Van Schooten W C, Ottenhoff T H, Klatser P R, Thole J, De Vries R R, Kolk A H
Laboratory of Tropical Hygiene, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur J Immunol. 1988 Jun;18(6):849-54. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830180604.
To identify the molecular localization and specificity of Mycobacterium leprae antigenic determinants inducing T cell activation, we studied the reactivity of M. leprae-reactive T cell clones from two tuberculoid leprosy patients towards a battery of different mycobacterial strains and purified mycobacterial antigens. Of the 38 T cell clones tested 8 appeared to be M. leprae specific (specificity A), another 8 were cross-reactive with at least one of the three mycobacterial strains, M. lepraemurium, M. vaccae and M. scrofulaceum (specificity B), 5 were reactive with most but not all strains (specificity C) and the remaining 18 were reactive with all 17 mycobacterial strains tested (specificity D), but not with nonmycobacterial antigens. All T cell clones were tested with the 36K and 65K antigen isolated from M. leprae, and with the M. leprae and M. bovis BCG 65K proteins produced in E. coli by recombinant DNA. Four T cell clones appeared to recognize epitopes on the 36K antigen, nine T cell clones recognized the 65K antigen. These 2 M. leprae antigens, 36K and 65K, thus seem to contain major T cell epitopes. At least 3 different epitopes could be defined on the 36K antigen of which one is M. leprae specific, one of specificity B and one of specificity C. Two distinct epitopes were discerned on the 65K antigen of which one is M. leprae specific and one of specificity D. The M. leprae-specific epitopes on the 36K and 65K antigen may help in the development of a specific serodiagnostic and skin test.
为了确定诱导T细胞活化的麻风分枝杆菌抗原决定簇的分子定位和特异性，我们研究了来自两名结核样型麻风患者的麻风分枝杆菌反应性T细胞克隆对一系列不同分枝杆菌菌株和纯化的分枝杆菌抗原的反应性。在测试的38个T细胞克隆中，8个似乎对麻风分枝杆菌具有特异性（特异性A），另外8个与三种分枝杆菌菌株（鼠麻风分枝杆菌、母牛分枝杆菌和瘰疬分枝杆菌）中的至少一种有交叉反应（特异性B），5个对大多数但不是所有菌株有反应（特异性C），其余18个对测试的所有17种分枝杆菌菌株有反应（特异性D），但对非分枝杆菌抗原无反应。所有T细胞克隆都用从麻风分枝杆菌中分离出的36K和65K抗原，以及通过重组DNA在大肠杆菌中产生的麻风分枝杆菌和牛分枝杆菌卡介苗65K蛋白进行了测试。四个T细胞克隆似乎识别36K抗原上 的表位，九个T细胞克隆识别65K抗原。因此，这两种麻风分枝杆菌抗原，36K和65K，似乎包含主要的T细胞表位。在36K抗原上可以定义至少3种不同的表位，其中一种是麻风分枝杆菌特异性的，一种是特异性B的，一种是特异性C的。在65K抗原上识别出两种不同的表位，其中一种是麻风分枝杆菌特异性的，一种是特异性D的。36K和65K抗原上的麻风分枝杆菌特异性表位可能有助于开发特异性血清诊断和皮肤试验。
