International Immunology, Vol. 15, No. 9, pp. 1073-1080,
September 2003
© 2003 Japanese Society for Immunology
FEATURED ARTICLE OF THE MONTH |
Human anti-idiotypic T cells induced by TCR peptides corresponding to a common CDR3 sequence motif in myelin basic protein-reactive T cells
1 Multiple Sclerosis Research Unit, Department of Neurology and Baylor-Methodist Multiple Sclerosis Center and 2 Department of Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA 3 Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China
Correspondence to: J. Zhang, Department of Neurology, Baylor College of Medicine, 6501 Fannin Street, NB302, Houston, TX 77030, USA. E-mail: jzang@bcm.tmc.edu
Transmitting editor: L. Steinman
T cells recognizing myelin basic protein (MBP) are potentially involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). In vivo clonal expansion of MBP-reactive T cells in MS may relate in part to dysfunction of peripheral regulatory mechanisms, including the anti-idiotypic immune network. In this study, we examined anti-idiotypic immune responses and the functional properties of anti-idiotypic T cells in patients with MS and healthy controls using TCR peptides corresponding to a CDR3 sequence motif preferentially expressed among T cells recognizing the 83–99 immunodominant peptide of MBP in some patients with MS. The study demonstrated that anti-idiotypic T cells could be induced in vitro by 8mer and 15mer peptides containing the CDR3 motif in MS patients and healthy controls respectively. The estimated precursor frequency of the anti-idiotypic T cells was slightly reduced in MS patients compared to control subjects. The obtained anti-idiotypic T cells recognizing the 15mer TCR peptide were found to express the CD4 phenotype, produce predominantly IL-10 and inhibit the proliferation of autologous T cells recognizing the immunodominant peptide of MBP. Anti-idiotypic T cells induced by the 8mer TCR peptide were predominantly CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and exhibited cytotoxic activity against autologous MBP-specific T cells expressing the CDR3 sequence. When added in primary culture, both TCR peptides had a significant inhibitory effect on the T cell responses to the immunodominant peptide of MBP. The findings suggest that anti-idiotypic immune responses can be activated by selected TCR peptides and may play an important role in the in vivo regulation of MBP-reactive T cells.
Keywords: anti-idiotypic T cell, autoreactive T cell, multiple sclerosis, myelin basic protein, TCR
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