title: An intermolecular mechanism of T cell help for the production of antibodies to the bacterial pathogen, Chlamydia trachomatis.
abstract: Antibodies that neutralize infectivity are directed at the antigenically variant major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia trachomatis. A vaccine for chlamydia will need to include T cell determinants that elicit T helper (Th) cells which provide help to MOMP-specific B cells. A limited number of determinants on MOMP are able to elicit Th cells and sequence diversity in the MOMP molecule may alter T cell recognition of these determinants. We investigated whether two sequence invariant proteins of C. trachomatis that are both abundant and immunogenic could elicit T cell help for the production of antibody to MOMP. We found that outer membrane protein 2 (OMP2) but not outer membrane protein 3 (OMP3) was able to prime BALB/c mice for an anamnestic anti-MOMP response following boost with the intact organism. This demonstration of an intermolecular mechanism of T cell help in a bacterial system has important implications for the development of a chlamydial vaccine as well as the design of vaccines for other antigenically variant non-viral pathogens.
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Allen
authors: R S
authors: RS
authors: Stephens
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000276:immunology*; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D005982:Glutathione Transferase