Coexistence of antigen-specific TH1 and TH2 cells in genetically susceptible BALB/c mice infected with Leishmania major.
CD4-positive T cell clones with specificity for the protozoan parasite Leishmania major (L. major) of both the protective TH1 and the disease-exacerbating TH2 subtype were isolated from a diseased L. major-infected mouse of the susceptible BALB/c strain. In addition, TH2 cells were isolated from the lesion-draining lymph nodes of an animal clinically healed nine months after sublethal irradiation and subsequent infection. Our data support the notion that the differential outcome of the disease in non-irradiated versus irradiated BALB/c mice reflects the regulation of the two CD4+ T cell subsets. These data also argue against the possibilities that: 1) TH2 cells and their precursors are totally eliminated by irradiation and that 2) TH2 cells are capable of completely hindering the expansion of TH1 cells in diseased animals.
Lohoff
M
M
Institut für klinische Mikrobiologie Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Federal Republic of Germany.
Sommer
F
F
Solbach
W
W
Röllinghoff
M
M
D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D007895:Leishmania tropica; D007896:Leishmaniasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C
D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D008222:Lymphokines