Protective resistance to experimental Borrelia burgdorferi infection of mice by adoptive transfer of a CD4+ T cell clone.
The anti-spirochete T cell immune response to immunization with Borrelia burgdorferi was investigated. The cellular immune response to vaccination of immunocompetent BALB/c mice was characterized initially in vitro by assay of the proliferative response of primary lymph node cells to B. burgdorferi sonicate. Subsequently, an anti-spirochete T cell line (RBN2.1) and clone (97.1) were derived from lymph node cells of BALB/c mice primed with B. burgdorferi antigen. Both the line and clone were CD4+ by flow cytometric analysis. Significantly, RBN2.1 and clone 97.1 were able to transfer resistance to infection to syngeneic naive recipients. Assay of antigen-specific interleukin-2, interleukin-4, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma production demonstrated that clone 97.1 was of the Th2 subclass. When B. burgdorferi sonicate was fractionated on SDS-PAGE and then electroeluted, clone 97.1 was reactive exclusively to a spirochete protein of approximately 21 kDa. These data suggest that T-cell-mediated protective immunity to infection by B. burgdorferi can be elicited by active immunization.
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Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York 10016, USA.
Frey
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D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D016207:Cytokines