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White SE, Schwartze TA, Mukundan A, Schoenherr C, Singh SP, van Dinther M, Cunningham KT, White MPJ, Campion T, Pritchard J, Hinck CS, Ten Dijke P, Inman G, Maizels RM, Hinck AP. TGM6, a helminth secretory product, mimics TGF-β binding to TβRII to antagonize TGF-β signaling in fibroblasts. bioRxiv 2023:2023.12.22.573140. [PMID: 38187573 PMCID: PMC10769414 DOI: 10.1101/2023.12.22.573140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
The murine helminth parasite Heligmosomoides polygyrus expresses a family of proteins structurally related to TGF-β Mimic 1 (TGM1), a secreted five domain protein that activates the TGF-β pathway and converts naïve T lymphocytes to immunosuppressive Tregs. TGM1 signals through the TGF-β type I and type II receptors, TβRI and TβRII, with domains 1-2 and 3 binding TβRI and TβRII, respectively, and domains 4-5 binding CD44, a co-receptor abundant on T cells. TGM6 is a homologue of TGM1 that is co-expressed with TGM1, but lacks domains 1 and 2. Herein, we show that TGM6 binds TβRII through domain 3, but does not bind TβRI, or other type I or type II receptors of the TGF-β family. In TGF-β reporter assays in fibroblasts, TGM6, but not truncated TGM6 lacking domains 4 and 5, potently inhibits TGF-β- and TGM1-induced signaling, consistent with its ability to bind TβRII but not TβRI or other receptors of the TGF-β family. However, TGM6 does not bind CD44 and is unable to inhibit TGF-β and TGM1 signaling in T cells. To understand how TGM6 binds TβRII, the X-ray crystal structure of the TGM6 domain 3 bound to TβRII was determined at 1.4 Å. This showed that TGM6 domain 3 binds TβRII through an interface remarkably similar to the TGF-β:TβRII interface. These results suggest that TGM6 has adapted its domain structure and sequence to mimic TGF-β binding to TβRII and function as a potent TGF-β and TGM1 antagonist in fibroblasts. The coexpression of TGM6, along with the immunosuppressive TGMs that activate the TGF-β pathway, may prevent tissue damage caused by the parasite as it progresses through its life cycle from the intestinal lumen to submucosal tissues and back again.
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Singh SP, Smyth DJ, Cunningham K, Mukundan A, Byeon CH, Hinck CS, White MPJ, Ciancia C, Wosowska N, Sanders A, Jin R, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Schoenherr C, Inman G, van Dinther M, ten Dijke P, Hinck AP, Maizels RM. The helminth TGF-β mimic TGM4 is a modular ligand that binds CD44, CD49d and TGF-β receptors to preferentially target myeloid cells. bioRxiv 2023:2023.11.13.566701. [PMID: 38014296 PMCID: PMC10680678 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.13.566701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
The murine helminth parasite Heligmosomoides polygyrus expresses a family of modular proteins which, replicating the functional activity of the immunomodulatory cytokine TGF-β, have been named TGM (TGF-β Μimic). Multiple domains bind to different receptors, including TGF-β receptors TβRI (ALK5) and TβRII through domains 1-3, and prototypic family member TGM1 binds the cell surface co-receptor CD44 through domains 4-5. This allows TGM1 to induce T lymphocyte Foxp3 expression, characteristic of regulatory (Treg) cells, and to activate a range of TGF-β-responsive cell types. In contrast, a related protein, TGM4, targets a much more restricted cell repertoire, primarily acting on myeloid cells, with less potent effects on T cells and lacking activity on other TGF-β-responsive cell types. TGM4 binds avidly to myeloid cells by flow cytometry, and can outcompete TGM1 for cell binding. Analysis of receptor binding in comparison to TGM1 reveals a 10-fold higher affinity than TGM1 for TGFβR-I (TβRI), but a 100-fold lower affinity for TβRII through Domain 3. Consequently, TGM4 is more dependent on co-receptor binding; in addition to CD44, TGM4 also engages CD49d (Itga4) through Domains 1-3, as well as CD206 and Neuropilin-1 through Domains 4 and 5. TGM4 was found to effectively modulate macrophage populations, inhibiting lipopolysaccharide-driven inflammatory cytokine production and boosting interleukin (IL)-4-stimulated responses such as Arginase-1 in vitro and in vivo. These results reveal that the modular nature of TGMs has allowed the fine tuning of the binding affinities of the TβR- and co-receptor binding domains to establish cell specificity for TGF-β signalling in a manner that cannot be attained by the mammalian cytokine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shashi P. Singh
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Danielle J. Smyth
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Kyle Cunningham
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Ananya Mukundan
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh, USA
| | | | | | - Madeleine P. J. White
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Claire Ciancia
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Nątalia Wosowska
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Anna Sanders
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Regina Jin
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
| | - Sergio Lilla
- Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK
| | - Sara Zanivan
- Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK
| | | | - Gareth Inman
- Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow, G61 1BD, UK
| | - Maarten van Dinther
- Oncode Institute and Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Peter ten Dijke
- Oncode Institute and Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, University of Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Andrew P. Hinck
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh, USA
| | - Rick M. Maizels
- Wellcome Centre of Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
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van Dinther M, Cunningham KT, Singh SP, White MPJ, Campion T, Ciancia C, van Veelen PA, de Ru AH, González-Prieto R, Mukundan A, Byeon CH, Staggers SR, Hinck CS, Hinck AP, Dijke PT, Maizels RM. CD44 acts as a coreceptor for cell-specific enhancement of signaling and regulatory T cell induction by TGM1, a parasite TGF-β mimic. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2302370120. [PMID: 37590410 PMCID: PMC10450677 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2302370120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Long-lived parasites evade host immunity through highly evolved molecular strategies. The murine intestinal helminth, Heligmosomoides polygyrus, down-modulates the host immune system through release of an immunosuppressive TGF-β mimic, TGM1, which is a divergent member of the CCP (Sushi) protein family. TGM1 comprises 5 domains, of which domains 1-3 (D1/2/3) bind mammalian TGF-β receptors, acting on T cells to induce Foxp3+ regulatory T cells; however, the roles of domains 4 and 5 (D4/5) remain unknown. We noted that truncated TGM1, lacking D4/5, showed reduced potency. Combination of D1/2/3 and D4/5 as separate proteins did not alter potency, suggesting that a physical linkage is required and that these domains do not deliver an independent signal. Coprecipitation from cells treated with biotinylated D4/5, followed by mass spectrometry, identified the cell surface protein CD44 as a coreceptor for TGM1. Both full-length and D4/5 bound strongly to a range of primary cells and cell lines, to a greater degree than D1/2/3 alone, although some cell lines did not respond to TGM1. Ectopic expression of CD44 in nonresponding cells conferred responsiveness, while genetic depletion of CD44 abolished enhancement by D4/5 and ablated the ability of full-length TGM1 to bind to cell surfaces. Moreover, CD44-deficient T cells showed attenuated induction of Foxp3 by full-length TGM1, to levels similar to those induced by D1/2/3. Hence, a parasite protein known to bind two host cytokine receptor subunits has evolved a third receptor specificity, which serves to raise the avidity and cell type-specific potency of TGF-β signaling in mammalian cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maarten van Dinther
- Oncode Institute and Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden2300 RC, The Netherlands
| | - Kyle T. Cunningham
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Shashi Prakash Singh
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Madeleine P. J. White
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Tiffany Campion
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Ciancia
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
| | - Peter A. van Veelen
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden2333 ZC, The Netherlands
| | - Arnoud H. de Ru
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden2333 ZC, The Netherlands
| | - Román González-Prieto
- Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Universidad de Sevilla - CSIC - Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41092Sevilla, Spain
- Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Sevilla, 41013Sevilla, Spain
| | - Ananya Mukundan
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA15260
| | - Chang-Hyeock Byeon
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA15260
| | - Sophia R. Staggers
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA15260
| | - Cynthia S. Hinck
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA15260
| | - Andrew P. Hinck
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA15260
| | - Peter ten Dijke
- Oncode Institute and Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden2300 RC, The Netherlands
| | - Rick M. Maizels
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, School of Infection and Immunity, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8TA, United Kingdom
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McManus CM, Bouchery T, Suleiman M, Kildemoes AO, Ferguson A, Wang T, Finlay CM, Chan R, Renahan T, Mukundan A, Nkurunungi G, Bobardt SD. Hydra 2022: return of the interactive conference on helminth parasitology after the pandemic. Trends Parasitol 2022; 38:999-1007. [PMID: 36335007 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.09.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Caitlin M McManus
- School of Infection and Immunity, the University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
| | - Tiffany Bouchery
- Hookworm Immunobiology Group, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | | | - Anna O Kildemoes
- Leiden Parasite Glycobiology Group, Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Annabel Ferguson
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Tao Wang
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
| | - Conor M Finlay
- Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Ryan Chan
- McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Tess Renahan
- Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Ananya Mukundan
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| | - Gyaviira Nkurunungi
- Immunomodulation and Vaccines Programme, MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit; Department of Infection Biology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
| | - Sarah D Bobardt
- Division of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA.
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Mukundan A, Byeon CH, Hinck CS, Cunningham K, Campion T, Smyth DJ, Maizels RM, Hinck AP. Convergent evolution of a parasite-encoded complement control protein-scaffold to mimic binding of mammalian TGF-β to its receptors, TβRI and TβRII. J Biol Chem 2022; 298:101994. [PMID: 35500648 PMCID: PMC9163516 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.101994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2021] [Revised: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The mouse intestinal helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus modulates host immune responses by secreting a transforming growth factor (TGF)-β mimic (TGM), to expand the population of Foxp3+ Tregs. TGM comprises five complement control protein (CCP)-like domains, designated D1-D5. Though lacking homology to TGF-β, TGM binds directly to the TGF-β receptors TβRI and TβRII and stimulates the differentiation of naïve T-cells into Tregs. However, the molecular determinants of binding are unclear. Here, we used surface plasmon resonance, isothermal calorimetry, NMR spectroscopy, and mutagenesis to investigate how TGM binds the TGF-β receptors. We demonstrate that binding is modular, with D1-D2 binding to TβRI and D3 binding to TβRII. D1-D2 and D3 were further shown to compete with TGF-β(TβRII)2 and TGF-β for binding to TβRI and TβRII, respectively. The solution structure of TGM-D3 revealed that TGM adopts a CCP-like fold but is also modified to allow the C-terminal strand to diverge, leading to an expansion of the domain and opening potential interaction surfaces. TGM-D3 also incorporates a long structurally ordered hypervariable loop, adding further potential interaction sites. Through NMR shift perturbations and binding studies of TGM-D3 and TβRII variants, TGM-D3 was shown to occupy the same site of TβRII as bound by TGF-β using both a novel interaction surface and the hypervariable loop. These results, together with the identification of other secreted CCP-like proteins with immunomodulatory activity in H. polygyrus, suggest that TGM is part of a larger family of evolutionarily plastic parasite effector molecules that mediate novel interactions with their host.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ananya Mukundan
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA
| | - Chang-Hyeock Byeon
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA
| | - Cynthia S Hinck
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA
| | - Kyle Cunningham
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Tiffany Campion
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Danielle J Smyth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Rick M Maizels
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew P Hinck
- Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA.
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Xu G, Qin M, Mukundan A, Siddiqui J, Takada M, Vilar-Saavedra P, Tomlins SA, Kopelman R, Wang X. Prostate cancer characterization by optical contrast enhanced photoacoustics. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 2016; 9708:97080I. [PMID: 28529403 PMCID: PMC5438200 DOI: 10.1117/12.2213064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
During the past decades, prostate cancer (PCa), with an annual incident rate much higher than any other cancer, is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American men. PCa has a relatively low progression rate yet the survival percentage decreases dramatically once the cancer has metastasized. Identifying aggressive from indolent PCa to prevent metastasis and death is critical to improve outcomes for patients with PCa. Standard procedure for assessing the aggressiveness of PCa involves the removal of tumor tissues by transrectal (TR) ultrasound (US) guided needle biopsy. The microscopic architecture of the biopsied tissue is visualized by histological or immunohistochemical staining procedures. The heterogeneity of the microscopic architecture is characterized by a Gleason score, a quantitative description of the aggressiveness of PCa. Due to the inability to identify the cancer cells, most noninvasive imaging modalities can only provide diagnosis of PCa at limited accuracy. This study investigates the feasibility of identifying PCa tumors and characterizing the aggressiveness of PCa by photoacoustic imaging assisted by cancer targeting polyacrylamide (PAA) nanoparticles (NPs). PAA is a biocompatible material used in clinics for the past 20 years. PAA NPs can protect capsulated optical contrast agents from interference by enzymes and enable prolonged systematic circulation in the living biological environment. The cancer targeting mechanism is achieved by conjugating the NPs to F3 peptides, which trace nucleolin overexpressed on the surface of cancer cells. Preliminary studies have shown that the NPs are capable of staining the PCa cells in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guan Xu
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan
| | - Ming Qin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan
| | | | | | - Marilia Takada
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University
| | | | | | | | - Xueding Wang
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan
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Ray A, Mukundan A, Xie Z, Karamchand L, Wang X, Kopelman R. Highly stable polymer coated nano-clustered silver plates: a multimodal optical contrast agent for biomedical imaging. Nanotechnology 2014; 25:445104. [PMID: 25325364 PMCID: PMC4244271 DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/25/44/445104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Here, we present a new optical contrast agent based on silver nanoplate clusters embedded inside of a polymer nano matrix. Unlike nanosphere clusters, which have been well studied, nanoplate clusters have unique properties due to the different possible orientations of interaction between the individual plates, resulting in a significant broadening of the absorption spectra. These nanoclusters were immobilized inside of a polymer cladding so as to maintain their stability and optical properties under in vivo conditions. The polymer-coated silver nanoplate clusters show a lower toxicity compared to the uncoated nanoparticles. At high nanoparticle concentrations, cell death occurs mostly due to apoptosis. These nanoparticles were used for targeted fluorescence imaging in a rat glioma cell line by incorporating a fluorescent dye into the matrix, followed by conjugation of a tumor targeting an F3 peptide. We further used these nanoparticles as photoacoustic contrast agents in vivo to enhance the contrast of the vasculature structures in a rat ear model. We observed a contrast enhancement of over 90% following the nanoparticle injection. It is also shown that these NPs can serve as efficient contrast agents, with specific targeting abilities for broadband multimodal imaging that are usable for diagnostic applications and that extend into use as therapeutic agents as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aniruddha Ray
- Department of Chemistry and BioPhysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Ananya Mukundan
- Department of Chemistry and BioPhysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Zhixing Xie
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor
| | - Leshern Karamchand
- Department of Chemistry and BioPhysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | - Xueding Wang
- Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor
| | - Raoul Kopelman
- Department of Chemistry and BioPhysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Corresponding author,
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