title: Frequency of antigen-specific B cells during experimental ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
abstract: Chlamydia-specific antibody-secreting cells have been identified in conjunctiva and draining cervical lymph nodes by an ELISPOT assay in a cynomolgus monkey model of trachoma. These local sites contained numbers of chlamydia-specific B cells that were higher than those in distant inguinal lymph nodes and peripheral blood. The numbers of chlamydia-specific immunoglobulin G-secreting B cells observed were 5 to 57 per 10(6) cells in conjunctiva and 24 to 996 per 10(6) cells in cervical lymph nodes during conjunctival infection or after challenge of immune monkeys with the chlamydial 57-kDa heat shock protein (hsp60). These studies demonstrate a large chlamydia-specific B-cell component in the conjunctiva during ocular chlamydial infection. These results are similar to our findings for chlamydia-specific T-cell responses.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Laboratories, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Huneke
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Prendergast
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Whittum-Hudson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000276:immunology*; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000276:immunology; D003228:Conjunctiva / Q000276:immunology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D014141:Trachoma / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D002772:Cholera Toxin