Abstract
BackgroundChediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare disorder caused by biallelic mutations in the lysosomal trafficking regulator gene (LYST), resulting in formation of giant lysosomes or lysosome-related organelles in several cell types. The disease is characterized by immunodeficiency and a fatal hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis caused by impaired function of cytotoxic lymphocytes, including natural killer (NK) cells.ObjectiveWe sought to determine the underlying biochemical cause of the impaired cytotoxicity of NK cells in patients with CHS.MethodsWe generated a human cell model of CHS using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology. We used a combination of classical techniques to evaluate lysosomal function and cell activity in the model system and super-resolution microscopy to visualize F-actin and lytic granules in normal and LYST-deficient NK cells.ResultsLoss of LYST function in a human NK cell line, NK92mi, resulted in inhibition of NK cell cytotoxicity and reproduced other aspects of the CHS cellular phenotype, including the presence of significantly enlarged lytic granules with defective exocytosis and impaired integrity of endolysosomal compartments. The large granules had an acidic pH and normal activity of lysosomal enzymes and were positive for the proteins essential for lytic granule exocytosis. Visualization of the actin meshwork openings at the immunologic synapse revealed that the cortical actin acts as a barrier for secretion of such large granules at the cell-cell contact site. Decreasing the cortical actin density at the immunologic synapse or decreasing the lytic granule size restored the ability of LYST-deficient NK cells to degranulate and kill target cells.ConclusionThe cortical actin and granule size play significant roles in NK cell cytotoxic function. We present evidence that the periodicity of subsynaptic actin is an important factor limiting the release of large lytic granules from NK cells from patients with CHS and could be a novel target for pharmaceutical intervention.
Highlights
Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare disorder caused by biallelic mutations in the lysosomal trafficking regulator gene (LYST), resulting in formation of giant lysosomes or lysosome-related organelles in several cell types
Human natural killer (NK) cell model of LYST deficiency mimics the cellular phenotype of CHS
In contrast to NK92mi cells transduced with empty vector (EV Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)), LYST CRISPR NK92mi cells were characterized by visibly enlarged lysosomes, as evidenced by transmission electron microscopy and immunoelectron microscopy (Fig 1, A-C, and see Fig E1 in this article’s Online Repository at www.jacionline.org)
Summary
Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a rare disorder caused by biallelic mutations in the lysosomal trafficking regulator gene (LYST), resulting in formation of giant lysosomes or lysosome-related organelles in several cell types. The disease is characterized by immunodeficiency and a fatal hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis caused by impaired function of cytotoxic lymphocytes, including natural killer (NK) cells. Objective: We sought to determine the underlying biochemical cause of the impaired cytotoxicity of NK cells in patients with CHS. Methods: We generated a human cell model of CHS using Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology. Results: Loss of LYST function in a human NK cell line, NK92mi, resulted in inhibition of NK cell cytotoxicity and reproduced other aspects of the CHS cellular phenotype, including the presence of
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