THE CD19/CR2/TAPA-1 COMPLEX OF B-LYMPHOCYTES - LINKING NATURAL TO ACQUIRED-IMMUNITY

B lymphocytes must respond to low concentrations of antigen despite having low affinity antigen receptors during the primary immune response. CD19, a B cell-restricted membrane protein of the immunoglobulin superfamily that associates with the antigen receptor complex, may help the B cell meet this requirement. Cross-linking CD19 to membrane immunoglobulin (mig) lowers, by two orders of magnitude, the number of mig that must be ligated to activate phospholipase C (PLC) or to induce DNA synthesis. CD19 is coupled, via protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs), to PLC and phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (PI3' kinase), and it interacts with the Src-type nonreceptor PTK Iyn. It also associates with two other membrane proteins, CR2 (complement receptor type 2, CD21), which permits nonimmunologic ligation of CD19, and TAPA-1, a member of the tetraspan family of membrane proteins. CR2 binds fragments of C3 that are covalently attached to glycoconjugates. This indirectly enables CD19 to be crosslinked to mig after preimmune recognition of an immunogen by the complement system. CR2 also can be ligated by CD23, a lectin-like membrane protein that resides on cells that may present antigen to B cells. TAPA-1 associates with several other membrane proteins on B and T cells, including MHC class II, CD4, and CD8, and it promotes Ca2+- and LFA-1-independent homotypic aggregation when ligated directly or indirectly through CD19 or CR2. This may facilitate interaction of the B cell with other cells essential for cellular activation. The formation of this membrane protein complex by representatives of three different protein families helps the B cell resolve its dilemma of combining broad specificity with high sensitivity.