title: T cells from unprimed mice respond to the self antigen heme, in a class II restricted manner, at a frequency similar to alloresponses.
abstract: Heme is a non-protein autoantigen which stimulates potent proliferative responses by T cells from unprimed mice of some strains. These studies show that T cells responding to heme in primary responses are predominantly CD4+, classically I-A restricted, and use diverse TCR characterized by the expression of distinct V, D and J gene segments. These characteristics distinguish heme from superantigens and mitogens which exhibit degenerate MHC restriction and, in the case of superantigens, restricted V gene usage. Using limiting dilution analysis these studies also show that the potent primary response of H-2s mice reflects a high frequency (0.26-0.45%) of heme responsive T cells in the periphery, comparable to the frequency of alloresponsive T cells reported by others in primary mixed lymphocyte reactions. In contrast, heme responsive T cells occur at -10-fold lower frequency in unprimed H-2d mice (0.03%). To determine the antigen recognized by heme reactive T cells, the mass spectra of peptides eluted from the high responder haplotype, I-A(s), were examined. These indicated a markedly different molecular weight distribution of peptides isolated from cells grown in the presence of heme, compared with those from cells grown in its absence. This suggests that heme mediates the expansion of diverse T cells in the peripheral repertoire by a mechanism similar to that for allogeneic responses in which the profile of naturally processed peptides bound to the MHC class II molecule is changed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.forename: Z K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Caton
authors.forename: X X
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Cerasoli
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Paterson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000187:drug effects; D001483:Base Sequence; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D006183:H-2 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006418:Heme / Q000276:immunology* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology; D006825:Hybridomas / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D018655:Lymphocyte Count / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008806:Mice, Inbred AKR; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D006183:H-2 Antigens; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D010455:Peptides; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D006418:Heme