Antibodies to 5'-nucleotidase (CD73), a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored protein, cause human peripheral blood T cells to proliferate.

Human peripheral blood T cells were stimulated to proliferate when cultured with submitogenic doses of PMA and goat antibodies to 5'-nucleotidase (5'-NT). The degree of proliferation, as measured by [3H]TdR incorporation on day 3, was similar to that achieved by stimulation with PHA. Anti-5'-NT antibodies had no effect on PHA-induced proliferation. Maximal stimulation was achieved with 0.6 to 1.0 ng/ml of PMA and 125 micrograms/ml of IgG isolated from a goat anti-5'-NT antiserum. Both intact IgG and F(ab')2 fragments were stimulatory. IL-2R expression and IL-2 secretion were also induced by anti-5'-NT antibodies and PMA. Anti-5'-NT-induced proliferation was inhibited greater than 95% by a murine anti-IL-2 receptor mAb and required less than 0.3% monocytes. Similar results have been obtained with a murine mAb specific for 5'-NT. As expected, anti-5'-NT antibodies and PMA did not induce the proliferation of ecto-5'-NT-T cells isolated by cell sorting. Pretreatment of total T cells with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C removed an average of 89% of the 5'-NT activity from the cell surface and also inhibited by 83% the ability of the cells to proliferate in response to anti-5'-NT antibodies and PMA. Thus, the activation signal provided by anti-5'-NT antibodies is apparently transduced, in large part, by a form of the enzyme that is attached to the membrane via glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol linkage. These data suggest that 5'-NT may play a role in lymphocyte activation as has been proposed for other glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored lymphocyte surface proteins.