title: Antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells and protective immunity to tuberculosis.
abstract: The continuing HIV/AIDS epidemic and the spread of multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis has led to the perpetuation of the worldwide tuberculosis epidemic. While M. bovis BCG is widely used as a vaccine, it lacks efficacy in preventing pulmonary tuberculosis in adults [1]. To combat this ongoing scourge, vaccine development for tuberculosis is a global priority. Most infected individuals develop long-lived protective immunity, which controls and contains M. tuberculosis in a T cell-dependent manner. An effective T cells response determines whether the infection resolves or develops into clinically evident disease. Consequently, there is great interest in determining which T cells subsets mediate anti-mycobacterial immunity, delineating their effector functions, and evaluating whether vaccination can elicit these T cells subsets and induce protective immunity. CD4(+) T cells are critical for resistance to M. tuberculosis in both humans and rodent models. CD4(+) T cells are required to control the initial infection as well as to prevent recrudescence in both humans and mice [2]. While it is generally accepted that class II MHC-restricted CD4(+) T cells are essential for immunity to tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis infection elicits CD8(+) T cells responses in both people and in experimental animals. CD8(+) T cells are also recruited to the lung during M. tuberculosis infection and are found in the granulomas of infected people. Thus, how CD8(+) T cells contribute to overall immunity to tuberculosis and whether antigens recognized by CD8(+) T cells would enhance the efficacy of vaccine strategies continue to be important questions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. sbehar@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Samuel M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Behar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D045142:Cross-Priming; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology; D011992:Endosomes / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D037182:T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C117940:CFP-10 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; C093276:ESAT-6 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D032581:Tuberculosis Vaccines