Overexpression of branched O-linked oligosaccharides on T cell surface glycoproteins impairs humoral immune responses in transgenic mice.

The aberrant expression of core 2 O-glycans on T cell surface glycoproteins has been associated with various immunodeficient syndromes such as Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and AIDS. To determine the effect of this aberrant expression of core 2 O-glycans on immune responses, we previously generated transgenic mice overexpressing core 2 beta-1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (C2GnT) in T cells, and demonstrated that T cell primary immune responses mediated through interaction between T cells and antigen-presenting cells are impaired in the transgenic mice (Tsuboi, S., and Fukuda, M. (1997) EMBO J. 16, 6364-6373). In this study, we determined whether overexpression of core 2 oligosaccharides on T cells leads to impaired humoral immune responses by B cells using the same transgenic mice. When T cells were activated, both T and B cells from the transgenic and control mice expressed an equivalent amount of CD40L and CD40, which are, respectively, the receptor and counter-receptor for the interaction between T and B cells. However, activated T cells from the transgenic mice induced B cell proliferation less efficiently than those from control mice, regardless of whether B cells were isolated from control or the transgenic mice. This suggests that overexpression of core 2 O-glycans on T cell surface glycoproteins renders T cell-B cell interaction inefficient. Moreover, in the transgenic mice both immunoglobulin isotype switching and germinal center formation were also impaired. Taken together, these results indicate that aberrant expression of core 2 O-glycans on T cell surface glycoproteins results in impaired humoral immune responses due to an impaired interaction between T and B cells.