TCR activation inhibits chemotaxis toward stromal cell-derived factor-1: evidence for reciprocal regulation between CXCR4 and the TCR.

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), a C-X-C family chemokine, is a potent T lymphocyte chemoattractant. We investigated the effects of T cell activation on the chemotactic response to SDF-1. Anti-CD3 Ab stimulation of either Jurkat T cells or murine peripheral CD4+ T lymphocytes produced a dramatic inhibition of SDF-1-induced chemotaxis. In contrast, the SDF-1 responses of Jurkat clones with deficiencies in key TCR signaling components (Lck, CD45, and TCR-beta), were only marginally reduced by anti-CD3 stimulation. Similar to PMA treatment, which abolished both CXCR4 receptor expression and the chemotactic response of Jurkat cells to SDF-1, anti-CD3 Ab treatment reduced cell surface expression of CXCR4 to 65% of the control value, an effect that was blocked by protein kinase C inhibitors. Our data suggest that initial T cell activation events inhibit the response of Jurkat T cells to CXCR4 stimulation. In contrast, SDF-1 treatment resulted in a reduction of tyrosine phosphorylation of the TCR downstream effectors, ZAP-70, SLP-76, and LAT (linker for activation of T cells), suggesting that this chemokine potentially regulates the threshold for T cell activation.