Identification of mycobacterial antigens recognized by T lymphocytes.
The development of vaccines capable of inducing protective immunity against mycobacterial infection depends in part on the identification of antigenic determinants that activate T cells with antimycobacterial effector function. Various approaches designed to analyze the recognition of mycobacterial antigens by T cells are reviewed. In addition to the established approach of using serologically defined antigens, alternative methods independent of antibody preselection, such as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-fractionated immunoblots of mycobacteria, can be used to probe the specificity of the T cell repertoire. Furthermore, the application of recombinant DNA expression combined with that of synthetic peptides whose sequences are predicted to constitute T cell determinants allow the localization of T cell epitopes within a protein. The use of these techniques in defining potentially "pathogenic and protective" T cell epitopes in mycobacteria is discussed.
Lamb
J R
JR
Medical Research Council Tuberculosis and Related Infections Unit, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Lathigra
R
R
Rothbard
J B
JB
Sweetser
D
D
Young
R A
RA
Ivanyi
J
J
Young
D B
DB
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D015342:DNA Probes; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D000939:Epitopes / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D015342:DNA Probes; D000939:Epitopes