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Infection and Immunity, July 2005, p. 4427-4431, Vol. 73, No. 7
0019-9567/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.73.7.4427-4431.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Endogenous CD4⁺ CD25⁺ Regulatory T Cells Play No Apparent Role in the Acute Humoral Response to Intact Streptococcus pneumoniae

Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20814

Received 16 November 2004/ Returned for modification 7 January 2005/ Accepted 4 March 2005

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antiprotein and antipolysaccharide responses to intact Streptococcus pneumoniae are CD4⁺-T-cell dependent and therefore might be under the negative control of CD4⁺ CD25⁺ regulatory T cells. Injection of anti-interleukin 2 receptor (anti-IL-2R) MAb to deplete regulatory T cells, injection of agonistic MAb against glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor family-related protein to inhibit regulatory-T-cell function, and adoptive transfer of regulatory-T-cell-depleted CD4⁺ T cells into athymic nude mice each had no effect on either the primary or secondary protein- or polysaccharide-specific IgG response to intact S. pneumoniae. Surprisingly, anti-IL-2R MAb also had no effect on the IgG response to intact S. pneumoniae in MyD88^–/– mice or to a soluble protein-polysaccharide conjugate injected into wild-type mice in the absence of adjuvant. Collectively, these data are the first to suggest that, in contrast to their role in limiting chronic cell-mediated immunity, regulatory T cells may play no significant role in an acute humoral immune response to an intact extracellular bacterial pathogen.

Editor: J. N. Weiser

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