Cell response to a salt-extractable and sonicated Brucella melitensis 16M antigen in human brucellosis.
We compared the immunological responses of leukocytes taken from healthy negative controls, laboratory workers immunized with the phenol-insoluble French vaccine against brucellosis, patients acutely ill with brucellosis, and patients chronically infected with Brucella melitensis. A salt-extractable antigen (protein-rich but with traces of lipopolysaccharide) and a sonicated suspension from B. melitensis 16M were used as antigens for in vitro lymphocyte proliferation test. Quantitation of T cells showed that the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ cells decreased as the condition of the patient deteriorated. An assay to quantitate the cell-mediated immunity showed that the activities of mononuclear cells stimulated with concanavalin A increased as the disease progressed as well.
Moreno-Lafont
M C
MC
Departamento de Inmunología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Colonia Santo Tomás, México D.F., México.
López-Merino
A
A
López-Santiago
R
R
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000276:immunology*; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000276:immunology*; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D003208:Concanavalin A; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D012492:Salts; D013010:Sonication
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D012492:Salts; D003208:Concanavalin A