title: Staphylokinase-specific cell-mediated immunity in humans.
abstract: Staphylokinase is a highly fibrin-specific clot-dissolving agent that constitutes a promising drug for clinical development. It is of bacterial origin, and the majority of patients develop neutralizing Ab after its administration. Several antigenic regions, recognized by these Ab, have been identified, but the underlying immunogenic features of staphylokinase remain unknown. In this study, we show that staphylokinase is a T cell-dependent Ag, and that an immunological memory may be acquired, even without administration of staphylokinase. Thrombolysis with staphylokinase provokes the proliferation of staphylokinase-specific T lymphocytes, which remain elevated over 10 mo posttreatment. Interestingly, analysis of a large number of staphylokinase-specific T cell clones isolated from 10 unrelated donors revealed only six distinct immunogenic regions in the molecule. Moreover, five of the six regions are recognized by T lymphocytes from several individuals, indicating that these regions are not restricted to a single HLA-DR allele. Therefore, these new insights can guide the design of variants with a lower immunogenic profile in humans.
authors.affiliation: Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Campus Gasthuisberg O&N, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. petra.warmerdam@med.kuleuven.ac.be
authors.forename: Petra A M
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Warmerdam
authors.forename: Kristel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanderlick
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandervoort
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Smedt
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Plaisance
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Maeyer
authors.forename: Désiré
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Collen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002999:Clone Cells; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; C022653:auR protein, Staphylococcus aureus