[PDF][PDF] Natural Sphingomonas glycolipids vary greatly in their ability to activate natural killer T cells

Y Kinjo, B Pei, S Bufali, R Raju, SK Richardson… - Chemistry & biology, 2008 - cell.com
Y Kinjo, B Pei, S Bufali, R Raju, SK Richardson, M Imamura, M Fujio, D Wu, A Khurana…
Chemistry & biology, 2008cell.com
Mouse natural killer T (NKT) cells expressing an invariant T cell antigen receptor (TCR)
recognize glycosphingolipids (GSLs) from Sphingomonas bacteria. The synthetic antigens
previously tested, however, were designed to closely resemble the potent synthetic agonist
α-galactosyl ceramide (αGalCer), which contains a monosaccharide and a C18: 0
sphingosine lipid. Some Sphingomonas bacteria, however, also have oligosaccharide-
containing GSLs, and they normally synthesize several GSLs with different sphingosine …
Summary
Mouse natural killer T (NKT) cells expressing an invariant T cell antigen receptor (TCR) recognize glycosphingolipids (GSLs) from Sphingomonas bacteria. The synthetic antigens previously tested, however, were designed to closely resemble the potent synthetic agonist α-galactosyl ceramide (αGalCer), which contains a monosaccharide and a C18:0 sphingosine lipid. Some Sphingomonas bacteria, however, also have oligosaccharide-containing GSLs, and they normally synthesize several GSLs with different sphingosine chains including one with a cyclopropyl ring-containing C21:0 (C21cycl) sphingosine. Here we studied the stimulation of NKT cells with synthetic GSL antigens containing natural tetrasaccharide sugars, or the C21cycl sphingosine. Our results indicate that there is a great degree of variability in the antigenic potency of different natural Sphingomonas glycolipids, with the C21cycl sphingosine having intermediate potency and the oligosaccharide-containing antigens exhibiting limited or no stimulatory capacity.
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