Plasmacytoid dendritic cell and myeloid dendritic cell function in ageing: A comparison between elderly and young adult women.

Ageing is associated with a changing immune system, leading to inflammageing (increased levels of inflammation markers in serum) and immunosenescence (reduced immune cells and reduced responses towards pathogens). This results in reduced vaccination responses and increased infections in elderly. Much is known about the adaptive immune system upon ageing, but less is known about the innate immune system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare innate immune function of Toll like receptor (TLR)-mediated responses between elderly and young adult women. To this end, elderly and young adult women were compared to study the effect of ageing on the relative prevalence and reactivity to TLR-mediated responses of myeloid- and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (mDC, pDC). In addition, TLR expression and inflammatory markers in serum were investigated. Elderly women had reduced numbers of circulating pDCs. In addition, pDCs and mDCs of elderly women responded differently towards TLR stimulation, especially TLR7/8 mediated stimulation was reduced, compared to young adults. In serum, markers involved in inflammation were generally increased in elderly. In conclusion, this study confirms and extends the knowledge about immunosenescence and inflammageing on innate immunity in elderly women.

Mucolytic activity of bacterial and human chitinases.

Several pulmonary pathologies, like cystic fibrosis (CF), are characterized by hypersecretion and stasis of tenacious mucus. Bacterial glycosidases are known to degrade mucins but their use as mucolytic agents is questionable. The observation that bacterial chitinases degrade mucins and the recent discovery of human chitinases, which have been proposed to be involved in the genesis of asthma, prompted us to evaluate the mucolytic properties of human derived chitinases. The effect of these human chitinases, and bacterial chitinases (positive control), on the viscoelasticity of CF sputa and on the electrophoretic mobility of human mucins was tested. Commercial bacterial chitinase drastically degraded CF sputum, while human derived chitinases did not. Accordingly, the commercial bacterial chitinase was found to degrade mucins, whereas recombinant human chitinases did not. A thorough analysis of the commercial chitinase elucidated that contaminating proteases and also nucleases assisted in the mucolytic effect. Indeed, recombinant bacterial chitinases very slightly reduced the viscoelasticity of CF sputum, but they caused a significant degradation of the CF sputum when they were combined with proteases. In conclusion, this work shows that recombinant human and recombinant bacterial chitinases have no or very low mucolytic activities, respectively. The observed mucolytic properties of commercial bacterial chitinase are due to a synergistic effect between chitinolytic and proteolytic enzymes at one hand and at the other hand also due to the presence of contaminating nucleases.

Identification of a highly promiscuous and an HLA allele-specific T-cell epitope in the birch major allergen Bet v 1: HLA restriction, epitope mapping and TCR sequence comparisons.

BACKGROUND: Allergen-specific CD4+ T cells play an important regulatory role in atopic allergy. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) restriction and T-cell receptor (TCR) usage of allergen-specific T-cell clones (TCCs) that react with defined epitopes of Bet v 1, the major birch pollen allergen. METHODS: Five Bet v 1-specific TCCs derived from two birch pollen-allergic individuals and specific for Bet v 1, were epitope-mapped with overlapping synthetic peptides. In addition, HLA-restriction and TCR CDR3 sequences were determined. RESULTS: Three TCCs reacted with a Bet v 1 peptide containing amino acid residues 21-33 (BP21), the other two TCCs reacted with a minimal peptide comprising residues 37-45 (BP37). Studies using neutralizing anti-HLA-monoclonal antibodies and HLA-typed APCs showed that the BP37-specific TCCs were restricted by a HLA-DQA1*0301/DQB1*0603 heterodimer. In contrast, BP21 was recognized in a highly promiscuous manner. TCCs recognizing this sequence were restricted by HLA-DPB1*0201, a HLA-DQA1*0201/DQB1*0201 heterodimer, or HLA-DRB3*0101. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction with primers for all known TCRAV and TCRBV gene segments, followed by CDR3 region sequencing, revealed the usage of five different TCRAV and four different TCRBV gene segments by the TCCs, as well as diversity in the joining region. All BP21-specific TCCs contained a negatively charged residue in their CDR3alpha regions, the CDR3beta regions showed a high concentration of polar and OH-group bearing residues. BP37-specific TCCs shared the amino acid combination LY in the middle of their CDR3alpha regions, the CDR3beta regions showed high concentration of OH-group bearing or charged residues. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the existence of a highly promiscuous T-cell epitope in Bet v 1. The presence of additional T-cell epitopes in Bet v 1 may, however, hamper the clinical applicability of the epitope. Likewise, the diversity in TCR usage by T cells recognizing the epitope does not support the development of TCR-directed immunotherapy for birch pollen allergy.

B7-CD28 interaction is a late acting co-stimulatory signal for human T cell responses.

The interaction of CD28 with one of the B7 molecules (CD80 and CD86) on professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) is generally considered as the most important co-stimulatory signal for T cell activation. APC in a resting condition express either no or only low levels of B7 molecules. These are up-regulated as a result of interactions with activated T cells, thus suggesting that B7-CD28 interaction is not required at initiation of T cell activation. To study this issue, we blocked B7-CD28 interaction at various time points after in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood T cells with allogeneic monocytes. Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cells or soluble antigens. We observed that T cell proliferation and IL-2 production were inhibited by B7-blocking agents (CTLA-4-Ig or anti-B7 mAb) almost to the same degree when added either at initiation of culture or 24 h later. B7-blocking agents still resulted in significant inhibition of allogeneic T cell activation when added after 48 h. Furthermore, when CTLA-4-Ig was added at the start of an allogeneic T cell stimulation, addition of anti-CD28 mAb after 24 h of culture nearly fully restored T cell proliferation to control levels. Finally, we demonstrate that delayed addition of B7-blocking agents together with cyclosporin A 1 day after the onset of culture of T cells with allogeneic B cells is highly efficient to induce energy as evaluated by lack of proliferation, cytotoxic T lymphocyte reactivity and IFN-gamma or IL-5 production upon alloantigen rechallenge. Taken together, our data can explain why B7 expression on APC is not required at the time of initial APC-T cell contact, and suggest that the effect of the CD28 signal indeed consists in prolonging IL-2 production and amplifying T cell responses, rather than in providing a critical co-stimulatory signal at the time of initial TCR triggering.

X-ray and NMR structure of Bet v 1, the origin of birch pollen allergy.

The three-dimensional structure of the major birch pollen allergen, the 17,500 M(r) acidic protein Bet v 1 (from the birch, Betula verrucosa), is presented as determined both in the crystalline state by X-ray diffraction and in solution by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. This is the first experimentally determined structure of a clinically important inhalant major allergen, estimated to cause allergy in 5-10 million individuals worldwide. The structure shows three regions on the molecular surface predicted to harbour cross-reactive B-cell epitopes which provide a structural basis for the allergic symptoms that birch pollen allergic patients show when they encounter pollens from related trees such as hazel, alder and hornbeam. The structure also shows an unusual feature, a 30 A-long forked cavity that penetrates the entire protein.

Differential requirements for co-stimulatory signals from B7 family members by resting versus recently activated memory T cells towards soluble recall antigens.

The interaction between CD28 on T cells with CD80 (B7-1) and CD86 (B7-2) on APCs is considered to be of critical importance for primary T cell activation both in vivo and in vitro. The relative importance of this co-stimulatory signal in memory T cell activation is, however, less clear, and was therefore studied by in vitro experiments on T cell responses to soluble recall antigens using peripheral blood mononuclear cells or T cell clones. Our data demonstrate that B7-2 represents the major co-stimulatory signal for the activation of resting peripheral blood memory T cells with recall antigens, as evidenced by the effects of anti-B7-1 and anti-B7-2 on T cell proliferation as well as on IL-2 and INF-gamma production. Since CTLA-4-lg and anti-CD28 Fab fragments had similar inhibitory effects to the combination of anti-B7-1 plus anti B7-2, the involvement of a third co-stimulatory CD28/CTLA-4 ligand is unlikely. Despite the strong effects of B7-blocking agents, a variable fraction of the memory T cells was resistant to inhibition. Moreover, T cell clones or in vitro preactivated T cells could efficiently be restimulated by soluble atigens on autologous APCs in the absence of B7-1 or B7-2 co-stimulation. These data show that most memory T cells that are freshly isolated from the blood are still dependent on CD28 triggering for their activation. However, recently activated T cells can apparently bypass the requirement for B7 and use other co-stimulatory signals for reactivation, a finding with important implications for the development of immunosuppressive strategies.

Serum-IgE-facilitated allergen presentation in atopic disease.

The occurrence of facilitated Ag presentation (FAP) was investigated in atopic disease using an in vitro model in which the ability of CD23-expressing EBV-B cells was tested to present Der p II, a major allergen of housedust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, to cells of autologous Der p II-specific CD4+ T lymphocyte clones. Purified Der p II protein was immune complexed with Ig by preincubation in sera from atopic patients containing Der p II-specific IgE. Incubation of EBV-B cells with these complexes before using the cells as APC results in proliferation of the Der p II-specific T cells at a 1000-fold lower Der p II concentration than required for T cell activation by presentation of uncomplexed Der p II. FAP is not evident using sera from allergic and nonallergic control donors not containing Der p II-specific IgE. FAP is mediated by IgE and not by IgG, because it can be blocked completely by preincubating the serum from atopics with polyclonal anti-IgE and not with polyclonal anti-IgG. After pulsing EBV-B with precomplexed Der p II at 4 degrees C, FAP is as strong as after incubation at 37 degrees C, suggesting that FAP is the result of facilitated trapping of IgE-complexed allergen. CD23 was involved in facilitated trapping of the complexes, because FAP is blocked by preincubation of EBV-B with anti-CD23. In contrast to FAP of Der p II, which was mediated by all Der p II-specific sera tested, only one of four sera containing cat allergen-specific IgE was appropriate to mediate FAP to cat allergen-specific T cell clones. Inasmuch as FAP enables functional presentation of allergen in vivo at doses as low as several nanograms, FAP may contribute to the continuing of chronic allergic reactions in response to minute doses of aeroallergens, especially housedust mite allergens, in the environment.