title: Peptide-primed CD4+ cells and malaria sporozoites.
abstract: We have mapped a T cell epitope in the circumsporozoite (CS) protein of the murine malaria parasite, Plasmodium yoelii. A 21-mer synthetic peptide corresponding to the amino acid positions 59-79 (referred to as Py1), induced specific proliferation in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, and provided help for the production of antibodies to peptides from the repetitive region, (QGPGAP)n, of the same CS protein, when mice were immunized with the Py1 peptide conjugated to the repetitive peptide. Long-term CD3+CD4+CD8-TCR alpha beta+ T cell lines and clones were derived from both strains of mice. These lines and clones, that proliferated in an MHC-restricted fashion, did not recognize peptides from the homologous region of another murine malaria parasite, P. berghei. About 50% of these clones produced detectable amounts of IFN-gamma and IL-2, whereas the remaining produced IL-4, IL-5, and IL-6. In preliminary experiments, some of these clones specifically inhibited P. yoelii sporozoite development in vitro and conferred protection in vivo in passive transfer experiments. These findings show that heterogenous T cell populations are activated in mice upon immunization with a short peptide from the P. yoelii CS protein and that some of these cells could be active in the effector arm of the immune response against malaria sporozoites.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Del Giudice
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grillot
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rénia
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Corradin
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Louis
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazier
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lambert
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000276:immunology*; D010967:Plasmodium yoelii / Q000276:immunology*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D000939:Epitopes; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C041595:circumsporozoite protein, Protozoan