Th1 cytokines promote T-cell binding to antigen-presenting cells via enhanced hyaluronan production and accumulation at the immune synapse

Hyaluronan(HA)production by dendritic cells(DCs)is known to promote antigen presentation and to augment T-cell activation and proliferation.We hypothesized that pericellular HA can function as intercellular‘glue’directly mediating T cell–DC binding.Using primary human cells,we observed HA-dependent binding between T cells and DCs,which was abrogated upon pre-treatment of the DCs with 4-methylumbelliferone(4-MU),an agent which blocks HA synthesis.Furthermore,T cells regulate HA production by DCs via T cell-derived cytokines in a T helper(Th)subset-specific manner,as demonstrated by the observation that cell-culture supernatants from Th1 but not Th2 clones promote HA production.Similar effects were seen upon the addition of exogenous Th1 cytokines,IL-2,interferon c(IFN-c)and tumor necrosis factor a(TNF-a).The critical factors which determined the extent of DC–T cell binding in this system were the nature of the pre-treatment the DCs received and their capacity to synthesize HA,as T-cell clones which were pre-treated with monensin,added to block cytokine secretion,bound equivalently irrespective of their Th subset.These data support the existence of a feedforward loop wherein T-cell cytokines influence DC production of HA,which in turn affects the extent of DC–T cell binding.We also document the presence of focal deposits of HA at the immune synapse between T-cells and APC and on dendritic processes thought to be important in antigen presentation.These data point to a pivotal role for HA in DC–T cell interactions at the IS.