[HTML][HTML] Memory T Cells in Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection Are Directed against Three Antigenic Islands and Largely Contained in a CXCR3+CCR6+ …

CS Lindestam Arlehamn, A Gerasimova, F Mele… - PLoS …, 2013 - journals.plos.org
CS Lindestam Arlehamn, A Gerasimova, F Mele, R Henderson, J Swann, JA Greenbaum…
PLoS pathogens, 2013journals.plos.org
An understanding of the immunological footprint of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) CD4
T cell recognition is still incomplete. Here we report that human Th1 cells specific for MTB
are largely contained in a CXCR3+ CCR6+ memory subset and highly focused on three
broadly immunodominant antigenic islands, all related to bacterial secretion systems. Our
results refute the notion that secreted antigens act as a decoy, since both secreted proteins
and proteins comprising the secretion system itself are targeted by a fully functional T cell …
An understanding of the immunological footprint of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) CD4 T cell recognition is still incomplete. Here we report that human Th1 cells specific for MTB are largely contained in a CXCR3+CCR6+ memory subset and highly focused on three broadly immunodominant antigenic islands, all related to bacterial secretion systems. Our results refute the notion that secreted antigens act as a decoy, since both secreted proteins and proteins comprising the secretion system itself are targeted by a fully functional T cell response. In addition, several novel T cell antigens were identified which can be of potential diagnostic use, or as vaccine antigens. These results underline the power of a truly unbiased, genome-wide, analysis of CD4 MTB recognition based on the combined use of epitope predictions, high throughput ELISPOT, and T cell libraries using PBMCs from individuals latently infected with MTB.
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