An asparaginyl endopeptidase processes a microbial antigen for class II MHC presentation (original) (raw)

Nature volume 396, pages 695–699 (1998) Cite this article

Abstract

Foreign protein antigens must be broken down within endosomes or lysosomes to generate suitable peptides that will form complexes with class II major histocompatibility complex molecules for presentation to T cells. However, it is not known which proteases are required for antigen processing. To investigate this, we exposed a domain of the microbial tetanus toxin antigen (TTCF) to disrupted lysosomes that had been purified from a human B-cell line. Here we show that the dominant processing activity is not one of the known lysosomal cathepsins, which are generally believed to be the principal enzymes involved in antigen processing, but is instead an asparagine-specific cysteine endopeptidase. This enzyme seems similar or identical to a mammalian homologue1 of the legumain/haemoglobinase asparaginyl endopeptidases found originally in plants2 and parasites3. We designed competitive peptide inhibitors of B-cell asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP) that specifically block its proteolytic activity and inhibit processing of TTCF in vitro. In vivo, these inhibitors slow TTCF presentation to T cells, whereas preprocessing of TTCF with AEP accelerates its presentation, indicating that this enzyme performs a key step in TTCF processing. We also show that _N_-glycosylation of asparagine residues blocks AEP action in vitro. This indicates that _N_-glycosylation could eliminate sites of processing by AEP in mammalian proteins, allowing preferential processing of microbial antigens.

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Figure 1: Processing of TTCF by a leupeptin-insensitive cysteine endopeptidase activity.

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Figure 2: TTCF is processed by an asparaginyl endopeptidase.

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Figure 3: Specific peptide inhibitors of asparaginyl endopeptidase.

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Figure 4: TTCF processing and presentation requires AEP in vivo.

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Figure 5: Asparagine _N_-glycosylation blocks asparaginyl endopeptidase action.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Ferguson for helpful discussions and advice; E. Smythe and L. Grayson for advice and technical assistance; B. Spruce, A. Knight and the BTS (Ninewells Hospital) for help with blood monocyte preparation; and our colleagues for many helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust and by an EMBO Long-term fellowship to B. M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Wellcome Sciences Building, University of Dundee, DD1 5EH, Dundee, UK
    Bénédicte Manoury, Eric W. Hewitt & Colin Watts
  2. Department of Biochemistry, MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, University of Dundee, DD1 5EH, Dundee, UK
    Nick Morrice
  3. Department of Immunology, Medical Research Council Peptidase Laboratory, The Babraham Institute, Babraham Hall, CB2 4AT, Babraham, UK
    Pam M. Dando & Alan J. Barrett

Authors

  1. Bénédicte Manoury
  2. Eric W. Hewitt
  3. Nick Morrice
  4. Pam M. Dando
  5. Alan J. Barrett
  6. Colin Watts

Corresponding author

Correspondence toColin Watts.

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Manoury, B., Hewitt, E., Morrice, N. et al. An asparaginyl endopeptidase processes a microbial antigen for class II MHC presentation.Nature 396, 695–699 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/25379

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