Alteration of HLA-B27 peptide presentation after infection of transfected murine L cells by Shigella flexneri

Shigella flexneri is a triggering agent for reactive arthritis in HLA-B27-susceptible individuals. Considering the intracellular multiplication of bacteria, it seems likely that bacterial peptides may be presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I pathway. To examine this hypothesis, we infected HLA-B*2705- and/or human beta2-microglobulin-transfected murine L-cell lines with M90T, an invasive strain of S. flexneri. Bacterial infection induced no detectable modifications in the biosynthesis and expression level of HLA-B27, as assessed by immunoprecipitation, Northern blot analysis, and flow cytometry. Using confocal microscopy, we observed that bacterial infection induced a clustering of HLA-B27 molecules during macropinocytosis and before bacterial dissemination from cell to cell. Peptides naturally bound to HLA-B27 molecules were acid eluted from infected cells and separated by high-performance liquid chromatography. Major differences were observed in high-performance liquid chromatography profiles and in the nature of peptides presented following bacterial infection. Although most of the antigens presented were not accessed by Edman degradation, we obtained two sequences partially homologous to bacterial proteins. These peptides lacked the major HLA-B27 peptide anchor (Arg) at position 2, and one had an unusual length of 14 amino acids. These data suggest that alterations in the peptide presentation by HLA-B27 occur during infection, which could be relevant to the pathogenesis of HLA-B27-related arthritis.