Girvan A, Aldwell F E, Buchan G S, Faulkner L, Baird M A
Department of Microbiology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Scand J Immunol. 2003 Feb;57(2):107-14. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3083.2003.01191.x.
Mycobacteria are capable of surviving and replicating in host macrophages, where they can release antigenic material into the environment. However, unlike dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages do not appear to be capable of activating naïve T cells. Therefore, this work investigated antigen transfer between macrophages and DCs. We generated culture supernatants from bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-infected and uninfected macrophages and then determined whether DCs could present these extracellular mycobacterial antigens to T cells. Here, we show that DCs pulsed with antigens released from BCG-infected macrophages can stimulate primed T cells in vitro and initiate naïve T-cell responses in vivo. These results suggest that antigen transfer can occur between macrophages and DCs.
分枝杆菌能够在宿主巨噬细胞中存活并复制，在巨噬细胞中它们可将抗原性物质释放到环境中。然而，与树突状细胞（DCs）不同，巨噬细胞似乎无法激活初始T细胞。因此，这项研究调查了巨噬细胞与DCs之间的抗原转移。我们制备了卡介苗（BCG）感染和未感染的巨噬细胞的培养上清液，然后确定DCs是否能够将这些细胞外分枝杆菌抗原呈递给T细胞。在此，我们表明，用BCG感染的巨噬细胞释放的抗原脉冲处理的DCs能够在体外刺激致敏T细胞，并在体内引发初始T细胞反应。这些结果表明，巨噬细胞与DCs之间可发生抗原转移。
