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Infection and Immunity, June 2001, p. 3989-3994, Vol. 69, No. 6
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.6.3989-3994.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic Regulation of Acquired Immune Responses to Antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a Study of Twins in West Africa

Annette Jepson,1,* Amanda Fowler,1 Winston Banya,2 Mahavir Singh,3 Steve Bennett,4 Hilton Whittle,2 and Adrian V. S. Hill1

Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, Headington, Oxford,1 and MRC Tropical Epidemiology Group, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London,4 United Kingdom; Medical Research Council Laboratories, Fajara, The Gambia2; and GBF, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany3

Received 4 December 2000/Returned for modification 2 February 2001/Accepted 12 March 2001

The role of genetic factors in clinical tuberculosis is increasingly recognized; how such factors regulate the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in healthy individuals is unclear. In this study of 255 adult twin pairs residing in The Gambia, West Africa, it is apparent that memory T-cell responses to secreted mycobacterial antigens (85-kDa antigen complex, "short-term culture filtrate," and peptides from the ESAT-6 protein), as well as to the 65-kDa heat shock protein, are subject to effective genetic regulation. The delayed hypersensitivity response to intradermal tuberculin also demonstrates significant genetic variance, while quantitative T-cell and antibody responses to the 38-kDa cell membrane protein appear to be determined largely by environmental factors. Such findings have implications for vaccine development.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Diagnostic Bacteriology, St Mary's Hospital Med. Schl., Norfolk Pl., London W2 1PG, United Kingdom. Phone: 020 7 886 1572. Fax: 020 7 886 1856. E-mail: annette.jepson{at}st-marys.nhs.ac.uk.


Infection and Immunity, June 2001, p. 3989-3994, Vol. 69, No. 6
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.6.3989-3994.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



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