Amaranthus leucocarpus lectin (ALL) enhances anti-CD3-dependent activation of murine T cells and promotes cell survival.

The Galβ1,3GalNAc-specific lectin from Amaranthus leucocarpus (ALL) shows a differential binding pattern on murine thymocytes, peripheral and activated CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. Although ALL detects activation-related changes in T cell surface carbohydrate moieties, no study has been performed to examine the effect of ALL on T cell activation. In this study, we analyzed the anti-CD3-dependent activation of murine T cells in the presence of ALL by measuring proliferation, surface activation marker expression, and IL-2 secretion using total cells from the lymph node. The results showed that ALL did not significantly induce T cell activation but did enhance anti-CD3-dependent activation of both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. In addition, ALL protected T cells from spontaneous apoptosis and increased cell survival in serum-free culture conditions. Our findings indicate that ALL alone does not affect T cell activation, but do suggest that ALL has an anti-CD3-dependent co-stimulatory-like effect on T cell activation. Moreover, ALL promotes cell survival in regular and serum-free culture conditions. This study is the first report of a non-mitogenic T cell-binding lectin that can induce a possible costimulatory-like effect and provides a new tool for understanding how glycosylation impacts the T cell response.