Nuclear Factor-Kappa B Family Member RelB Inhibits Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 Tat-Induced Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Production

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1)-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is likely neuroinflammatory in origin, believed to be triggered by inflammatory and oxidative stress responses to cytokines and HIV protein gene products such as the HIV transactivator of transcription (Tat). Here we demonstrate increased messenger RNA for nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) family member, transcription factor RelB, in the brain of doxycycline-induced Tat transgenic mice, and increased RelB synthesis in Tat-exposed microglial cells. Since genetic ablation of RelB in mice leads to multi-organ inflammation, we hypothesized that Tat-induced, newly synthesized RelB inhibits cytokine production by microglial cells, possibly through the formation of transcriptionally inactive RelB/RelA complexes. Indeed, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) production in monocytes isolated from RelB deficient mice was significantly higher than in monocytes isolated from RelB expressing controls. Moreover, RelB overexpression in microglial cells inhibited Tat-induced TNFα synthesis in a manner that involved transcriptional repression of the TNFα promoter, and increased phosphorylation of RelA at serine 276, a prerequisite for increased RelB/RelA protein interactions. The Rel-homology-domain within RelB was necessary for this interaction. Overexpression of RelA itself, in turn, significantly increased TNFα promoter activity, an effect that was completely blocked by RelB overexpression. We conclude that RelB regulates TNFα cytokine synthesis by competitive interference binding with RelA, which leads to downregulation of TNFα production. Moreover, because Tat activates both RelB and TNFα in microglia, and because Tat induces inflammatory TNFα synthesis via NF-κB, we posit that RelB serves as a cryoprotective, anti-inflammatory, counter-regulatory mechanism for pathogenic NF-κB activation. These findings identify a novel regulatory pathway for controlling HIV-induced microglial activation and cytokine production that may have important therapeutic implications for the management of HAND

Development of tumor cell resistance to syngeneic cell-mediated cytotoxicity during growth of ascitic mastocytoma P815Y.

The immune reactivity to tumor cells within a progressively growing tumor mass in the syngeneic host has been analyzed by studying the cell-mediated cytolytic response of DBA/2 mice to the ascitic mastocytoma P815Y. Peritoneal cells from P815Y tumor-bearing hosts were fractionated by velocity sedimentation at unit gravity. Cell-mediated cytotoxicity of fractionated and unfractionated cells was measured by 51Cr-release from tumor target cells. The cell separation procedure revealed significant levels of specific cell-mediated cytotoxicity to P815Y within peritoneal cell populations at 8-16 days after tumor cell inoculation. Tumor cells purified from the peritoneal cell populations of mice injected with 10(3) tumor cells 10 days previously were as susceptible to syngeneic and allogeneic cell-mediated cytotoxicity as P815Y grown in vitro. However, tumor cells obtained from mice 16 days after tumor inoculation were resistant to cytolysis by syngeneic, but not allogeneic, effector cells. In addition, day 16 tumor cells did not inhibit syngeneic cell-mediated cytotoxicity against P815Y grown in vitro. Immunoglobulin was not detected on day 16 tumor cells and no circulating antibody to P815Y was found in the ascitic fluid of day 16 tumor-bearing mice. These results indicate that tumor cells may escape immune attack by loss of expression of cell surface tumor-associated antigens in the absence of circulating antibody against tumor