Evidence for protein tyrosine kinase involvement in CD6-induced T cell proliferation

Several studies have demonstrated that addition of soluble anti-CD6 mAbs to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA)-treated naive T cells can induce cell proliferation. We showed in the present study that cell proliferation in TPA-treated T cell cultures can be enhanced several fold when the anti-CD6 mAbs are either immobilized or crosslinked with rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulins (RAM Ig). Using a src family protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) inhibitor, herbimycin A, the cell proliferation induced by the anti-CD6 mAb, IOR-T1, in TPA-treated T cells were effectively abolished. Analysis of the cellular proteins in these cells after crosslinking the CD6 receptor with IOR-T1 (followed by RAM Ig) in the presence of TPA resulted in an increased level of tyrosine phosphorylation. Pretreatment of native T cells with herbimycin A (0.5 and 1 microgram/ml) for 18 hr completely inhibited the tyrosine phosphorylation on cellular substrates in T cell cultures stimulated with IOR-T1/RAM Ig and TPA. Similar concentrations of herbimycin A also inhibited the increase in IL-2 mRNA expression and cell proliferation in T cell cultures after IOR-T1/RAM Ig and TPA treatment. Furthermore, the increase in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration in naive T cells after crosslinking of the CD6 receptor with IOR-T1/RAM Ig was also inhibited by herbimycin A. Taken together, our results suggest that CD6-mediated T cell proliferation is IL-2 dependent, and involves tyrosine kinase activity which is strictly dependent on protein kinase C activation.