Mitochondria-derived Hydrogen Peroxide Selectively Enhances T Cell Receptor-initiated Signal Transduction

T cell receptor (TCR)-initiated signal transduction is reported to increase production of intracellular reactive oxygen species, such as superoxide (O₂^⨪) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), as second messengers. Although H₂O₂ can modulate signal transduction by inactivating protein phosphatases, the mechanism and the subcellular localization of intracellular H₂O₂ as a second messenger of the TCR are not known. The antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) catalyzes the dismutation of highly reactive O₂^⨪ into H₂O₂ and thus acts as an intracellular generator of H₂O₂. As charged O₂^⨪ is unable to diffuse through intracellular membranes, cells express distinct SOD isoforms in the cytosol (Cu,Zn-SOD) and mitochondria (Mn-SOD), where they locally scavenge O₂^⨪ leading to production of H₂O₂. A 2-fold organelle-specific overexpression of either SOD in Jurkat T cell lines increases intracellular production of H₂O₂ but does not alter the levels of intracellular H₂O₂ scavenging enzymes such as catalase, membrane-bound peroxiredoxin1 (Prx1), and cytosolic Prx2. We report that overexpression of Mn-SOD enhances tyrosine phosphorylation of TCR-associated membrane proximal signal transduction molecules Lck, LAT, ZAP70, PLCγ1, and SLP76 within 1 min of TCR cross-linking. This increase in mitochondrial H₂O₂ specifically modulates MAPK signaling through the JNK/cJun pathway, whereas overexpressing Cu,Zn-SOD had no effect on any of these TCR-mediated signaling molecules. As mitochondria translocate to the immunological synapse during TCR activation, we hypothesize this translocation provides the effective concentration of H₂O₂ required to selectively modulate downstream signal transduction pathways.