Parasite-accessory cell interactions in theileriosis. Antigen presentation by Theileria annulata-infected macrophages and production of continuously growing antigen-presenting cell lines.

Theileria annulata, a protozoan parasite of cattle, infects major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II+ cells, particularly macrophages, and transforms them into continuously growing cell lines. We examined the effects of parasitism by T. annulata on antigen-presenting cell function. T. annulata-infected cells (TaH) presented ovalbumin (as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation) to both resting autologous bovine T cells and ovalbumin-specific bovine CD4+ T cell lines. However, the former cells were also stimulated by TaH without exogenous antigen although to a lesser degree than in the presence of antigen. This "nonspecific" proliferation was not seen with the ovalbumin-specific T cell lines. The magnitude of response by resting T cells in the presence of antigen, to TaH or purified peripheral blood monocytes, was essentially similar. However, on a per cell basis fewer TaH were required. Considerably greater proliferation to antigen was seen with the ovalbumin-specific T cell lines in the presence of TaH compared to monocytes and again fewer TaH were required to elicit a response. The kinetics of processing did not appear to be substantially altered in TaH and the increased proliferation may be due to the elevated MHC class II expression of these cells. Genetic restriction studies with the T cell lines indicated that the restricting elements used to present ovalbumin by TaH were the same as those used by monocytes, as identified by an isoelectric focusing technique. The continuously growing cell lines provide us with a unique model for investigating parasite-accessory cell interactions in theileriosis. The augmented antigen presenting cell activity of TaH may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease. TaH will also provide us with a valuable resource for our antigen presentation studies. In particular, the enhanced antigen presentation by TaH enabled us to detect responses to lower levels of antigen, often an important consideration for experiments where the quantity of antigen available is the major limiting factor.