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Infect Immun, August 1998, p. 3535-3544, Vol. 66, No. 8
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Protection against Ascending Infection of the Genital Tract by Chlamydia trachomatis Is Associated with Recruitment of Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Antigen-Presenting Cells into Uterine Tissue

A. J. Stagg,1 * M. Tuffrey,2 C. Woods,2 E. Wunderink,1 and S. C. Knight1

Antigen Presentation Research Group, Imperial College School of Medicine at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, Harrow, Middlesex HA1 3UJ,1 and MRC Sexually Transmitted Diseases Unit, Imperial College School of Medicine, St. Mary's Campus, London W2 1PG,2 United Kingdom

Received 12 November 1997/Returned for modification 12 February 1998/Accepted 22 May 1998

A mouse model of ascending infection following intravaginal inoculation with a strain of Chlamydia trachomatis isolated from humans has been used to identify immune mechanisms associated with protection against genital infection. BALB/c and C3H mice differed in their susceptibilities to infection and inflammatory disease. In both mouse strains, ascension of the organism and recruitment of bone marrow-derived mononuclear leukocytes were evident in uterine tissue 1 week postinfection. By 3 weeks the organism had been cleared and inflammation had been resolved in the BALB/c mice, but both persisted in the C3H animals. In athymic nude BALB/c mice both the organism and inflammation persisted, indicating the influence of the hosts' immune response on the outcome of infection. Both BALB/c and C3H mice had a Th1 response in draining lymph nodes, with predominant production of gamma interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha, low levels of interleukin-10, and no detectable levels of interleukin-4. However, the composition of the early uterine infiltrate differed in these two mouse strains. Cell surface labeling and analysis of light scatter properties by flow cytometry identified a population of large, CD45+ major histocompatibility complex class II mononuclear cells, which were a prominent feature of the infiltrates in BALB/c mice but were present in significantly lower numbers in C3H mice. These cells expressed the costimulatory molecules CD86 and CD40 and stimulated allogeneic T cells, suggesting that these mononuclear cells are a population of antigen-presenting cells and that they may play a role in clearing antigen and protecting against inflammatory disease in BALB/c mice. An additional level of immunological control may thus exist in genital chlamydial infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Antigen Presentation Research Group, Imperial College School of Medicine at Northwick Park Institute for Medical Research, Watford Rd., Harrow, HA1 3UJ Middlesex, United Kingdom. Phone: 181 869 3428. Fax: 181 869 3532. E-mail: a.stagg{at}ic.ac.uk.

Infect Immun, August 1998, p. 3535-3544, Vol. 66, No. 8
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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Copyright © 1998 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.