title: Role of T helper cell precursor frequency on vesicular stomatitis virus neutralizing antibody responses in a T cell receptor beta chain transgenic mouse.
abstract: During most immune responses, T cells help antigen-specific B cells to make antibodies against the antigen. One of the contributions of T cells to antibody production is the induction of isotype switching from IgM to IgG, which is the most abundant isotype in blood serum during recall responses. Other features of memory responses are faster kinetics and higher titers of antibody in the serum. What causes a primary immune response to be different from a secondary is not yet very clear and, particularly, the influence of precursor frequencies of T and B cells on memory responses still remains to be answered. To address this issue, a transgenic (tg) mouse line (ADA) was developed; it expresses the beta chain (V beta 2) of a major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted T cell receptor (TcR) specific for the glycoprotein (G) of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) serotype Indiana (VSV-IND). These mice exhibit an increased precursor frequency of VSV-specific CD4+ T cells that leads to enhanced neutralizing IgG production against VSV in vivo in unprimed mice. The data indicate that increased frequency of naive specific helper T cells alone may account for features of a memory phenotype such as high titer of antibodies and isotype switching.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Freer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burkhart
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rülicke
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ghelardi
authors.forename: U H
authors.initials: UH
authors.lastname: Rohrer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pircher
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Zinkernagel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hengartner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D017578:Immunoglobulin Class Switching; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008211:Lymphocyte Cooperation; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D014721:Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta