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From the Department of Dermatology,*
University
Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland; and the Dipartimento di Oncologia
Biologia e Genetica,
Università degli
Studi di Genova and Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro,
Genova, Italy
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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NK cells and cytotoxic T cells are characterized by the presence of azurophilic cytoplasmic granules. These granules contain cytotoxic proteins, such as T-cell-restricted intracellular antigen (TIA-1), granzyme B, and perforin. TIA-1 induces apoptosis through fragmentation of the DNA. This protein is found independently of the state of activation of the cells and characteristically shows a granular, cytoplasmic staining in immunohistochemistry.5 Granzyme B, member of the serine protease family, is directly involved in the lytic activity. Through activation of the proapoptotic cascade of caspases it promotes DNA fragmentation.6 Additionally cell death can be triggered by granzyme B independently of caspase activation, through nonnuclear mechanisms.7 Unlike TIA-1, granzyme B is only found in activated cytotoxic lymphocytes. Perforin is another molecule directly involved in the cascade of cytotoxic cell death. On granule release, perforin monomers insert into the plasma membranes of target cells and polymerize into pore-forming aggregates.8 These perforin pores may lead to osmotic lysis of the target cells and also allow granzymes to come in contact with the cytosol of the target cell and induce apoptosis.9
NK cells and T lymphocytes share various cell surface receptors. For example CD2, CD11c, CD57, CD69, and CD122 are expressed by both NK and T cells. Recently NK-receptors recognizing MHC class I molecules have been identified. These include killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and lectin-like dimers, which are composed of CD94 associated with NKG2 molecules.10 Recognition of class HLA class I molecules on target cells by KIRs blocks the natural and the antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity in NK cells and the CD3/T-cell receptor-dependent cytotoxicity of T cells.11 Other receptors, virtually identical in their extracellular part to KIR, but possessing only a short intracytoplasmic tail lacking intracytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motifs (ITIMs) can deliver activation signals to cytotoxic cells.12 KIRs and CD94/NKG2 are transmembrane glycoproteins that undergo phosphorylation in a tyrosine residue in the two tandem ITIMs that bind various phosphatases to induce dominant-negative signals.13 They allow cytotoxic cells to distinguish normal cells from cells with impaired expression of HLA class I molecules. KIRs include receptors recognizing HLA-C molecules (p58.1 and p58.2),14 HLA-B molecules (p70),15 or HLA-A (p140).16 KIRs have been detected not only on NK cells, but also on subsets of T cells. Covalently bound CD94 and NKG2 form heterodimers that are expressed by the majority of NK cells, and belong to the superfamily of C-type lectins. CD94/NKG2A recognizes HLA-E, a nonclassical HLA-class I molecule, the gene for which is transcribed in most tissues.17 It provides an inhibitory signal, thus ensuring a broad spectrum protection against NK-mediated cell lysis. Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor (LIR)-1 is a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, which is expressed on the majority of B cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells and a small subset of NK and T cells. Unlike KIRs, which are allele-specific, LIR-1 binds to a broad range of classical and nonclassical class I molecules.18
In this study we assessed by immunohistochemistry the phenotype of cutaneous lymphomas of cytotoxic phenotype (four cases of CD8+ T-cell and three CD56+ lymphomas), by analyzing TIA-1, granzyme B, perforin, as well as KIRs, CD94/NKG2, and LIR-1.
| Materials and Methods |
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Criteria for inclusion in the study were: 1) diagnosis of a lymphoproliferative disorder of cytotoxic phenotype; 2) initial presentation in the skin; 3) polymerase chain reaction evidence of TCR rearrangement by the CD8+ lymphomas; and 4) absence of immunosuppression, HIV-associated or iatrogenic. Seven patients, registered in the Lymphoma Registry of the Department of Dermatology in Zürich, met those criteria and were included in the study. Three of them had been diagnosed with CD56+ NK/T cutaneous lymphomas, and four had CD8+ cytotoxic primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.
Immunohistochemistry
Both paraffin-embedded and frozen material were available from all
seven patients. Immunohistochemical stainings were performed with
monoclonal IgG mouse antibodies specifically binding human CD2, CD3,
CD4, CD5, CD7, CD8, CD16, CD30, CD34, CD43, CD45Ro, CD56, CD68, CD79a,
MAC387, chloroacetate, and Ki67. The specimens were additionally
examined for TIA-1 (Coulter Clone; Coulter Co., Hialeah, FL), granzyme
B (Serotec, Oxford, UK) and perforin (Endogen, Woburn, MA) molecules.
Stainings were also performed with monoclonal antibodies recognizing
the NK receptors p58.1 (EB6), p58.2 (GL183), p70 (Z27), p140 (Q66),
NKG2A (Z270), CD94 (XA185), and LIR-1/ILT2 (F278), from the Advanced
Biotechnology Center (Genova, Italy) (Table 1)
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Briefly, 3- to 5-µm-thick tissue sections adherent to slides coated with 0.1% (w/v) poly-L-lysine were deparaffinized with xylene and rehydrated. Antigen retrieval was performed by microwave pretreatment (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid buffer, pH 8.0), initially for 2 minutes at 600 W and then three times for 5 minutes at 100 W. Nonspecific binding sites were blocked by incubating slides with normal rabbit serum for 15 minutes at room temperature. Tissue sections were incubated with an excess of mAb for 60 minutes. This was followed by three cycles of sequential incubations with rabbit anti-mouse IgG xenoantibodies and alkaline-phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase complexes. In the first cycle the incubations were of 30-minutes duration, in the second and the third they were 10 minutes each. All of the incubations were performed at room temperature in a moist chamber. The immunoreaction was visualized with a developing solution, containing neufuchsin (DAKO, Glostrup, Denmark). Finally, sections were counterstained with 1% hematoxylin.
In Situ Hybridization
All specimens were investigated for Epstein-Barr virus by in situ hybridization detecting Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNA (DAKO).
| Results |
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There was a major difference between CD56+ NK/T lymphomas and CD8+
lymphomas concerning the expression of KIRs. Expression of p70 was
detected in three of four CD8+ lymphomas, but not in CD56+ lymphomas.
Also, p140 was expressed in all four CD8+ lymphomas, whereas it was
absent in all CD56+ lymphomas. LIR-1 was detected in all specimens
analyzed. In contrast, no expression of p58.1, p58.2, CD94, and NKG2
could be detected (Figure 1)
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| Discussion |
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The data available in the literature regarding the expression of cytotoxicity markers are contradictory. Thus, Petrella and colleagues19 failed to detect TIA-1 or granzyme B in all seven cases of CD4+CD56+ cutaneous lymphomas analyzed. Similar results were reported by Bagot and colleagues20 in a single case described. In contrast, Takeshita and colleagues21 could detect expression of TIA-1, granzyme B, and perforin in 10 cases of cutaneous CD56+ NK/T cell lymphomas with angiodestruction and only weak expression of granzyme B and perforin in six cases without angiodestruction. Berti and colleagues22 described 17 cases of CD8+ primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, 15 of which expressed TIA-1. Five of the investigated specimens were additionally found to express perforin and granzyme B. In our present study TIA-1 was detected in all lesions analyzed, including CD56+ and CD8+ lymphomas. Two of three CD56+ lymphomas expressed also perforin and granzyme B. At least two of them displayed features typical of angiodestruction. One of the CD8+ lymphomas in our study weakly expressed two cytotoxic molecules, one case expressed only granzyme B, and one only perforin.
Expression of TIA-1 is characteristic of cytotoxic cells regardless of their activation status, whereas expression of both perforin and granzyme B is up-regulated in activated cytotoxic cells and correlates with the levels of cytolytic activity.
Also the expression, or lack thereof, of HLA-class I-specific inhibitory receptors displays distinguishing features in CD56+ or CD8+ lymphomas. All specimens analyzed were negative for p58.1, 58.2, CD94, and NKG2, but expressed strongly LIR-1. The CD8+ lymphomas expressed in addition to LIR-1, also p70 (three of four) and p140 (four of four). Adversely, these receptors were not expressed by the CD56+ lymphomas.
LIR-1 is a member of the Ig superfamily, which has been shown to bind
the human cytomegalovirus HLA-class I homologue UL-18 protein. Vitale
et al18
further showed that LIR-1 can function as a
low affinity receptor for HLA-class I molecules, recognizing different
HLA alleles, coded for by different HLA loci. It has been shown that
LIR-1 interacts with the relatively nonpolymorphic
3 domain of class
I proteins and the analogous region of UL-18 using its N-terminal
immunoglobulin-like domain. LIR-1 recognition of class I molecules
resembles the CD4-HLA-class II interaction more than the KIR-HLA-class
I interaction, implying a functional distinction between LIR-1 and
KIRs. Normally, LIR-1 is expressed on the majority of B cells,
monocytes, and dendritic cells, but only on a small subset of normal NK
and T cells.23
The presence of LIR-1 in all investigated
lesions of both CD8+ and in CD56+ lymphomas suggests that either
LIR-1-positive cell populations carry a higher risk for malignant
transformation, or that LIR-1 expression is associated to a
growth/survival advantage to the dominant clonal cells. In contrast,
p70 and p140 are selectively found in CD8+ lymphomas. In view of the
high affinity of these inhibitory receptors for HLA-class I, their
expression might account for the fact that no histological evidence for
necrosis next to the tumor site was found in any of these samples,
despite expression of cytotoxic molecules by the tumor cells.
The results of our study further suggest that the panel of antibodies useful for the immunohistochemical differentiation between the two types of cytotoxic cutaneous lymphomas should include CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD56, Ki67, granzyme B, perforin, p70, and p140.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Footnotes |
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Accepted for publication February 7, 2001.
| References |
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This article has been cited by other articles:
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M. Urosevic, J. Kamarashev, G. Burg, and R. Dummer Primary cutaneous CD8+ and CD56+ T-cell lymphomas express HLA-G and killer-cell inhibitory ligand, ILT2 Blood, March 1, 2004; 103(5): 1796 - 1798. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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R. Dummer, J. Kamarashev, W. Kempf, A. C. Haffner, M. Hess-Schmid, and G. Burg Junctional CD8+ Cutaneous Lymphomas With Nonaggressive Clinical Behavior: A CD8+ Variant of Mycosis Fungoides? Arch Dermatol, February 1, 2002; 138(2): 199 - 203. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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M. Urosevic, J. Willers, B. Mueller, W. Kempf, G. Burg, and R. Dummer HLA-G protein up-regulation in primary cutaneous lymphomas is associated with interleukin-10 expression in large cell T-cell lymphomas and indolent B-cell lymphomas Blood, January 15, 2002; 99(2): 609 - 617. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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