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Lymphocyte Binding and T Cell Mitogenic Properties of Group A Streptococcal Lipoteichoic Acid¹

From the Veterans Administration Hospital and Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee 39104, and the Naval Medical Research Institute, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Abstract

We previously reported that lipoteichoic acid (LTA) of group A streptococci binds spontaneously to mammalian cell membranes via lipid moieties ester-linked to the LTA molecule. We now describe biochemical and immunologic evidence that LTA binds to human and murine lymphocytes as an early event in the induction of mitogenesis in T lymphocytes. The biochemical studies showed that binding of radiolabeled LTA to lymphocytes was lymphocyte-concentration, and temperature dependent, and it reached a maximum in 15 min. Binding was reversible and specific with a dissociation constant of 89 µM for adult lymphocytes and 57 µM for cord blood lymphocytes. Immunologic studies showed that the LTA was mitogenic only for T lymphocytes. Dose response curves of lymphocyte mitogenesis induced by LTA and the binding of LTA to intact lymphocytes were shown to be related. The results suggest that LTA binds to specific receptor sites on T lymphocytes to trigger the mitogenic response.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by program-directed research funds from the Veterans Administration and supported by Research Grants AI-13550 and AI-10085 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

² Please address reprint requests to Dr. E. H. Beachey, VA Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38104. Dr. Beachey is the recipient of a Medical Investigatorship Award from the Veterans Administration.

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