Evidence for the presence of M. leprae reactive T lymphocytes in patients with lepromatous leprosy.
Evidence for the presence of Mycobacterium leprae reactive T cells in many lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients was obtained using in vitro antigen-induced lymphoproliferative responses. (1) Co-cultures of T enriched cells from LL patients when combined with 2 h adherent cells (AC) from HLA-D compatible tuberculoid leprosy individuals showed significant levels of 3H-thymidine incorporation in the presence of soluble and integral M. leprae antigens. (2) More interestingly, autologous T cell + AC co-cultures also showed significant improvement in antigen-induced lymphoproliferation in nine of 16 lepromatous patients. Insignificant improvement was observed in similar co-cultures of tuberculoid leprosy patients. (3) Addition of exogenous, purified human interleukin-2 (IL-2) to antigen stimulated PBMC from some lepromatous patients showed the best improvement in terms of overall 3H-thymidine incorporation, indicating that lepromatous patients possess T cells which can differentiate to an IL-2 responsive state. Significantly, the level of proliferation varied within the group. A proportion of clinically similar lepromatous patients failed to show improvement by any of the above methods.
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology; D007918:Leprosy / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D007376:Interleukin-2; D013936:Thymidine