T-cell antigens of Mycobacterium immunogenum, an etiological agent of occupational hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
The T lymphocyte-mediated immune lung disease hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) in machinists is poorly understood for disease mechanisms and diagnosis due in part to lack of information on causative T-cell antigens of the etiological agent Mycobacterium immunogenum (MI). Therefore, overall objective of the current study was to identify T-cell reactive antigens of this recently recognized pathogen. In this direction, purified recombinant form of five of the seroreactive proteins (reported in our initial study), including three cell wall-associated (arbitrarily designated as antigens A through C) and two secretory (AgD & AgE), were examined for their potential to activate antigen-presenting cells (APCs) viz. alveolar macrophages and human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs) and for T-cell reactivity. All five proteins strongly activated APCs by inducing inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 & IL-1α) and nitric oxide (NO), albeit to a varying extent (AgE≥AgD>AgB≥AgA≥AgC), implying their differential potential for activation of APCs. However, only two of the five proteins (AgA, AgD) showed significant T-cell response (T lymphocyte proliferation and IFN-γ secretion) when tested using sensitized T-cells from MI-induced HP mouse model. These antigens also activated the human naïve CD4(+) T cells in presence of autologous DCs as measured using ELISPOT for IFN-γ. Immuno-informatic analysis predicted that the identified T-cell antigens (AgA and AgD) bind more number of class I and class II HLA alleles as compared with the reference immuno-dominant antigens ESAT-6 and CFP-10 from the tuberculous mycobacterial species M. tuberculosis. Predicted human population coverage for the epitopes of AgA (90.87%) and AgD (88.09%) was also higher as compared to those for the reference antigens ESAT-6 (82.42%) and CFP-10 (80.21%). These two antigens were further predicted to be highly immunogenic for class I peptide MHC (pMHC) complex as compared to the reference antigens. Collectively, our results imply that AgA and AgD are T-cell antigens with a high HLA binding frequency as well as population coverage for HLA alleles. This first report on T-cell antigens and epitopes of M. immunogenum is significant as it is expected to open up avenues for understanding pathogenesis mechanisms and developing T-cell-based immunodiagnostic tools for this poorly investigated occupational lung disease.
Microbial Pathogenesis and Toxicogenomics Laboratory, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056, United States of America.
Harish
H
Chandra
Microbial Pathogenesis and Toxicogenomics Laboratory, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056, United States of America. Electronic address: jagjit.yadav@uc.edu.
Jagjit S
JS
Yadav
D000542:Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002469:Cell Separation; D058501:Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008262:Macrophage Activation / Q000276:immunology; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000276:immunology*
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
Epitopes; HLA alleles; Hypersensitivity pneumonitis; IFN-γ response; Mycobacterium immunogenum; T cell antigens