| First Author | Seidl A | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Immunology | Volume | 134 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 214-23 |
| PubMed ID | 21896015 | Mgi Jnum | J:179222 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5301476 | Doi | 10.1111/j.1365-2567.2011.03480.x |
| Citation | Seidl A, et al. (2011) Protective immunity against the gastrointestinal nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis requires a broad T-cell receptor repertoire. Immunology 134(2):214-23 |
| abstractText | The parasitic gastrointestinal nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis induces massive expansion of T helper type 2 (Th2) cells in the lung and small intestine. Th2 cells are a major source of interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, two cytokines that appear essential for rapid worm expulsion. It is unclear whether all Th2 cells induced during infection are pathogen-specific because Th2 cells might also be induced by parasite-derived superantigens or cytokine-mediated bystander activation. Bystander Th2 polarization could explain the largely unspecific B-cell response during primary infection. Furthermore, it is not known whether protective immunity depends on a polyclonal repertoire of T-cell receptor (TCR) specificities. To address these unresolved issues, we performed adoptive transfer experiments and analysed the TCR-Vbeta repertoire before and after infection of mice with the helminth N. brasiliensis. The results demonstrate that all Th2 cells were generated by antigen-specific rather than superantigen-driven or cytokine-driven activation. Furthermore, we show that worm expulsion was impaired in mice with a limited repertoire of TCR specificities, indicating that a polyclonal T-cell response is required for protective immunity. |
