The regulatory role of heat shock protein 70-reactive CD4+ T cells during rat listeriosis.
Protection against infection with Listeria monocytogenes depends primarily on Listeria-specific T cells. We show here that CD4+ TCR alphabeta+ T cells are capable of recognizing the mycobacterial heat shock protein (HSP) 70, that appears in the peritoneal cavity of F344 rats infected i.p. with L. monocytogenes. The HSP70-reactive CD4+ T cells recognized a peptide comprising 234-252 residues as present in the 70 kDa HSP of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the context of RT1.B MHC class II molecules. Analysis of TCR Vbeta gene expression with RT-PCR revealed that the HSP70-reactive CD4+ T cells predominantly used the Vbeta16 gene segment, whereas the heat-killed Listeria (HKL)-specific T cells expressed a diverse set of Vbeta gene segments. In contrast to the HKL-specific T cells producing IFN-gamma, the HSP70-reactive CD4+ T cells produced TGF-beta1 and IL-10 but neither Th1- or Th2-type cytokines. Adoptive transfer with HSP70-reactive T cells rendered rats susceptible to listerial infection. Collectively, these results proposed that the HSP70-reactive CD4+ T cells appearing during rat listeriosis may be involved in termination of Th1 cell-mediated excessive inflammation after the battle against L. monocytogenes has been won.
Kimura
Y
Y
Laboratory of Host Defense and Germfree Life, Research Institute for Disease Mechanism and Control, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Yamada
K
K
Sakai
T
T
Mishima
K
K
Nishimura
H
H
Matsumoto
Y
Y
Singh
M
M
Yoshikai
Y
Y
D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000276:immunology*; D008088:Listeriosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010529:Peritoneal Cavity / Q000166:cytology; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000096:biosynthesis
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D000939:Epitopes; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D016753:Interleukin-10