Transduction of signals in the activation of T lymphocytes: relation to leukemia.

The biochemical events initiated by mitogen in T lymphocytes are the subject of this paper. Following interaction of the mitogen with its receptors, a transmembrane 'trigger-type' signal is propagated which has both positive and negative correlates. The negative signal occurs with high mitogen concentrations and is associated with membrane freezing, microtubular aggregation, receptor capping, adenylate cyclase activation, and cellular cyclic AMP increases. The positive signal occurs with optimal mitogen concentrations and is associated with changes in membrane permeability and transport with influx of calcium and potassium ion and efflux of sodium, in transport processes for glucose, amino acids, and nucleosides, and in a collected series of early membrane lipid changes which can be considered essential for the positive signal. These lipid changes include the uptake of arachidonic acid and other fatty acids, choline, phosphate and other molecules, their incorporation into membrane phospholipids, particularly phosphatidylinositol (PI), and a turnover of PI with the production of inositol triphosphate, which can be related to calcium mobilization and diacylglycerol which activates a cytoplasmic protein kinase C. A key event associated with mitogen action is arachidonic acid release. Arachidonic acid may give rise to prostaglandins and thromboxanes as part of negative components of the signal through effects on the adenylate cyclase/cyclic AMP system. Arachidonic acid gives rise to eicosanoids like 5-, 11-, possibly 12- and 15-hydroxyperoxy and hydroxy eicosatetraenoic acids and leukotrienes B4 and C4. The activation of the 5-lipoxygenase, a critical calcium-dependent step, leads via the production of 5-HPETE and 5-HETE to the activation of membrane and soluble guanylate cyclase and the production of cyclic GMP. Cyclic GMP appears to be essential for mitogen activation and is associated with cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase activation and the phosphorylation of a number of substrates. Calcium ion influx is clearly central to mitogen action. Calcium through its influx and mobilization from cellular stores is thought to contribute directly and indirectly through the action of calmodulin and protein kinase C to the activation of a number of enzymatic processes involved in the positive signal including phospholipase C, diglyceride kinase and lipase, 5-lipoxygenase, and guanylate cyclase. Cyclic GMP and calcium ion both participate in nuclear processes leading to RNA and protein synthesis. Interleukin 2 is associated with midcycle increases in cyclic GMP and entry into DNA synthesis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)