title: Antigen-specific CD8+ T cells respond to Chlamydia trachomatis in the genital mucosa.
abstract: Following sexual transmission, Chlamydia trachomatis specifically targets genital tract epithelial cells. Because epithelial cells are readily recognized by CD8+ T cells, the response of CD8+ T cells to Chlamydia infection has been explored in a number of studies. It has been shown that CD8+ T cells are present in the genital tracts of mice following C. trachomatis infection, but the specificity of these T cells has remained undefined. To determine whether Chlamydia-specific CD8+ T cells migrate to the genital tract in response to Chlamydia infection, we generated retrogenic mice that express a TCR specific for a Chlamydia-specific T cell Ag CrpA. T cells from the retrogenic mice were transferred into naive recipient animals to increase the frequency of Chlamydia-specific T cells to a level at which they could be tracked during primary infection. We observed that the Chlamydia-specific retrogenic T cells proliferated in lymph nodes draining the genital tract in response to genital infection with C. trachomatis. Furthermore, we found that these cells acquired the ability to produce IFN-gamma and migrated into the genital mucosa of the infected mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Nadia R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Roan
authors.forename: Michael N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Starnbach
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte / Q000276:immunology; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005836:Genitalia, Female / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D007371:Interferon-gamma