T cell response to purified filtrate antigen 85 from Mycobacterium bovis Bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in leprosy patients.
T cell proliferation and IFN-gamma production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 25 healthy controls and 39 leprosy patients were tested against BCG-bacilli and culture filtrate. Mycobacterium leprae and purified antigen 85 (the major secreted 30-32 kD protein antigen) from M. bovis strain BCG. In lepromin negative healthy controls, blastogenesis was low to M. leprae and completely negative to antigen 85. IFN-gamma levels were very low, close to detection limits. In all lepromin positive controls, significant proliferation and IFN-gamma secretion was found in response to M. leprae and antigen 85. In the group of lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients, 25/29 of patients (with either positive (13) or negative (12) lymphoproliferative response to BCG) were unreactive to M. leprae or to antigen 85. Four LL patients with positive T cell response to BCG responded with detectable lymphoproliferative response and IFN-gamma secretion to antigen 85. All tuberculoid (TT) leprosy patients responded to BCG, M. leprae and antigen 85. Hence, T cells from leprosy patients and controls demonstrate a marked parallelism of responsiveness towards whole M. leprae and purified antigen 85 from M. bovis BCG, suggesting strong cross-reactivity between the two species and underlining the biological importance of such secreted antigens.
Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Sénégal.
P
P
Launois
K
K
Huygen
J
J
De Bruyn
M
M
N'Diaye
B
B
Diouf
L
L
Sarthouj
J
J
Grimaud
J
J
Millan
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015440:Leprosy, Lepromatous / Q000276:immunology*; D015441:Leprosy, Tuberculoid / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology*; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C065036:antigen 85, Mycobacterium bovis; D007371:Interferon-gamma