Deem R L, Doughty F A, Beaman B L
J Immunol. 1983 May;130(5):2401-6.
Macrophage-depleted populations of splenic lymphocytes obtained from immunized and nonimmunized BALB/c mice were tested to determine their ability to kill Nocardia asteroides GUH-2 in vitro. Nocardia-primed lymphocytes, but not normal lymphocytes, killed N. asteroides. The ability of these lymphocytes to kill N. asteroides could be further enhanced by in vitro activation of the lymphocytes with nocardial cell wall fragments 12 to 48 hr before challenge. The nocardicidal activity of the lymphocytes was greater in populations enriched in T cells and was eliminated by lysing the lymphocytes with anti-Thy-1.2 plus C. N. asteroides-primed T cells were unable to kill a distantly related actinomycete, Rothia dentocariosa, and killed other species of Nocardia (N. brasiliensis and N. caviae) poorly or not at all, indicating that the microbicidal activity was immunologically specific. Light microscopy and electron microscopy revealed a close association between the T cell membrane and the cell wall of N. asteroides, with possible damage to the latter structure. The ability of immunologically specific T cells to recognize, bind, and kill Nocardia may be an important mechanism of host defense, because these microorganisms often are able to escape intracellular killing by macrophages.
对从免疫和未免疫的BALB/c小鼠获得的脾淋巴细胞巨噬细胞耗竭群体进行测试，以确定它们在体外杀死星形诺卡菌GUH-2的能力。经诺卡菌致敏的淋巴细胞而非正常淋巴细胞可杀死星形诺卡菌。在用诺卡菌细胞壁片段在攻击前12至48小时对淋巴细胞进行体外激活后，这些淋巴细胞杀死星形诺卡菌的能力可进一步增强。淋巴细胞的杀诺卡菌活性在富含T细胞的群体中更强，并且在用抗Thy-1.2加补体裂解淋巴细胞后活性消失。经星形诺卡菌致敏的T细胞无法杀死远缘相关的放线菌龋齿罗氏菌，并且对其他诺卡菌种（巴西诺卡菌和豚鼠诺卡菌）的杀伤能力很差或根本没有杀伤能力，这表明杀菌活性具有免疫特异性。光学显微镜和电子显微镜显示T细胞膜与星形诺卡菌细胞壁之间密切相关，后者结构可能受损。免疫特异性T细胞识别、结合和杀死诺卡菌的能力可能是宿主防御的重要机制，因为这些微生物通常能够逃避巨噬细胞的细胞内杀伤。
