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Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on December 19, 2002; DOI 10.1182/blood-2002-08-2485.
IMMUNOBIOLOGY
From the Division of Oncology, Departments of Medicine
and Genetics, Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of
Medicine, St Louis, MO; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of
Pathology and Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dana Farber Cancer
Institute, Boston, MA.
Although the functions of granzymes A and B have been defined, the
functions of the other highly expressed granzymes (Gzms) of murine
cytotoxic lymphocytes (C, D, and F) have not yet been evaluated. In
this report, we describe the ability of murine GzmC (which is most
closely related to human granzyme H) to cause cell death. The induction
of death requires its protease activity and is characterized by the
rapid externalization of phosphatidylserine, nuclear condensation and
collapse, and single-stranded DNA nicking. The kinetics of these events
are similar to those caused by granzyme B, and its potency (defined on
a molar basis) is also equivalent. The induction of death did not
involve the activation of caspases, the cleavage of BID, or the
activation of the CAD nuclease. However, granzyme C did cause rapid
mitochondrial swelling and depolarization in intact cells or in
isolated mitochondria, and this mitochondrial damage was not prevented
by cyclosporin A pretreatment. These results suggest that granzyme C
rapidly induces target cell death by attacking nuclear and
mitochondrial targets and that these targets are distinct from those
used by granzyme B to cause classical apoptosis.
(Blood. 2003;101:3093-3101) Although a large number of granzyme (Gzm)
genes have been identified in the mouse (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K, and
M),1 the functions of only 2 of these enzymes (GzmA and
GzmB) have been clearly defined.2-4 When either GzmA or
GzmB is introduced into target cells with perforin, cell death is
induced.5,6 However, the critical cellular substrates for
these 2 enzymes are clearly different. Granzyme B (GzmB) is an
aspase,7,8 and it is known to cleave and activate several
caspases immediately upon target cell entry, including caspase-3 and
-8.2 GzmB also cleaves ICAD, which leads to the activation
of caspase-activated DNase (CAD).9,10 Finally, GzmB is
known to cleave and activate BID, which translocates to the
mitochondria and facilitates the organization of a mitochondrial pore
created by BAX, BAK, or both, which is followed by cytochrome
c (cyt c) release and apoptosome
assembly.11-16 GzmB can also induce rapid mitochondrial
depolarization independently of BAX and BAK, in cooperation with an
unknown cellular factor.16 Granzyme A (GzmA), on the other
hand, is a tryptase, and its known substrates include histone
H1,17 nuclear lamins,18 and SET, a nucleosome
assembly protein that is part of a large endoplasmic reticulum-associated complex.19 The precise contributions
of these substrates to GzmA-induced cell death are not yet clear.
Mice have more granzyme genes than humans. Although both species have
Gzms A and K in tightly linked clusters,20 the genes linked with GzmB are different in the 2 species. In the human GzmB
cluster, GzmB lies upstream of granzyme H (GzmH),21 which has chymase specificity.22 The mouse GzmB cluster is more
complex. The GzmB gene lies upstream from Gzms C, F, G, D, and E (5'
The human orphan granzyme GzmH lies just downstream from GzmB and
is maximally expressed in the LAK/NK environment.24,25 The
murine orphan granzyme gene most closely related to GzmH is GzmC, which
is also the first gene found downstream from GzmB in the mouse
genome.23 In this report, we show that GzmC is capable of
causing cell death. It induces many features of target cell apoptosis
in a reconstituted in vitro system, but several of these features are
distinct from those produced by GzmB. GzmC does not cause target cell
death by activating caspases, BID, or ICAD, but it does cause direct
effects on mitochondria that lead to swelling and depolarization.
Therefore, GzmC is a functional protease in the cytotoxic lymphocyte
repertoire, inducing target cell death with a mechanism that is
different from that of granzyme A or B.
Recombinant granzymes and perforin purification
Perforin was purified from murine NK cell line 37.12, derived from an
NK lymphoma in transgenic mice containing the human GzmH promoter
linked to simian virus 40 (SV40)-Tag.25 Frozen cell pellets (5 × 107 cells) were suspended in lysis
buffer (25 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 1 M NaCl, 1.0% Triton-X 100), sonicated,
and dialyzed twice for 1 hour in low-salt perforin buffer (25 mM Tris,
pH 7.5, 50 mM NaCl, 1.0 mM EDTA [ethylenediaminetetraacetic
acid]) at 4°C. The lysate was centrifuged at 10 000g and
loaded onto an Accell cation exchange column (Waters) for purification
by affinity chromatography, eluting 1-mL fractions using a linear 0.2- to 0.8-M NaCl gradient. Fractions with lytic activity on sheep red
blood cells were tested for tryptase and aspase activity using the
colorimetric substrates BLT esterase and Box-Ala-Ala-Asp-SBzl,
respectively.4,26,27 Granzyme-free perforin eluted
at approximately 0.5 to 0.6 M NaCl. The granzyme-free fractions with
perforin activity were pooled, filtered, and stored at
80°C.
Antibodies
Cellular viability assay YAC-1, EL4, TA3, and P815 cell lines were cultured in K5 media.29 Log-phase target cells were harvested, washed twice, and resuspended at 2 × 105/mL in prewarmed red blood cell (RBC) buffer (modified Ca2+- and Mg2+-free Hanks balanced salt solution [HBSS] supplemented with 0.01 M HEPES [N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid; pH 7.5] and 0.4% bovine serum albumin [BSA]). Recombinant granzyme (0-2 µM), 1 µg purified perforin, and Ca2+ (3.8 mM CaCl2 and 0.81 mM MgSO4 in RBC buffer) were added sequentially to 105 target cells in a final volume of 100 µL at 37°C. In some experiments, this reaction was proportionally scaled up to increase the yield of treated target cells. As negative controls for every experiment, target cells were untreated or treated with perforin, rGzmB, or rGzmC alone. To assess cell viability, 105 YAC-1 (H-2a) cells were mixed with 0 to 1000 nM recombinant granzyme and purified perforin, incubated at 37°C for 1 hour, and plated in duplicate with limiting dilution in 96-well microplates that were incubated at 37°C for 14 days. As a surrogate marker for viability, 0.25 µg 7-amino-actinomycin D (7-AAD) was added to target cells at the end of the assay, and cells were evaluated with a FACScan flow cytometer and CellQuest software (Becton Dickinson Biosciences, San Jose, CA).Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-annexin V conjugate (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR) was used to assess phosphatidylserine externalization. YAC-1 target cells (105 cells) were treated with perforin and 1 µM rGzm B or C and were incubated for 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes at 37°C. The cells were stained and analyzed by flow cytometry as described.30 Caspase activity studies were performed as previously described.9 YAC-1 cells (2 × 105) were pretreated with 100 µM D-fmk or the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) vehicle for 30 minutes at 37°C. Next, cells were treated with 1 µM granzyme plus perforin and harvested after 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes of incubation at 37°C. Lysates were prepared, and Ac-DEVD-AMC (acetyl-DEVD-7-amino-4-methyl coumarin) cleavage was measured using a Perkin Elmer (Boston, MA) HTS7000 spectrofluorometer. Flow-TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) was performed with the ApopTag Fluorescein Direct In Situ Apoptosis Detection Kit (Intergen, Purchase, NY), as described.9 YAC-1 cells were treated with perforin, and 1 µM rGzm B or C was treated for the times indicated. To assess DNA fragmentation, 2 × 105 YAC-1 cells were loaded with rGzmB or rGzmC (1 µM) and incubated for 1 or 2 hours at 37°C. Genomic DNA was extracted and analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis as described.9 Genomic DNA was also radiolabeled in the Klenow 32P-dATP incorporation assay as previously described.31 Denatured DNA samples were subjected to alkaline agarose electrophoresis, and the dried gel was autoradiographed. Immunofluorescence and light microscopy YAC-1 target cells (105) were treated with perforin and 1 µM rGzm B or C and incubated at 37°C for 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. All cells (100µL) were immobilized onto a microscope slide with a cytospin apparatus (Shandon, Pittsburgh, PA) at 200 rpm for 3 minutes and were air dried for 10 minutes. Cells were treated with modified Wright-Giemsa stain (Sigma, St Louis, MO) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Cyt c immunodetection was performed as previously described.16Electron microscopy YAC-1 target cells (2 × 105) were treated with perforin and 1 µM rGzm B or C for 15 minutes at 37°C. Cells were washed and fixed with 1% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate buffer on ice for 30 minutes and were postfixed with 1% osmium tetroxide. Embedding in Polybed 812 (Polysciences, Warrington, PA) and thin-sectioning on a Reichert-Jung ultra microtome (Vienna, Austria) were performed at the Electron Microscopy Facility (Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine). Images were viewed with a Zeiss EM 902 electron microscope (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany).Recombinant BID and DFF45/ICAD cleavage Recombinant BID, the rabbit polyclonal anti-BID antibody, recombinant human ICAD, and the anti-human ICAD antibody have been previously described.9,32 Recombinant proteins and granzymes were incubated at 37°C for 30 minutes in 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.5), 100 mM NaCl, and 1 mM EGTA (ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid). Proteins were then separated on SDS gels, and Western blot analysis was performed as described.16Swelling and membrane potential of isolated mitochondria Volumetric and membrane potential changes of mitochondria isolated by standard differential centrifugation from Balb/c mouse livers and incubated in experimental buffer (125 mM KCl, 10 mM Tris-MOPS (tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane-3-[N-Morpholino]propanesulphonic acid), 1 mM Pi, 5 mM glutamate, 2.5 mM malate, 10 µM EGTA-Tris [pH 7.4]) were performed as previously described.16Release of mitochondrial matrix entrapped dyes Mitochondria (10 mg/mL) were loaded with 10 µM calcein-AM (acetoxymethyl ester) or rhod-2-AM for 30 minutes at 25°C in isolation buffer in the dark, washed, and resuspended in isolation buffer. Mitochondrial matrix esterases cleave the acetoxymethyl moiety, thereby generating the fluorescent calcein and rhod-2 that remain entrapped in the mitochondrial matrix.33,34 Calcein and rhod-2 are of 622.54 molecular weight (MW) and 869.06 MW, respectively. Loaded mitochondria (0.5 mg/mL) incubated in experimental buffer was treated as described in the legend to Figure 6. After 30 minutes, mitochondria were sedimented by centrifugation at 14 000g for 3 minutes. Calcein and rhod-2 fluorescence were measured in the pellet and in the supernatant at 25°C in a Perkin Elmer LS50B spectrofluorometer, with excitation and emission wavelengths set at 488 ± 5 and 540 ± 5 nm for calcein and 540 ± 5 and 580 ± 5 nm for rhod-2.Real-time mitochondrial membrane potential imaging in situ Real time  m imaging of wild-type murine
embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) loaded with 10 nM tetramethylrhodamine
methyl ester (TMRM) in the presence of the multidrug resistance
P-glycoprotein inhibitor verapamil was performed exactly as previously
described.16 Images were stored and analyzed, and data
were normalized as previously described.16
GzmC can induce cell death Recombinant mature GzmC (rGzmC) and attenuated GzmC (rGzmC-Ser184Ala, an active site serine-to-alanine point mutant) were expressed in P pastoris and purified by cation exchange chromatography.26 The comparable GzmB mutant, rGzmB-Ser183Ala, has attenuated proteolytic activity against a tetrapeptide substrate (Boc-Ala-Ala-Asp-SBzl) and its protein substrates caspase-3 and ICAD.9 Perforin was partially purified from the adherent NK cell line 37.12.25 The electrophoretic mobility and abundance of each purified enzyme was verified on silver-stained SDS-PAGE gels (Figure 1A). The identity of perforin and the recombinant granzymes was confirmed by Western blot analysis. The partially purified perforin used in these studies did not contain detectable quantities of granzyme A, B, or C (Figure 1B). Because neither the peptide nor the protein substrates of murine rGzmC have been identified, no enzymatic assay for this protein is available. For this reason, all experiments comparing GzmB and GzmC were performed using equimolar amounts of these proteins.
A plating assay was performed to evaluate the clonogenic
potential of cells treated with granzymes and perforin. Purified perforin efficiently traffics recombinant granzymes into target cells.9 YAC1 target cells were treated with purified
perforin and each recombinant granzyme for 1 hour at 37°C.
Subsequently, the cells were plated by limiting dilution and cultured
for 2 weeks to allow for the outgrowth of individual cells so that
clonogenic potential could be quantitated. Similar reductions in
clonogenic potential were observed in target cells treated with
perforin plus 50 nM rGzmB or C. In contrast, cells treated with
perforin only or with each granzyme by itself caused no reduction in
clonogenic potential. Granzyme protease activity was required for the
induction of target cell death because the attenuated mutant granzymes
(rGzmB-Ser183Ala and rGzmC-Ser184Ala) did not alter the clonogenic
potential of treated cells (Figure 2A).
Given that these mutations attenuate the activities of the proteases
but do not eliminate them, high doses (greater than 500 nM) of the
mutant enzymes also induce cell death, though less efficiently (data
not shown).
Target cells loaded with rGzmB or C exhibited a dose-dependent
loss of membrane integrity that was quantifiable with flow cytometry.
The cell-impermeable molecule 7-AAD is a cytometric probe for cells
with membrane damage.30 Flow cytometric analyses of YAC1
target cells are illustrated in dot plots comparing forward scatter
(x-axis) and 7-AAD staining (y-axis). Untreated cells or those treated
with perforin or granzymes alone are mostly large and viable (ie,
forward scatterhi/7-AADlo) and are found in the
lower right quadrant of the dot plot (Figure 2B, top row). YAC1 target
cells treated with rGzmB and perforin became smaller and
7-AADhi. Comparable changes occurred with rGzmC, and
equivalent enzyme concentrations of rGzmC caused similar effects. Both
rGzmB and C are potent inducers of cell death Membrane damage measured with flow cytometry was also directly compared with clonogenic efficiency. As noted previously, the percentage of 7-AADlo YAC1 cells declined significantly after the addition of perforin and rGzm B or C (Figure 2C, left panel). The loss of membrane integrity after 1 hour of treatment correlated strongly with reduced clonogenic efficiency. However, at very low concentrations of granzymes, 7-AAD staining underestimated the loss of clonogenic efficiency, perhaps because some 7-AAD low cells were committed to die, but had not yet experienced membrane changes. Similar data were acquired using 3 other target cell lines (EL4, P815, TA3) and cultured (MEFs; data not shown). Combinations of rGzms B and C were also delivered to YAC-1 cells by fixing the dose of one (50 nM) and increasing the other (50-1000 nM). The 7-AAD changes induced by the 2 proteases were additive, suggesting that rGzmB and C activate independent pathways (data not shown). Features of GzmC-induced death The membrane phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS) translocates from the inner to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane in the early phase of apoptosis and precedes the loss of membrane integrity. Cells that are annexin Vhi and 7-AADlo indicate PS externalization in cells that are beginning to undergo apoptosis35; a significant percentage of YAC1 cells treated with perforin and rGzmB or C at 37°C for 5 minutes exhibited this staining pattern. At later time points, the proportion of cells at a later stage of apoptosis (ie, double-positive) was substantially expanded; these changes did not occur in untreated cells or in cells treated with rGzmB or C alone. However, perforin alone caused some cells to become annexin Vhi or 7-AADhi, or both, probably because of the limited membrane damage caused by this protein (Figure 3A). Nuclear condensation is a morphologic hallmark of apoptosis. Wright-Giemsa staining of YAC1 cells treated with perforin and rGzmB demonstrated GzmB-dependent nuclear collapse and fragmentation. The appearance of the condensed nuclei differed for rGzmC, however, because nuclear collapse was not accompanied by fragmentation in most cells (Figure 3A). Cells treated with perforin alone, rGzmB alone, or rGzmC alone were identical in appearance to untreated cells (Figure 3B and data not shown). Low magnification (× 2850) transmission electron microscopy revealed chromatin condensation induced by rGzmB or C. Nuclear condensation and chromatin clumping was not detected in untreated cells or in those treated with perforin alone or granzymes alone. Cytoplasmic vacuolization and disruption also occurred in cells treated with perforin plus GzmB or C (Figure 3C).
GzmC induces DNA nicking during the induction of cell death We next wanted to determine whether rGzmC-mediated death involves DNA damage, another hallmark of apoptosis. Flow-TUNEL quantifies terminal deoxynucleotidyl terminase (TdT)-catalyzed incorporation of fluorescein-labeled nucleotides into the free 3'-OH DNA ends at the single cell level. As shown in Figure 4A, nearly 50% of YAC1 cells treated with perforin plus rGzmC were TUNEL positive after 5 minutes, increasing to 75% at 60 minutes. rGzmB and C both induced rapid TUNEL positivity with equal efficiency, but rGzmB-treated cells were slightly more TUNEL positive at 30 and 60 minutes. Minimal TdT labeling occurred in cells exposed to perforin or granzymes only.
To assess whether rGzmC-induced DNA nicking was associated with oligonucleosomal fragmentation, we next evaluated target cell genomic DNA on agarose gels. Oligonucleosomal DNA laddering was induced by perforin plus rGzm B (Figure 4B) but failed to occur in target cells treated with perforin plus rGzmC for 1 or 2 hours. The same samples were analyzed by flow cytometry to ensure that cellular death had occurred: few 7-AADlo target cells persisted following treatment with perforin and either rGzm B or C, as expected (Figure 4B; percentages of 7-AADlo cells shown below each lane/treatment condition). These data suggested that GzmC-induced death is associated with single-stranded DNA nicking, not double-stranded cleavage. Nicked DNA can be radiolabeled with 32P-dATP using the Klenow polymerase; single-stranded nicked fragments can then be resolved with denaturing alkaline gel electrophoresis and autoradiography, as shown in Figure 4C. Extensive DNA nicking was revealed in cells treated with perforin plus rGzmC. The double-strand DNA breaks created by GzmB-activated CAD were also labeled, as predicted. DNA extracted from untreated cells, or cells treated with perforin or granzymes only, was not extensively nicked (Figure 4C). GzmC causes cell death without activating caspases, BID, or ICAD Freshly prepared protein extracts derived from YAC1 cells treated with perforin plus rGzmB transiently generated significant DEVD'ase activity (measuring caspases-2, -3, and -7) (Figure 5A, top panel). High concentrations (greater than 25 µM) of D-fmk, a broad-spectrum fluoromethylketone-conjugated peptide inhibitor, completely inhibit caspase activity induced by rGzmB.9 When target cells were pretreated with 100 µM D-fmk, GzmB-induced DEVD'ase activity was not detected (Figure 5A, top panel). At every time point, samples were removed for 7-AAD-based cytometric analyses to estimate the target cell viability. GzmB caused a rapid reduction in the percentage of viable (ie, 7-AADlo) target cells regardless of caspase inhibition (Figure 5A, lower panel). In contrast, there was no measurable DEVD'ase activity produced in cells treated with perforin plus rGzmC (Figure 4B, top panel). Similarly, perforin plus rGzmC caused a rapid reduction in cell viability regardless of whether cells were pretreated with D-fmk (Figure B, lower panel). Beyond 60 minutes, advanced target cell destruction makes analysis of caspase activity impossible.
rGzmB efficiently cleaves p22 BID to p15 tBID, a key effector of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.11-14,16 rGzmC does not cleave recombinant p22 BID under the same conditions (Figure 5C). rGzmB directly processes the 45-kDa recombinant human ICAD (rhICAD) into its p30 form, but rhICAD was not cleaved with rGzmC under similar conditions (Figure 5D). Western blot analyses of proteins extracted from YAC1 cells treated with perforin and rGzm B or C verified that rGzmB rapidly processes caspase-3, BID, and ICAD, but that rGzmC does not (data not shown). GzmC causes mitochondrial changes in intact cells undergoing apoptosis The mitochondria of untreated cells were in a classical condensed state, with narrow cristae separated by an electron-dense matrix space, identical to the mitochondria of cells treated with perforin only or granzymes only (data not shown). Perforin plus rGzmB caused extensive cristae reorganization, resembling the early morphologic changes that occur after the induction of apoptosis with other mediators in vitro and in situ (Figure 6A).36 Perforin plus rGzmC induced profound swelling of YAC1 mitochondria with cavitation and loss of cristae structure and outer membrane (OM) rupture.
The appearance of these striking morphologic changes prompted us to
investigate mitochondrial function during GzmC-mediated apoptosis. We
assessed mitochondrial membrane potential ( Finally, we determined that these mitochondrial changes were ultimately followed by cyt c release during the late stages of GzmC-induced death. YAC1 cells were treated with perforin plus rGzmB or C for 30 minutes and then stained for cyt c and nuclear morphology (Figure 6D). Perforin plus rGzmC triggered cyt c release from mitochondrial stores (Figure 6Diii vs 3), whereas cyt c remained in the mitochondria of cells exposed to perforin alone (Figure 6Di). After release, the intensity of cyt c staining is dimmer, probably because cyt c diffuses broadly into the cytoplasm.16 GzmC directly induces swelling and membrane depolarization in isolated mitochondria Isolated mitochondria primed with a high concentration of Ca2+ (400 µM) undergo a sudden increase of inner mitochondrial membrane permeability because of opening of the PTP. A low concentration of Ca2+ does not cause swelling per se (monitored by side scatter at 545 nm; Figure 7A). When rGzmC was added, the side scatter changes indicated that substantial swelling developed within 2 minutes. "High" doses of rGzmC are required to induce these changes because very large amounts of mitochondrial protein are treated with very small amounts of rGzmC (4 pmol rGzmC/1 mg mitochondria); these results cannot be directly compared with the concentrations of rGzmC used to induce cell death. Pretreatment with the PTP inhibitors CsA or adenosine diphosphate (ADP) plus oligomycin (not shown) did not affect rGzmC-induced swelling. In an identical experiment, the attenuated rGzmCSer184Ala mutant did not cause detectable swelling (data not shown). Of note, rGzmB did not directly induce measurable mitochondrial swelling in a similar experiment,16 further distinguishing the mitochondrial effects of these 2 enzymes.
We next assessed whether swelling was associated with mitochondrial
depolarization. When mitochondria were added to buffer containing the
potentiometric dye rhodamine 123, fluorescence dropped as the dye was
accumulated in the matrix of polarized mitochondria (Figure 7B).
Addition of 40 µM Ca2+ resulted in the expected transient
depolarization because of the use of We next investigated the dose and Ca2+ dependence of rGzmC-induced mitochondrial swelling. rGzmC caused CsA-insensitive mitochondrial swelling in a dose-dependent fashion (Figure 6C). Because Ca2+ concentrations of 50 µM and less do not cause swelling per se (not shown), the Ca2+ dependence of GzmC-induced swelling can be studied by priming mitochondria with increasing Ca2+ concentrations and measuring the swelling induced by a fixed dose of rGzmC. GzmC-mediated swelling is Ca2+ dependent, reaching a maximum at a Ca2+ concentration of 30 µM (Figure 7D). Opening of the PTP is favored by mitochondrial Ca2+ accumulation. In this regard, the Ca2+ dependence of GzmC-induced swelling resembled a characteristic feature of the PTP. However, the mitochondrial effects of GzmC were not blocked by PTP inhibitors (eg, CsA). We therefore decided to compare the size-exclusion properties of the mitochondrial pore(s) generated by GzmC with the properties of the PTP, induced either by high-dose Ca2+ or by the CsA-insensitive inducer mastoparan.38 Two fluorophores of different molecular weights, calcein (approximately 620 Da) and rhod-2 (approximately 860 Da), were loaded into the mitochondrial matrix. Openings of the inner mitochondrial membrane of exclusion sizes larger than the dye causes their release from the mitochondrial matrix. Opening of the PTP (which has an exclusion size of approximately 1500 Da) by 400 µM Ca2+ consistently induced a CsA-sensitive release of both dyes. Mastoparan also caused the release of calcein and rhod-2 from the mitochondrial matrix. However, rGzmC induced only the release of calcein, whereas rhod-2 was selectively retained in the mitochondrial matrix (Figure 7E). These data suggest that the pore opened by rGzmC differs from the classical PTP in its size-exclusion properties because it only allows the flux of solutes of smaller molecular weight.
In this report, we describe the ability of murine GzmC to cause cell death. The induction of death requires its protease activity and is characterized by the rapid externalization of phosphatidylserine, nuclear condensation, and single-stranded DNA nicking. The kinetics of these events are similar to those caused by GzmB. The induction of death did not involve the production of activated caspases, the cleavage of BID, or the activation of the CAD nuclease. However, GzmC did cause rapid mitochondrial swelling and depolarization in intact cells or in isolated mitochondria, and this mitochondrial damage was not prevented by cyclosporin A pretreatment. These results suggest that GzmC rapidly induces target cell death by attacking nuclear and mitochondrial targets and that these targets are distinct from those used by GzmB to cause classical apoptosis. The death induced by GzmC occurs rapidly, with kinetics similar to those observed for GzmB, and the potency of this enzyme (on a molar basis) is similar to that of GzmB. The induction of cell death by GzmB and C is not a generic property of all neutral serine proteases because 3 highly related neutrophil azurophil granule enzymes (neutrophil elastase, cathepsin G, and proteinase 3) all failed to induce cell death in this in vitro system. The characteristics of the cell death induced by GzmC have many of the hallmarks of apoptosis, but the death induced by GzmC is distinct from that of GzmB in several ways. First, nuclear condensation is not always associated with nuclear fragmentation. Second, the DNA damage appears to be single-stranded nicking, not oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation characteristic of CAD activation. Third, even though GzmC-induced death is associated with late cyt c release from damaged mitochondria, there is no evidence for caspase-3 activation during the early stages of apoptosis. Fourth, GzmB does not directly damage isolated mitochondria, but GzmC causes isolated mitochondria to rapidly depolarize and swell. All these differences strongly suggest that these 2 proteases induce cell death by attacking a different set of substrates. The DNA damage caused by GzmC does not appear to involve the activation of CAD because oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation does not occur. This finding also makes it unlikely that GzmC causes DNA damage by releasing endonuclease G (EndoG) from mitochondria given that EndoG also causes oligonucleosomal DNA degradation.39 Instead, GzmC rapidly induces single-stranded DNA nicks in target cells. At least 2 different nucleases could potentially account for this finding. GzmA induces single-stranded DNA nicking by cleaving and activating a single-stranded DNase within the SET complex.19 Alternatively, mitochondria contain a caspase-independent nuclease known as apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) that can be released from mitochondria during the induction of cell death.40 AIF causes a unique form of nuclear condensation that is similar to that observed for GzmC, and it causes long-range DNA nicking but not oligonucleosomal DNA laddering.41 For these reasons, it is possible that the mitochondrial release of AIF or the activation of the SET-associated DNase (or additional nucleases not yet described) may play roles in the nuclear changes observed with GzmC-induced death. Additional experimentation will be required to identify the responsible nucleases. GzmC can rapidly induce mitochondrial swelling and depolarization in intact cells or on isolated mitochondrial preparations. Although GzmB can cause rapid mitochondrial depolarization in intact cells, it has no effect on isolated mitochondria, suggesting that it requires a cellular cofactor to cause mitochondrial damage.16 GzmC-induced swelling was amplified by small Ca2+ prepulses, reminiscent of the Ca2+ dependence of the PTP; however, PTP inhibitors did not block this swelling. This fact cannot be used to rule out a role for PTP because other inducers can operate in a Ca2+-dependent (but CsA-insensitive) fashion.38,42 Patch-clamp experiments revealed that the open conformation of the PTP displays a 1.8-nanoSiemens (nS) full conductance and a typical 0.9-nS subconductance state.43 The 1.8-nS conductance corresponds to a pore exclusion size of approximately 1500 Da, whereas the 0.9-nS conductance is predicted to correspond to a cutoff of approximately 750 Da. Opening of the PTP in a subconductance mode permeant to Ca2+, but not to sucrose, has been reported in isolated mitochondria and intact cells.44 GzmC characteristics might reflect a selective opening of the PTP in a subconductance mode. The estimated pore size induced by GzmC, based on calcein flux (approximately 620 Da), is compatible with the PTP operating in its half-conductance mode. On the other hand, all PTP conductances disappear in the presence of CsA.43,44 It is therefore conceivable that the GzmC-induced inner mitochondrial (IM) pore has novel features that will become clearer with a subsequent full characterization. The late release of cyt c from GzmC-treated cells may be a consequence of direct damage to the inner mitochondrial membrane caused by GzmC, followed by rupture of the outer membrane with attendant release of all mitochondrial contents. Regardless, cyt c release was not associated with the rapid activation of caspase-3 or with the activation of CAD. The dramatic drop in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels that occurs after treatment with perforin and rGzmC (data not shown) correlated with the sudden mitochondrial depolarization observed in situ; this change may also limit the ability of caspase to be activated. A functional role of GzmC for cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated target cell death has not yet been established. However, the GzmB knockout mouse produced in our laboratory several years ago displays dramatically reduced expressed of Gzms C, D, and F in the LAK cell compartment, presumably because of a so-called neighborhood effect from the retained PGK-neo cassette in the GzmB gene.23 We have recently removed the PGK-neo cassette from the GzmB gene using LoxP-Cre-mediated recombination and have created mice that are deficient for GzmB only (D. Thomas, R. Behl, and T.J.L., unpublished, 2001). Comparisons of the cytotoxic repertoires of the lymphocytes derived from these mice are in progress. However, preliminary experiments in an established graft-versus-host disease model strongly suggest that the mitigation of graft-versus-host disease previously observed with GzmB cluster-deficient lymphocytes45 may be attributed in part to the reduced expression of the orphan granzymes downstream from GzmB. These results support the idea that some of the orphan granzymes (perhaps including GzmC) are expressed in T cells that are activated in vivo and that they contribute significantly to the tissue damage associated with graft-versus-host disease. These results create a strong biologic foundation for the continued study of the orphan granzymes in the GzmB gene cluster. The diversity of protease specificities of the granzymes is almost certainly a fail-safe mechanism for CTL to kill target cells that express inhibitors of GzmB. Virus-infected cells46,47 and tumor cells48,49 are known to express serpin inhibitors of GzmB, and adenovirus expresses a decoy substrate for GzmB that is an efficient inhibitor.50 When these GzmB-specific inhibitors are present, granzymes with different specificities (such as A or C) may still be able to induce target cell death by activating alternative death pathways. This adaptation may be critical for survival of the host. The results presented in this study clearly establish GzmC as an enzyme that can cause cell death. The specificity of this enzyme and its target cell substrates are unknown, but a strong rationale for the continued study of this enzyme is provided by the results described here. The unique pattern of nuclear and mitochondrial damage induced by this enzyme suggests that it will prove to be an important tool for understanding an alternative apoptotic pathway. The physiologic relevance of this pathway is suggested by the GzmB cluster knockout model, but proof of its importance awaits the development and description of the GzmC loss-of-function mouse.
Bailey and Kelly51 first showed that a T-cell clone that expressed granzymes B and C exhibited less cytotoxicity when its granzyme C expression was inhibited by an antisense approach.
We thank Mia Sorcinelli for skillful technical assistance and Nancy Reidelberger for expert editorial assistance.
Submitted August 13, 2002; accepted December 7, 2002.
Prepublished online as Blood First Edition Paper, December 19, 2002; DOI 10.1182/blood-2002-08-2485.
Supported by National Institutes of Health grants DK49786 (T.J.L.) and CA50239 (S.J.K.). L.S. is a Human Frontier Science Program Long Term Fellow.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734.
Reprints: Timothy J. Ley, Division of Oncology, Washington University, Campus Box 8007, 660 South Euclid Ave, St Louis, MO 63110; e-mail: tley{at}im.wustl.edu.
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Top
Abstract
Introduction
3').
the delivery of perforin
and 50 nM or 100 nM rGzmB or C results in fewer than 10% or 1% viable target cells, respectively (Figure 
) or rGzmC (
) for the times
specified. Untreated YAC1 cells (
) and cells incubated with perforin
(
), rGzmB (*), or rGzmC (
) alone were also analyzed for
FITC-TUNEL positivity. (B) YAC1 target cells were untreated or treated
with perforin, rGzmB, rGzmC, perforin plus rGzmB, or perforin plus
rGzmC (1 µM). Genomic DNA was harvested after incubation at 37°C
for 1 or 2 hours and was visualized on an ethidium bromide-stained 2%
agarose gel. To estimate cell viability in the same experiment, the
percentage of 7-AADlo target cells was analyzed by flow
cytometry (values for each sample are shown below each line). (C)
Genomic DNA from YAC1 target cells treated as in panel B were
radiolabeled with 32P-dATP by the Klenow fragment of DNA
polymerase I. DNA fragments were separated with denaturing alkaline gel
electrophoresis and autoradiographed.
/
T-cell receptor locus.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.
1990;87:960-963