Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1992 Jan 1;148(1):189-96.

T lymphocytes mediating protection and cellular cytolysis during the course of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Evidence for different kinetics and recognition of a wide spectrum of protein antigens

I M Orme  1 , E S Miller, A D Roberts, S K Furney, J P Griffin, K M Dobos, D Chi, B Rivoire, P J Brennan
Affiliations
  • PMID: 1727865

T lymphocytes mediating protection and cellular cytolysis during the course of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Evidence for different kinetics and recognition of a wide spectrum of protein antigens

I M Orme et al. J Immunol. .

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests the existence of at least two pathways of acquired specific resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection; the first consisting of cytokine-mediated activation of parasitized host cells by protective T cells, and the second involving the lysis of these cells by cytolytic T cells. Evidence presented in this report shows that both of the above mechanisms are operative in experimentally infected mice, but that they differ markedly in terms of their kinetics of emergence and loss. It was found that protective T cell activity was acquired very early during the course of the infection, and was temporally associated with the onset of bacterial elimination; however, cytolytic activity did not peak until 10 to 20 days later. This report shows further that the target Ag of these effector T cell populations were apparently numerous with no evidence for preferential recognition of a few immunodominant Ag. In view of the preponderance of target proteins in the bacterial filtrate, we present the hypothesis that such proteins secreted or otherwise leaked from the dividing mycobacterium are pinocytosed from the phagosome and used by the infected macrophage as the key protective Ag leading to T cell sensitization. This hypothesis thus explains the preferential requirement for the viable bacterium in the generation of specific resistance, and further explains why protective immunity is generated even while the organism is still multiplying in an apparently unrestrained manner.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources