title: CD8+ T lymphocytes protect SCID mice against Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection.
abstract: Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that cause opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients. The role of two main T cell subsets in anti-microsporidial immunity has been studied using an Encephalitozoon cuniculi-severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse model. Whereas SCID mice reconstituted with CD4+ T lymphocyte-depleted naive BALB/c splenocytes resolved the infection, adoptive transfer of CD8+ T cell-depleted splenocytes failed to protect the animals against a lethal E. cuniculi infection. Splenocytes from E. cuniculi-immune mice specifically killed syngeneic infected macrophages in a short-term 51Cr-release assay. These results suggest the crucial role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the protection against E. cuniculi infection.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Branisovská 31, 370 05, Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Braunfuchsová
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salát
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kopecký
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D009670:Encephalitozoon cuniculi; D016890:Encephalitozoonosis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016513:Mice, SCID; D010641:Phenotype; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology