Sequestration of T lymphocytes to body fluids in tuberculosis: reversal of anergy following chemotherapy

J Infect Dis. 1999 Jul;180(1):225-8. doi: 10.1086/314852.

Abstract

The specificity of CD4 T lymphocytes was investigated in 6 patients affected by tuberculosis who had negative tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) skin tests at diagnosis. Polyclonal CD4 T cell lines from the peripheral blood failed to proliferate to PPD and to the 16- or 38-kDa proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, while CD4 cell lines from the disease site responded to PPD and to the 16- and 38-kDa proteins and derived epitopes in vitro. Four months after chemotherapy, the patients became responsive to PPD. The proliferative response to PPD and to the 16- or 38-kDa proteins and their derived peptides decreased in CD4 T cell lines from the disease site and increased in lines from the peripheral blood. These results indicate that CD4 T cells recognizing a vast array of M. tuberculosis epitopes are compartmentalized at the site of disease in anergic patients but appear in peripheral blood after chemotherapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Bacterial / immunology
  • Body Fluids / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Clonal Anergy*
  • Humans
  • Lipoproteins / immunology
  • Tuberculin / immunology
  • Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis / immunology
  • Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / immunology*

Substances

  • Ag38 antigen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Lipoproteins
  • Tuberculin
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens