The Journal of Immunology, Vol 155, Issue 11 5409-5418, Copyright © 1995 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Presence of T cells with activated and memory phenotypes in inflammatory spinal cord lesions

DM Barten, RB Clark and NH Ruddle
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

The phenotypic and functional characteristics of activated T cells and recruited unactivated T cells at an inflammatory site were examined using a V beta 4+ myelin basic protein-specific T cell clone in a passively transferred model of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. A high percentage of the T cells isolated from the central nervous system (CNS) were V beta 4+. This population exhibited the characteristics of activated T cells based on the proportion of cells in the blast state, their ability to proliferate in response to IL-2 or CNS Ag, and their expression of activation/memory cell markers. Activated V beta 4+ T cells were also observed in the periphery. Large numbers of V beta 4- T cells, which are entirely host-recruited, were also found in the CNS, where they demonstrated the properties of memory cells. There were differences in adhesion molecule expression between CNS V beta 4+ T cells and peripheral V beta 4+ T cells, although both populations were in activated state. V beta 4+ T cells at the site of Ag expression (the spinal cord) demonstrated higher levels of LFA-1 and CD44, but lower levels of VLA-4 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1, than did V beta 4+ T cells in the spleen. In contrast, the levels of all of these adhesion molecules on recruited V beta 4- T cells were higher in the CNS than in the periphery. This experimental model allows the detailed characterization of different T cell populations isolated from the same inflammatory site.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Schluter, T. Meyer, L.-Y. Kwok, M. Montesinos-Rongen, S. Lutjen, A. Strack, M. L. Schmitz, and M. Deckert Phenotype and Regulation of Persistent Intracerebral T Cells in Murine Toxoplasma Encephalitis J. Immunol., July 1, 2002; 169(1): 315 - 322. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Liu and T. J. Chambers Yellow Fever Virus Encephalitis: Properties of the Brain-Associated T-Cell Response during Virus Clearance in Normal and Gamma Interferon-Deficient Mice and Requirement for CD4+ Lymphocytes J. Virol., March 1, 2001; 75(5): 2107 - 2118. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				R. B. Fritz, X. Wang, and M.-L. Zhao Alterations in the Spinal Cord T Cell Repertoire During Relapsing Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis J. Immunol., June 15, 2000; 164(12): 6662 - 6668. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Z. Chen, G. M. Hochwald, C. Huang, G. Dakin, H. Tao, C. Cheng, W. J. Simmons, G. Dranoff, and G. J. Thorbecke Gene therapy in allergic encephalomyelitis using myelin basic protein-specific T cells engineered to express latent transforming growth factor-beta 1 PNAS, October 13, 1998; 95(21): 12516 - 12521. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]