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Infection and Immunity, January 1994, p. 135-144, Vol. 62, No. 1
0019-9567/1994/$04.00+0     DOI:

research-article

Human T-cell responses to Mycoplasma arthritidis-derived superantigen.

N Bhardwaj, A S Hodtsev, A Nisanian, S Kabak, S M Friedman, B C Cole, and D N Posnett

Rockefeller University, New York, New York.

ABSTRACT

When injected into mice, Mycoplasma arthritidis causes a chronic arthritis that resembles rheumatoid arthritis, histologically. The organism produces a superantigen termed Mycoplasma arthritidis mitogen or MAM, that in humans preferentially expands T cells whose antigen receptors express V beta 17. T cells with this phenotype appear to be increased in rheumatoid synovial effusions. We describe a novel approach to isolating and characterizing human MAM-reactive T-cell lines and determining their T-cell receptor (TCR) V beta usage. Lines were prepared from T cells that clustered with dendritic cells during a 2-day exposure to MAM. Cluster and noncluster fractions of T cells were then expanded by using feeder cells and a polyclonal mitogen. Most of the MAM reactivity was found in dendritic T-cell clusters, as were most of the T cells expressing TCR V beta 17. After expansion, 76% of the cluster-derived T-cell lines were MAM reactive, while no reactivity was seen in cell lines derived from the noncluster fraction. Of the MAM-reactive lines, 49% expressed V beta 17 on some or all of the cells. Cell lines from both cluster and noncluster fractions were analyzed for TCR V beta mRNA expression by PCR amplification. Other V beta genes (5.1, 7, 8, 12, and 20) were found to be expressed by lines that were MAM reactive, although these were not a major component of the cluster-derived T cells. Some non-cluster-derived lines expressed V beta s 17, 12, and 7, but these proved to be nonreactive to MAM. Therefore, dendritic cells can be used to immunoselect and characterize T cells that express superantigen-reactive TCRs.

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Infection and Immunity, January 1994, p. 135-144, Vol. 62, No. 1
0019-9567/1994/$04.00+0     DOI:

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• Razin, S., Yogev, D., Naot, Y. (1998). Molecular Biology and Pathogenicity of Mycoplasmas. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 62: 1094-1156 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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