Visualization of Cytolytic T Cell Differentiation and Granule Exocytosis with T Cells from Mice Expressing Active Fluorescent Granzyme B

To evaluate acquisition and activation of cytolytic functions during immune responses we generated knock in (KI) mice expressing Granzyme B (GZMB) as a fusion protein with red fluorescent tdTomato (GZMB-Tom). As for GZMB in wild type (WT) lymphocytes, GZMB-Tom was absent from naïve CD8 and CD4 T cells in GZMB-Tom-KI mice. It was rapidly induced in most CD8 T cells and in a subpopulation of CD4 T cells in response to stimulation with antibodies to CD3/CD28. A fraction of splenic NK cells expressed GZMB-Tom ex vivo with most becoming positive upon culture in IL-2. GZMB-Tom was present in CTL granules and active as a protease when these degranulated into cognate target cells, as shown with target cells expressing a specific FRET reporter construct. Using T cells from mice expressing GZMB-Tom but lacking perforin, we show that the transfer of fluorescent GZMB-Tom into target cells was dependent on perforin, favoring a role for perforin in delivery of GZMB at the target cells’ plasma membranes. Time-lapse video microscopy showed Ca++ signaling in CTL upon interaction with cognate targets, followed by relocalization of GZMB-Tom-containing granules to the synaptic contact zone. A perforin-dependent step was next visualized by the fluorescence signal from the non-permeant dye TO-PRO-3 at the synaptic cleft, minutes before the labeling of the target cell nucleus, characterizing a previously undescribed synaptic event in CTL cytolysis. Transferred OVA-specific GZMB-Tom-expressing CD8 T cells acquired GZMB-Tom expression in Listeria monocytogenes-OVA infected mice as soon as 48h after infection. These GZMB-Tom positive CD8 T cells localized in the splenic T-zone where they interacted with CD11c positive dendritic cells (DC), as shown by GZMB-Tom granule redistribution to the T/DC contact zone. GZMB-Tom-KI mice thus also provide tools to visualize acquisition and activation of cytolytic function in vivo.