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Infection and Immunity, June 2003, p. 3131-3137, Vol. 71, No. 6
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.6.3131-3137.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Molecular and Cellular Parasitology,1 Department of Respiratory Medicine,2 Department of Immunology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421,5 Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582,3 Division of Immunobiology, Research Institutes of Biological Sciences, Science University of Tokyo, 2669 Yamazaki, Noda City, Chiba 278-0022, Japan4
Received 23 December 2002/ Returned for modification 6 February 2003/ Accepted 22 February 2003
The CD28-CD80/CD86-mediated T-cell costimulatory pathway has been variably implicated in infectious immunity. In this study, we investigated the role of this costimulatory pathway in resistance to Trypanosoma cruzi infection by using CD28-deficient mice and blocking antibodies against CD80 and CD86. CD28-deficient mice exhibited markedly exacerbated T. cruzi infection, as evidenced by unrelenting parasitemia and 100% mortality after infection with doses that are nonlethal in wild-type mice. The blockade of both CD80 and CD86 by administering specific monoclonal antibodies also exacerbated T. cruzi infection in wild-type mice. Splenocytes from T. cruzi-infected, CD28-deficient mice exhibited greatly impaired gamma interferon production in response to T. cruzi antigen stimulation in vitro compared to those from infected wild-type mice. The induction of T. cruzi antigen-specific CD8+ T cells was also impaired in T. cruzi-infected, CD28-deficient mice. In addition to these defects in natural protection against T. cruzi infection, CD28-deficient mice were also defective in the induction of CD8+-T-cell-mediated protective immunity against T. cruzi infection by DNA vaccination. These results demonstrate, for the first time, a critical contribution of the CD28-CD80/CD86 costimulatory pathway not only to natural protection against primary T. cruzi infection but also to DNA vaccine-induced protective immunity to Chagas' disease.
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