infection, and clearly they will also shape the evolution of new survival strategies for both the bacterium and the host.

Recent crystallographic studies of T cell antigen receptor (TCR) fragments from the α and β chains have now confirmed the expected structural similarity to corresponding immunoglobulin domains. Although the three-dimensional structure of a complete TCR αβ heterodimer has not yet been determined, these results support the view that the extracellular region should resemble an immunoglobulin Fab fragment with the antigen-binding site formed from peptide loops homologous to immunoglobulin complementarity-determining regions (CDR). These preliminary results suggest that CDR1 and CDR2 may be less variable in structure than their immunoglobulin counterparts, consistent with the idea that they may interact preferentially with the less polymorphic regions of the molecules of the major histocompatibility complex. The region on the variable β domain responsible for superantigen recognition is analyzed in detail. The implications for T cell activation from the interactions observed between domains of the α and β chains are also discussed in terms of possible dimerization and allosteric mechanisms.

Over the past three years, CD40 and its ligand (gp39, CD40L, TBAM) have been shown to be essential for humoral immune responses to thymus-dependent antigens. However, as the tissue distribution widens for those cells that express CD40 and gp39, we can now show that this ligand-receptor pair also plays an important role in the selection of self-reactive T cells in the thymus (central tolerance) and the regulation of tolerance in mature T cells (peripheral tolerance). Advances in our understanding of the molecular basis for CD40 biology is based in two areas of research. First, a major breakthrough in our understanding of how CD40 transduces biological events centers on the identification of a novel protein that binds to the cytoplasmic tail of CD40 and may act as a signal transducing molecule. Secondly, advances in molecular modeling and mutagenesis of this ligand-receptor pair have helped to identify the critical receptor/ligand contacts in the gp39/CD40 complex. Advances in each of these areas are discussed.

Natural killer cells are likely to play an important role in the host defenses because they kill virally infected or tumor cells but spare normal self-cells. The molecular mechanism that explains why NK cells do not kill indiscriminately has recently been elucidated. It is due to several specialized receptors that recognize major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules expressed on normal cells. The lack of expression of one or more class I alleles leads to NK-mediated target cell lysis. During NK cell development, the class I–specific receptors have adapted to self–class I molecules on which they recognize epitopes shared by groups of class I alleles. As such, they may fail to recognize either self-molecules that bound unusual peptides or allogeneic class I molecules unrelated to self-alleles. Different types of receptors specific for groups of HLA-C or HLA-B alleles have been identified. While in most instances, they function as inhibiting receptors, an activating form of the HLA-C-specific receptors has been identified in some donors. Molecular cloning of HLA-C- and HLA-B-specific receptors has revealed new members of the immunoglobulin superfamily with two or three Ig-like domains, respectively, in their extracellular portion. While the inhibiting form is characterized by a long cytoplasmic tail associated with a nonpolar transmembrane portion, the activating one has a short tail associated with a Lys-containing transmembrane portion. Thus, these human NK receptors are different from the murine Ly49 that is a type II transmembrane protein characterized by a C type lectin domain. A subset of cytolytic T lymphocytes expresses NK-type class I–specific receptors. These receptors exert an inhibiting activity on T cell receptor–mediated functions and offer a valuable model to analyze the regulatory mechanisms involved in receptor-mediated cell activation and inactivation.

The transcription factor NF-κB has attracted widespread attention among researchers in many fields based on the following: its unusual and rapid regulation, the wide range of genes that it controls, its central role in immunological processes, the complexity of its subunits, and its apparent involvement in several diseases. A primary level of control for NF-κB is through interactions with an inhibitor protein called IκB. Recent evidence confirms the existence of multiple forms of IκB that appear to regulate NF-κB by distinct mechanisms. NF-κB can be activated by exposure of cells to LPS or inflammatory cytokines such as TNF or IL-1, viral infection or expression of certain viral gene products, UV irradiation, B or T cell activation, and by other physiological and nonphysiological stimuli. Activation of NF-κB to move into the nucleus is controlled by the targeted phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of IκB. Exciting new research has elaborated several important and unexpected findings that explain mechanisms involved in the activation of NF-κB. In the nucleus, NF-κB dimers bind to target DNA elements and activate transcription of genes encoding proteins involved with immune or inflammation responses and with cell growth control. Recent data provide evidence that NF-κB is constitutively active in several cell types, potentially playing unexpected roles in regulation of gene expression. In addition to advances in describing the mechanisms of NF-κB activation, excitement in NF-κB research has been generated by the first report of a crystal structure for one form of NF-κB, the first gene knockout studies for different forms of NF-κB and of IκB, and the implications for therapies of diseases thought to involve the inappropriate activation of NF-κB.