A role for the Hsp90 molecular chaperone family in antigen presentation to T lymphocytes via major histocompatibility complex class II molecules.

The heat shock protein (HSP) Hsp90 is known to chaperone cytosolic peptides for MHC class I (MHCI)-restricted antigen presentation to T lymphocytes. We now demonstrate a role for Hsp90 activity in presentation of antigens on MHCII. Treatment of mouse antigen-presenting cells (APC) with the pharmacological Hsp90 inhibitor, geldanamycin, inhibited MHCII-mediated presentation of endocytosed and cytosolic proteins as well as synthetic peptides to specific T cells. Ectopic expression of human Hsp90 in APC enhanced MHCII-mediated antigen presentation. Further, pharmacological Hsp90 inhibition reduced, while retroviral Hsp90 overexpression enhanced, the levels of stable compact MHCII heterodimers correlating with the antigen presentation phenotype. Pharmacological inhibition of Hsp90 activity in IFN-gamma-treated APC resulted in severe abrogation of MHCII-restricted presentation of cytosolic antigen, but only partially inhibited exogenous antigen presentation. Our data suggest a major role for Hsp90 activity in MHCII-mediated antigen presentation pathways, and implicate IFN-gamma-inducible Hsp90-independent mechanisms.