Allosteric activation of acid alpha-glucosidase by the human papillomavirus E7 protein

Changes in the cellular carbohydrate metabolism are a hallmark of malignant transformation and represent one of the earliest discernible events in tumorigenesis. In the early stages of certain epithelial cancers, a metabolic switch is regularly observed, in which slowly growing glycogenotic cells are converted to highly proliferating basophilic cells. This step is accompanied by a rapid depletion of the intracellular glycogen stores, which in liver carcinogenesis results from the activation of the enzyme acid alpha-glucosidase by an as yet unknown mechanism. We show here that acid alpha-glucosidase is a target for the E7 protein encoded by human papillomavirus type 16, a human tumor virus that plays a key role in the genesis of cervical carcinoma. We show that expression of E7 induces the catalytic activity of acid alpha-glucosidase in vivo and wild type E7, but not transformation-deficient mutants bind directly to acid alpha-glucosidase and increase the catalytic activity of the enzyme in vitro. The data suggest that the E7 protein encoded by human papillomavirus type 16 can act as an allosteric activator of acid alpha-glucosidase.     

Syndecan-4 mediates the coinhibitory function of DC-HIL on T cell activation

Receptor-ligand interactions between APCs and T cells determine whether stimulation of the latter leads to activation or inhibition. Previously, we showed that dendritic cell-associated heparin sulfate proteoglycan-dependent integrin ligand (DC-HIL) on APC can inhibit T cell activation by binding an unknown ligand expressed on activated T cells. Because DC-HIL binds heparin/heparan sulfate and heparin blocks the inhibitory function of DC-HIL, we hypothesized that a heparin/heparan sulfate proteoglycan on activated T cells is the relevant ligand. Screening assays revealed that syndecan-4 (SD-4) is the sole heparan sulfate proteoglycan immunoprecipitated by DC-HIL from extracts of activated T cells and that blocking SD-4 abrogates binding of DC-HIL to activated T cells. Moreover, cell-bound SD-4 ligated by DC-HIL or cross-linked by anti-SD-4 Ab attenuated anti-CD3 responses, whereas knocked-down SD-4 expression led to enhanced T cell response to APC. Blockade of endogenous SD-4 using specific Ab or soluble SD-4 receptor led to augmented T cell reactions to syngeneic and allogeneic stimulation in vitro and exacerbated contact hypersensitivity responses in vivo. We conclude that SD-4 is the T cell ligand through which DC-HIL mediates its negative coregulatory function.