Open AccessCell-Mediated Immune Responses of Healthy Laboratory Volunteers to Sonicate Antigens Prepared from the Most Prevalent Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from South India Harboring a Single Copy of IS 6110
Author(s) -
Priya Rajavelu,
Sulochana D. Das
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
clinical and vaccine immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.649
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1556-6811
pISSN - 1556-679X
DOI - 10.1128/cdli.10.6.1149-1152.2003
Subject(s) - mycobacterium tuberculosis , immune system , tuberculosis , antigen , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , biology , cell , virology , medicine , genetics , pathology
Our restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) studies have shown that the most prevalent (40%) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from South India contain a single copy of the IS6110 insertion sequence and are of importance in studying virulence and immunity. Sonicate antigens from seven such strains were used to study in vitro T-cell proliferation and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) secretion as markers of protective immunity in 25 healthy subjects positive for purified protein derivative (PPD). The standard PPD and heat-killed H37Rv antigens induced the maximum levels of T-cell proliferation and IFN-gamma secretion but low levels of IL-12. All sonicate antigens induced T-cell proliferation and IFN-gamma secretion with strong positive correlation. Our results suggest that sonicate antigens from the most prevalent and recent strains of M. tuberculosis from clinical isolates have the potential to induce T-cell activation and may allow newer and specific antigens to be further characterized for diagnosis and vaccine development.