title: Defining a T-cell epitope within HSP 65 in recurrent aphthous stomatitis.
abstract: The 65 kD heat shock protein (HSP) has been implicated in the aetiology of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). We have previously demonstrated that peptide 91-105 derived from the sequence of mycobacterial 65 kD HSP stimulates specifically lymphocytes from patients with RAS. In this investigation, we show that both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were significantly stimulated with mycobacterial peptide 91-105. In contrast, the human homologous peptide 116-130 stimulated only CD4+ T cells. Inhibition studies showed that CD4+ T cells were class II restricted, whereas CD8+ T cells were class I restricted. We then used truncated or substituted peptides, and demonstrated that residues 95-105 appear to be important, and residue 104(Arg) critical, in stimulating the T cells. Thus, peptide 95- 105 may constitute a T-cell proliferative epitope in RAS. We postulate that the high load of micro-organisms that colonize the oral mucosa may initiate an immune response by the microbial HSP 65-derived peptide 95-105, stimulating the numerous Langerhans cells in the oral mucosa to activate a cross-reacting immune response to the homologous peptide 116-130 within the epithelial HSP 60, initiating the immunopathological changes that lead to RAS.
authors: Department of Periodontology and Preventive Dentistry, GKT Dental Institute, London, UK. adam.hasan@kcl.ac.uk
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Hasan
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Shinnick
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Mizushima
authors: R
authors: R
authors: van der Zee
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Lehner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018833:Chaperonins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D013281:Stomatitis, Aphthous / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C074119:heat-shock protein 65, Mycobacterium; D018833:Chaperonins