Dynamic changes in patterns of ganglioside expression characterize maturation of lymphoid lineage cells into effector cells and suggest a close relationship between CD8+ T cells and NK cells

Abstract

Abstract Gangliosides are glycosphingolipids that play important regulatory roles in cell signaling and differentiation. To investigate their expression patterns during lymphoid cell development, human PBMC were stained with recombinant B subunits of LT-IIa, LT-IIb, or LT-IIc and with select mAb. FACS analysis showed that ganglioside ligands for LT-IIaB, LT-IIbB, and LT-IIcB were increasingly expressed during transition from naïve to memory to effector memory CD4+ T cells, with ganglioside ligands for LT-IIbB exhibiting the greatest increase. A similar trend was observed in CD8+ T cell subsets, except no major changes in the expression of LT-IIaB ligands were detected. Patterns of ganglioside expression in NK cell subsets were remarkably similar to those observed in the CD8+ T cells: The ganglioside ligands for LT-IIbB and LT-IIcB were increasingly expressed during transition from tissue-resident to effector to differentiated/exhausted NK cells, with ganglioside ligands for LT-IIbB exhibiting the greatest increase and ligands for LT-IIaB showing little change across subsets. Finally, expression of LT-IIaB- and LT-IIcB-binding gangliosides increased during transition from naïve to memory to antibody-secreting B cells, with ganglioside ligands for LT-IIaB exhibiting the greatest increase and ligands for LT-IIbB showing little change across subsets. Our results demonstrated the existence of dynamic changes in the patterns of gangliosides expressed throughout lymphoid cell development and differentiation. The distinct patterns suggest the existence of cell signaling differences between and within the distinct lymphoid cell lineages and a close developmental and functional relationship between CD8+ T cells and NK cells.