Abstract

The endocytosis of the T cell differentiation antigen CD4 has been investigated in CD4-transfected HeLa cells, the promyelocytic HL-60 cell line, and in a number of leukemia- or lymphoma-derived T cell lines. CD4 internalization was followed using radioiodinated antibodies in an acid-elution endocytosis assay, or by covalently modifying cell surface proteins with biotin and analyzing CD4 distributions by immunoprecipitation; both approaches gave equivalent results. The assays demonstrated that in transfected HeLa cells and in HL-60 cells CD4 was constitutively internalized and recycled in the absence of ligand. Immunogold labeling and electron microscopy demonstrated that CD4 enters cells through coated pits. In contrast to the nonlymphocytic cells, T cell lines showed very little endocytosis of CD4. Measurements of fluid phase endocytosis and morphometric analysis of the endosome compartment indicated that the endocytic capacities of HeLa and lymphoid cells are equivalent and suggested that the low level of CD4 uptake in lymphocytic cells is due to exclusion of CD4 from coated pits. This conclusion was supported by experiments using truncated CD4 molecules, lacking the bulk of the cytoplasmic domain, which were internalized equally efficiently in both transfected lymphocytes and HeLa cells. Together, these results indicate that the cytoplasmic domain of CD4 mediates the different interactions with the endocytic apparatus in lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells. We suggest that the CD4-associated lymphocyte-specific protein tyrosine kinase p56lck may be involved in preventing CD4 endocytosis in T cells.