title: Guinea pig cellular immune responses to proteins secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
abstract: To study the immunological activity of proteins secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we carried out comparative studies in guinea pigs infected intravenously with 2.5 x 10(3) CFU of this organism or with 2.5 x 10(4) CFU of Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Groups of infected guinea pigs were skin tested with fractions of secreted proteins covering well-defined narrow-molecular-mass regions, or such fractions were used for lymphocyte stimulation experiments. The lymphocyte stimulation experiments showed that the fraction containing proteins with molecular masses below 10 kDa had a superior stimulating capacity in tuberculous guinea pigs whereas the 24- to 30-kDa fraction gave significantly higher skin reactions in this group compared with BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs. A precise mapping within the region from 23 to 35 kDa by using a combination of narrow overlapping fractions and purified proteins enabled the identification of the 24-kDa antigen MPT64 as a molecule specific for tuberculous infection. Thus, MPT64 is a promising candidate for a specific diagnostic skin test reagent for human tuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: Analysis and Control, Department, Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hasløv
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gottschau
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000276:immunology; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000379:methods*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins