Evidence for an association of CD45 with 32,000-33,000 MW phosphoproteins on murine T and B lymphocytes

In human T cells CD45 is reported to associate with both cell surface and intracellular molecules including CD2, CD4/CD8, CD5, p56(lck) and p59(fyn). In this study the association of molecules with CD45 in murine T lymphocytes was explored using biotinylation, chemical cross-linking, immunoprecipitation and ³²P-labelling. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of CD45 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (S-450-15.2) immunoprecipitates from Triton X-100 lysates of murine thymocytes that were surface biotinylated and treated with the chemical cross-linker 3,3'-dithio-bis(sulpho-succinimidylpropionate) (DTSSP) showed that CD45 can be chemically linked to molecules of 25,000-32,000, 42,000 and 60,000-70,000 MW. The CD45 mAb also co-precipitated a prominent 32,000 MW molecule from digitonin lysates of surface biotinylated murine thymocytes, splenocytes and D10 cells, but a weaker association was also detected on splenic B cells and on the murine B-cell lymphoma line A20. The results suggest that in these cells CD45 is associated with a 32,000 MW molecule which is exposed extracellularly. Experiments in which thymocytes were biotinylated after permeabilization with lysolecithin showed that additional molecules of 33,000, 5,000, 60,000 and 90,000 MW, presumably localized intracellularly, also co-precipitated with CD45. Labelling of murine thymocytes or D10 cells with H₃ ³²PO₄ in vivo, and of CD45 immunoprecipitates by in vitro kinase reaction, revealed that the 32,000-33,000 MW molecules are phosphoproteins. The relationship of these molecules with the 30,000-34,000 MW molecules previously reported to associate with CD45 in human T cells is not clear as a number of differences were observed. Firstly, the molecular weight of the CD45-associated 32,000-33,000 MW molecule(s) on murine T cells and B cells is slightly lower than that observed in the human T-cell line Jurkat (34,000 MW). Secondly, phosphoamino acid analysis after in vitro kinase labelling of CD45 immunoprecipitates showed that the murine 32,000-33,000 MW molecules are phosphorylated exclusively on serines. Thirdly, although in vitro phosphorylation of the 32,000-33,000 MW molecules was inhibited by preincubation with either GTP-γ-S or GDP-β-S, the 32,000-33,000 MW CD45-associated molecules did not bind ³²P-GTP, GDP-agarose, or react with antisera to a consensus sequence of G proteins. The crucial role of CD45 for proper function of the T-cell receptor (TCR), suggests that the CD45-associated 32,000-33,000 MW molecules and kinases also may play a role in the signalling events leading to T-cell activation.