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Characterization and Functional Studies of the Murine T‐Lymphocyte Response to Mycobacterium leprae Antigen
Author(s) -
HAREGEWOIN A.,
LOUIS J.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1983.tb00861.x
Subject(s) - mycobacterium leprae , antigen , immunology , t lymphocyte , biology , population , t cell , spleen , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , leprosy , environmental health
Mice were immunized with, Mycobacterium leprae in incomplete Freund's adjuvant, and sensitized lymphocytes were obtained from draining lymph nodes. The lymphocytes thus obtained proliferated specifically in vitro in the presence of M. leprae antigen, and this response was shown to be both T‐ccll and macrophage dependent. T‐cell blasts generated in vitro in response to M. leprae antigen were grown in the presence of interlcukin‐2 (IL‐2), The proliferative response of these blasts to M. leprae antigen was strictly dependent on the presence of syngeneic spleen cells as antigen‐presenting cells. M. leprae‐Immune F, blasts responding to the antigen in the context of either parental H‐2 haplotype‐hearing accessory cell could be obtained by positive selection from an F, hybrid‐responding cell population. By means of flow microfluorometry the T‐cell phenotype of the M. leprae‐specific T‐cell blasts was found to be Thy‐1 + and to be composed of Lyt‐1 + and Lyt‐2 + subpopulations. Functionally, the blasts were shown to transfer delaycd‐lype hypersensitivity locally to non‐immunized recipients and to have cytolytic activity. Limiting dilution analysis showed the frequency of M. leprae ‐responding cells from blasts grown in IL‐2 to be approximately 1/333.