T-cell "priming" against environmental allergens in human neonates: sequential deletion of food antigen reactivity during infancy with concomitant expansion of responses to ubiquitous inhalant allergens

The study below comprises prospective analysis of patterns of allergen-specific T-cell reactivity in a cohort of 23 children bled at'regular intervals from 6–10 weeks to 2 years of age, together with cross sectional studies on panels of cord and adult blood samples. The results indicate reciprocal patterns of responses to dietary and inhalant allergens, the former being frequent in infancy but rare in adults, whereas the latter are preserved and expand between infancy and adulthood. These findings are consistent with a recently proposed model for the development of immunity to environmental allergens which involves allergen-driven T-cell "selection" during early life leading to deletion of food allergen-specific T-cells via the induction of specific anergy, with concomitant selection and ultimately expansion of mutually exclusive TH-1-like or TH-2-like reactivity to inhalant allergens via Immune Deviation mechanisms.     

SEB诱导的CD4+ T细胞无能、凋亡及MHC-I类分子表达下调

目的：探讨超抗原金黄色葡萄球菌肠毒素（SEB）体外诱导外周T细胞免疫耐受的作用机制。方法：采用SEB体外刺激C57BL/6J（B6）小鼠的脾细胞后，以MTT比色法检测脾细胞的增殖，并用PI染色后以流式细胞术（FCM）分析不同时间段处于S期，G0-G1期的细胞及无能T细胞的凋亡，测定T细胞亚群及MHC-I（H-2K^b)表达的变化。用琼脂糖凝胶电泳，观察不同时间段凋亡T细胞的DNA特征。结果：部分去除CD8^ T细胞后。SEB可刺激B6小鼠脾细胞中CD4^ T细胞大量增殖，在SEB刺激后第3天，CD4^ T细胞中处于S期的比率最大，此后开始下降；而处于G0-G1期的CD4^ T细胞变化则相反，在初次刺激后第3天，增殖的CD4^ T细胞出现无能，FCM检测及用琼脂糖凝胶电泳检查DNAladder证实，在第7天，无能CD4^ T细胞出现凋亡，且凋亡细胞的比率逐渐增多，不因加入抗CD3抗体或CoN A而逆转，在SEB刺激后，CD4^ T细胞表面MHC-I类分子（H-2K^b)的表达，随细胞无能的出现而明显下调。结论：SEB诱导的T细胞免疫耐受，可能与CD4^ T细胞的无能，凋亡及细胞表面分子MHC-I的表达下调有关。     

Successful immunotherapy with T-cell epitope peptides of bee venom phospholipase A2 induces specific T-cell anergy in patients allergic to bee venom

Background: Specific immunotherapy with honeybee venom (BV) is highly effective, but allergic side effects can occur during treatment. Immunotherapy with peptides containing major T-cell epitopes of the relevant allergen or allergens provides an alternative strategy without these problems. Objective: The study investigates the immunologic mechanisms and clinical effects of immunotherapy with T-cell epitope peptides of the major BV allergen, the phospholipase A2 (PLA). Methods: Five patients with IgE-mediated systemic allergic reactions to bee stings were treated with a mixture of three T-cell epitope peptides of PLA. Ten patients allergic to BV receiving whole BV immunotherapy served as control subjects. Increasing doses of the peptide mixture, up to a maintenance dose of 100 μg, were administered subcutaneously within 2 months. The patients were then challenged with PLA and 1 week later with a bee sting. The cellular and humoral immune response was measured in vitro. Results: No allergic side effects were caused by the peptide immunotherapy, and all patients tolerated the challenge with PLA without systemic allergic symptoms. Two patients developed mild systemic allergic reactions after the bee sting challenge. After peptide immunotherapy, specific proliferative responses to PLA and the peptides in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were decreased in successfully treated patients. The production of T_H2 and T _H1 cytokines was inhibited, and B cells were not affected in their capacity to produce specific IgE and IgG4 antibodies. Their levels increased after allergen challenge in favor of IgG4. Conclusions: Immunotherapy of BV allergy with short T-cell peptides of PLA induces epitope-specific anergy in peripheral T cells and changes the specific isotype ratio in a fashion similar to that of conventional immunotherapy in successfully treated patients. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 1998;101:747-54.)     

Co-stimulation via CD28 induces activation of a refractory subset of MRL-Ipr/Ipr T lymphocytes

Peripheral lymphoid tissues of Ipr mice contain a large proportionof TCRß/CD3⁺CD4^–CD8^– T cells that lacksurface CD2 and express the B cell isoform of CD45, B220. Thissubset of T cells does not proliferate or produce IL-2 in responseto mitogenic signals or TCR–CD3 ligation. At the sametime, these abnormal T cells display several characteristicsof an activated phenotype. Collectively, these properties ofIpr CD4^–CD8^– T cells have functional parallels withanergic T cells. A critical co-stimulatory molecule implicatedin the prevention of or recovery from anergy is CD28, whichbinds the ligand BB1/B7 on certain accessory cells. Ipr CD4^–CD8^–T cells express normal levels of CD28 which is capable of transducinga strong proliferative signal to these cells in co-stimulationwith mitogens. However, proliferation of Ipr CD4^–CD8^–T cells in response to CD28 co-stimulation does not reach thelevels observed in normal T cells stimulated under similar conditions.Stimulation with anti-CD28 mAb in conjunction with phorbol myristateacetate and lonomycin promotes cell cycling in the CD2^–subset of CD4^–CD8^– T cells, and results in a slightinduction of CD2 levels during the course of the culture period.However, the majority of cells obtained at the end of the cultureperiod remain TCRß+ CD4^–CD8^–, CD2^low/–and B220^high, similar to freshly isolated CD4^–CD8^–Ipr T cells. In contrast, if IL-2 is included in the cultures,a strong shift toward a CD2⁺ phenotype is observed by a majorityof the Ipr T cells. Upon repeat stimulation, these Ipr CD4^–CD8^–T cells can now proliferate in an IL-2-dependent manner whenstimulated with only anti-CD3 mAb or mitogens, in the absenceof exogenous IL-2 or anti-CD28 mAb. These data show that thehyporesponsiveness of Ipr CD4^–CD8^– T cells doesnot result from a lack of CD28 expression, that it is not afixed state, and that it can be reversed by the induction ofcell cycling in the presence of IL-2. These observations extendthe parallels between Ipr CD4^–CD8^– T cells and anergicT cells.     

Protection from experimental allergic encephalomyelitis by application of a bacterial superantigen.

Certain bacterial and viral T cell stimulating proteins ('superantigens') are known to be very potent activators of T cells with certain V beta receptors. When applied in vivo these molecules induce anergy in those T cells responding to them. In this study we have investigated the influence of staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) on myelin basic protein (MBP)-specific T cells in Lewis rats. As MBP-specific T cells in rats belong exclusively to the V beta 8.2+ CD4+ subset, the induction of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) allows for an estimation of the functional state of the respective V beta-bearing T cells after enterotoxin-induced activation. In vitro, various MBP-specific T cell lines showed a strong selective proliferative response to staphylococcal enterotoxin E (SEE) but not to other SE. The in vitro activation by SEE induced encephalitogenic potential in these cells. After application of SEE to Lewis rats the susceptibility to induction of EAE was completely abrogated. Such SEE-treated and MBP-challenged rats did not exhibit any signs of disease and their T cells did not respond to MBP in proliferation tests. This abrogation of EAE was only found with a superantigen capable of interacting specifically with V beta 8.2+ T cells. Superantigen-mediated induction of unresponsiveness may have relevance for the analysis of pathogenetic mechanisms and for therapeutic considerations in certain T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases.     

Persistence of partially functional double-stranded (ds) DNA binding B cells in mice transgenic for the IgM heavy chain of an anti-dsDNA antibody.

One mechanism by which anti-double stranded (ds) DNA B cells are regulated is anergy. Multiple phenotypes have been attributed to anergic B cells in various transgenic models. Differences in the nature of the antigen and in the avidity of antigen-antibody interactions may account for these variations in phenotype. In the present study we describe a population of dsDNA binding B cells that display many of the features of anergic B cells, but have characteristics which suggest they are partially functional as well. These B cells do not spontaneously secrete antibody nor can they be induced to secrete antibody following receptor cross-linking in vitro. Furthermore, they display an immature phenotype and have a shortened lifespan, characteristic of anergic B cells. However, they can be induced to secrete anti-dsDNA antibody following activation with T cell-derived factors as well as with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and they can be recovered by somatic cell hybridization even in the absence of LPS stimulation prior to fusion. These results suggest that antigen receptor signaling can be uncoupled from signaling induced by T cell-derived factors or LPS and that this may be a mechanism for maintaining tolerance. This may have protective advantages because it may enable B cells to be down-regulated in response to autoantigen yet be available for recruitment in an inflammatory response.     

Control of CD4 T cell fate by antigen re-stimulation with or without CTLA-4 engagement 24 h after priming

After two consecutive inoculations with Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB) at 24 h intervals in vivo, CD4 T cells became anergic to the antigen challenge in vitro. Administration of anti-CTLA-4 mAb in conjunction with the second SEB inoculation 24 h after antigen priming interfered with anergy and CD4 T cells became T(h)2 cells. However, the anergy induction was not ablated when SEB and anti-CTLA-4 mAb were administered 48 or 72 h after antigen priming. Moreover, anti-CTLA-4 mAb without SEB did not interfere with anergy nor promoted the T(h)2 differentiation. T-antigen-presenting cell (APC) interaction in vitro in the presence of high doses of antigen and anti-CTLA-4 mAb induced a T(h)2-polarizing cytokine IL-6 and IL-10. IL-10 then down-modulated a T(h)1-polarizing cytokine IL-12. The results demonstrate that 24 h after the initial antigen stimulation, CD4 T cells enter the critical activation phase where antigen re-stimulation with or without CTLA-4 engagement alters the fate of the cell, anergy or differentiation respectively. Once anergy is interfered with, T(h)2-polarizing cytokines produced upon prolonged T-APC interaction favor the T(h)2 differentiation.