Brucella melitensis T cell epitope recognition in humans with brucellosis in Peru

Infect Immun. 2014 Jan;82(1):124-31. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00796-13. Epub 2013 Oct 14.

Abstract

Brucella melitensis, one of the causative agents of human brucellosis, causes acute, chronic, and relapsing infection. While T cell immunity in brucellosis has been extensively studied in mice, no recognized human T cell epitopes that might provide new approaches to classifying and prognosticating B. melitensis infection have ever been delineated. Twenty-seven pools of 500 major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) restricted peptides were created by computational prediction of promiscuous MHC-II CD4(+) T cell derived from the top 50 proteins recognized by IgG in human sera on a genome level B. melitensis protein microarray. Gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and interleukin-5 (IL-5) enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) analyses were used to quantify and compare Th1 and Th2 responses of leukapheresis-obtained peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Peruvian subjects cured after acute infection (n = 9) and from patients who relapsed (n = 5). Four peptide epitopes derived from 3 B. melitensis proteins (BMEI 1330, a DegP/HtrA protease; BMEII 0029, type IV secretion system component VirB5; and BMEII 0691, a predicted periplasmic binding protein of a peptide transport system) were found repeatedly to produce significant IFN-γ ELISPOT responses in both acute-infection and relapsing patients; none of the peptides distinguished the patient groups. IL-5 responses against the panel of peptides were insignificant. These experiments are the first to systematically identify B. melitensis MHC-II-restricted CD4(+) T cell epitopes recognized by the human immune response, with the potential for new approaches to brucellosis diagnostics and understanding the immunopathogenesis related to this intracellular pathogen.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Antigens, Bacterial / analysis
  • Bacterial Proteins / analysis
  • Brucella melitensis / immunology*
  • Brucellosis / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Chronic Disease
  • Cohort Studies
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular / immunology
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology
  • Interferon-gamma / metabolism
  • Interleukin-5 / metabolism
  • Microarray Analysis / methods
  • Peru

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Interleukin-5
  • Interferon-gamma