Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1981 Jun 1;153(6):1503–1516. doi: 10.1084/jem.153.6.1503

Lyt-2 and lyt-3 antigens are on two different polypeptide subunits linked by disulfide bonds. Relationship of subunits to T cell cytolytic activity

PMCID: PMC2186177  PMID: 6166718

Abstract

Lyt-2 and Lyt-3 antigens are carried on separate disulfide-bonded subunits of the same cell surface macromolecules. These are present on thymocytes in a variety of multimeric forms consisting of disulfide- bonded dimers, tetramers, and hexamers of pairwise combinations of three subunits (30,000, 34,000, and 38,000 Mr). From reduced and alkylated Nonidet-P40 thymus extracts, a monoclonal anti-Lyt-3 precipitates only the 30,000 Mr subunit, but not the 30,000 Mr subunit. Almost all of the Lyt-2 and Lyt-3 subunits on the cell are covalently linked by disulfide bonds. However, small amounts of free Lyt-3 subunit was seen in some experiments. Similarly, small amounts of Lyt-2-3- material, consisting of dimers of the 38,000 and 34,000 Mr subunits were identified. Each of the three subunits migrated with a basic charge (pI greater than 8) on two-dimensional gels. Cytotoxic effector cells that are blocked by anti-Lyt-2 and anti-3 can be treated with trypsin and other arginine-specific proteases to remove these antigens. At low concentrations of these proteases, Lyt-3 antigens are selectively removed. After selective removal of Lyt-3 antigens, cytotoxic effector cells are still active and blocking of activity by anti-Lyt-3 is significantly reduced, whereas blocking of activity by anti-Lyt-2 is significantly increased. Neither Lyt-2 nor Lyt-3 is allelically excluded on thymocytes or T cells. These results suggested that the Lyt-2, Lyt-3 macromolecules are associated with but do not serve as the T cell antigen receptor.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.2 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baumann G., Chrambach A. A highly crosslinked, transparent polyacrylamide gel with improved mechanical stability for use in isoelectric focusing and isotachophoresis. Anal Biochem. 1976 Jan;70(1):32–38. doi: 10.1016/s0003-2697(76)80044-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cantor H., Boyse E. A. Functional subclasses of T-lymphocytes bearing different Ly antigens. I. The generation of functionally distinct T-cell subclasses is a differentiative process independent of antigen. J Exp Med. 1975 Jun 1;141(6):1376–1389. doi: 10.1084/jem.141.6.1376. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cantor H., Boyse E. A. Lymphocytes as models for the study of mammalian cellular differentiation. Immunol Rev. 1977 Jan;33:105–124. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065x.1977.tb00364.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Durda P. J., Gottlieb P. D. Sequential precipitation of mouse thymocyte extracts with anti-Lyt-2 and anti-Lyt-3 sera. I. Lyt-2.1 and Lyt-3.1 antigenic determinants reside on separable molecular species. J Immunol. 1978 Sep;121(3):983–989. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Durda P. J., Gottlieb P. D. The Ly-3 antigens on mouse thymocytes: immune precipitation and molecular weight characterization. J Exp Med. 1976 Aug 1;144(2):476–493. doi: 10.1084/jem.144.2.476. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Evans R. L., Lazarus H., Penta A. C., Schlossman S. F. Two functionally distinct subpopulations of human T cells that collaborate in the generation of cytotoxic cells responsible for cell-mediated lympholysis. J Immunol. 1978 Apr;120(4):1423–1428. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Evans R. L., Wall D. W., Platsoucas C. D., Siegal F. P., Fikrig S. M., Testa C. M., Good R. A. Thymus-dependent membrane antigens in man: inhibition of cell-mediated lympholysis by monoclonal antibodies to TH2 antigen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jan;78(1):544–548. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.1.544. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gibson D. M., Taylor B. A., Cherry M. Evidence for close linkage of a mouse light chain marker with the Ly-2,3 locus. J Immunol. 1978 Oct;121(4):1585–1590. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Glasebrook A. L., Fitch F. W. T-cell lines which cooperate in generation of specific cytolytic activity. Nature. 1979 Mar 8;278(5700):171–173. doi: 10.1038/278171a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Gottlieb P. D. Genetic correlation of a mouse light chain variable region marker with a thymocyte surface antigen. J Exp Med. 1974 Nov 1;140(5):1432–1437. doi: 10.1084/jem.140.5.1432. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Herzenberg L. A., Okumura K., Cantor H., Sato V. L., Shen F. W., Boyse E. A., Herzenberg L. A. T-cell regulation of antibody responses: demonstration of allotype-specific helper T cells and their specific removal by suppressor T cells. J Exp Med. 1976 Aug 1;144(2):330–344. doi: 10.1084/jem.144.2.330. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hollander N., Pillemer E., Weissman I. L. Blocking effect of lyt-2 antibodies on T cell functions. J Exp Med. 1980 Sep 1;152(3):674–687. doi: 10.1084/jem.152.3.674. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Itakura K., Hutton J. J., Boyse E. A., Old L. J. Genetic linkage relationships of loci specifying differentiation alloantigens in the mouse. Transplantation. 1972 Mar;13(3):239–243. doi: 10.1097/00007890-197203000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ledbetter J. A., Evans R. L., Lipinski M., Cunningham-Rundles C., Good R. A., Herzenberg L. A. Evolutionary conservation of surface molecules that distinguish T lymphocyte helper/inducer and cytotoxic/suppressor subpopulations in mouse and man. J Exp Med. 1981 Feb 1;153(2):310–323. doi: 10.1084/jem.153.2.310. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Ledbetter J. A., Herzenberg L. A. Xenogeneic monoclonal antibodies to mouse lymphoid differentiation antigens. Immunol Rev. 1979;47:63–90. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065x.1979.tb00289.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ledbetter J. A., Rouse R. V., Micklem H. S., Herzenberg L. A. T cell subsets defined by expression of Lyt-1,2,3 and Thy-1 antigens. Two-parameter immunofluorescence and cytotoxicity analysis with monoclonal antibodies modifies current views. J Exp Med. 1980 Aug 1;152(2):280–295. doi: 10.1084/jem.152.2.280. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lonai P., Ben-Neriah Y., Steinman L., Givol D. Selective participation of immunoglobulin V region and major histocompatibility complex products in antigen binding by T cells. Eur J Immunol. 1978 Dec;8(12):827–832. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830081202. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Nakayama E., Dippold W., Shiku H., Oettgen H. F., Old L. J. Alloantigen-induced T-cell proliferation: Lyt phenotype of responding cells and blocking of proliferation by Lyt antisera. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 May;77(5):2890–2894. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.5.2890. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Nakayama E., Shiku H., Stockert E., Oettgen H. F., Old L. J. Cytotoxic T cells: Lyt phenotype and blocking of killing activity by Lyt antisera. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Apr;76(4):1977–1981. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.4.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. O'Farrell P. Z., Goodman H. M., O'Farrell P. H. High resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis of basic as well as acidic proteins. Cell. 1977 Dec;12(4):1133–1141. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(77)90176-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Reilly E. B., Auditore-Hargreaves K., Hämmerling U., Gottlieb P. D. Lyt-2 and Lyt-3 alloantigens: precipitation with monoclonal and conventional antibodies and analysis on one- and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. J Immunol. 1980 Nov;125(5):2245–2251. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Reinherz E. L., Kung P. C., Goldstein G., Schlossman S. F. A monoclonal antibody reactive with the human cytotoxic/suppressor T cell subset previously defined by a heteroantiserum termed TH2. J Immunol. 1980 Mar;124(3):1301–1307. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Seaman W. E., Blackman M. A., Gindhart T. D., Roubinian J. R., Loeb J. M., Talal N. beta-Estradiol reduces natural killer cells in mice. J Immunol. 1978 Dec;121(6):2193–2198. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shinohara N., Sachs D. H. Mouse alloantibodies capable of blocking cytotoxic T-cell function. I. Relationship between the antigen reactive with blocking antibodies and the Lyt-2 locus. J Exp Med. 1979 Sep 19;150(3):432–444. doi: 10.1084/jem.150.3.432. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES