A role for interleukin-2 trans-presentation in dendritic cell–mediated T cell activation in humans, as revealed by daclizumab therapy

Abstract

Dendritic cells produce interleukin-2 (IL-2) and express the IL-2 receptor subunit CD25. Bibiana Bielekova and her colleagues show that dendritic cells, upon interacting with cognate T cells, secrete IL-2 into the immune synapse and use their CD25 to trans-present IL-2 to T cells, facilitating early IL-2 signaling in T cells. Inhibition of CD25 by the monoclonal antibody daclizumab prevents T cell activation and may partly account for the therapeutic effects of daclizumab in patients with multiple sclerosis. Although previous studies have described CD25 expression and production of interleukin-2 (IL-2) by mature dendritic cells (mDCs), it remains unclear how these molecules participate in the activation of T cells. In search of the mechanisms by which daclizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody against CD25, inhibits brain inflammation in multiple sclerosis, we observed that although the drug has limited effects on polyclonal T cell activation, it potently inhibits activation of antigen-specific T cells by mDCs. We show that mDCs (and antigen-experienced T cells) secrete IL-2 toward the mDC-T cell interface in an antigen-specific manner, and mDCs 'lend' their CD25 to primed T cells in trans to facilitate early high-affinity IL-2 signaling, which is crucial for subsequent T cell expansion and development of antigen-specific effectors. Our data reveal a previously unknown mechanism for the IL-2 receptor system in DC-mediated activation of T cells.