Induction of the pyridine nucleotide synthesis pathway in mitogen-stimulated human T-lymphocytes

Mitogen stimulation of purified human T-lymphocytes with the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoyl, phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and a monoclonal antibody to the T3 cell surface antigen caused a 6-11-fold increase in cellular levels of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, a 6-20-fold amplification of cellular NAD+ levels and a 3-21-fold increase in NADP+ levels. Treatment of the cells with a combination of the two mitogenic signals also caused a 5-20-fold increase in NMN pyrophosphorylase activity, a 3-14-fold increase in ATP-NMN adenylyl transferase activity, and a 5-13-fold increase in NAD kinase activity. This is the first report showing induction of these three enzymes as part of the mitogenic response in purified human T-lymphocytes. Maximum increases in activity of each of these three enzymes required the combined presence of TPA and monoclonal antibody to human T-cell T3 antigen anti-T3. Analysis of the relative enzyme levels indicates that NMN pyrophosphorylase is the rate-limiting enzyme for NAD synthesis and NAD kinase is the rate-limiting enzyme for NADP synthesis.