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The Journal of Immunology, 1998, 160: 3971-3977.
Copyright © 1998 by The American Association of Immunologists

Effect of Antigen-Processing Efficiency on In Vivo T Cell Response Magnitudes1

Sujata Vijh, Ingrid M. Pilip and Eric G. Pamer2

Sections of Infectious Diseases and Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
T lymphocytes eradicate and provide long-term immunity to infections caused by intracellular pathogens. The mechanisms that determine in vivo T cell response sizes are poorly understood. Although it is speculated that the relative processing efficiency of different epitopes determines the hierarchy of T cell responses following immunization, this hypothesis has not been rigorously tested. We therefore mutagenized the secreted p60 Ag of Listeria monocytogenes to alter the efficiency of T cell epitope generation. Ag-processing efficiencies in cells infected with the different L. monocytogenes mutants ranged from one H2-Kd-associated p60 217–225 epitope generated per 15 intracellularly degraded p60 molecules (1/15) to one epitope per 350 degraded p60 molecules (1/350), i.e., a spectrum encompassing a 20-fold range of efficiencies. Mice infected with L. monocytogenes secreting inefficiently processed p60 (1/350) did not mount p60 217–225-specific T cell responses. However, increasing the efficiency of Ag processing by a factor of 5 to 1/70 restored the T cell response size to normal, while further increases in the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation to 1/50, 1/35, and 1/17 did not further augment specific T cell responses. Our studies demonstrate an Ag-processing threshold for in vivo T cell activation. Surprisingly, once this threshold is achieved, further enhancement of Ag-processing efficiency does not enhance the size of T cell responses.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Infection with complex pathogens elicits T lymphocyte responses with multiple, but generally rather limited, peptide specificities. The relative magnitude of different peptide-specific T cell responses following infection is maintained between individuals that share MHC haplotypes. Thus, in model systems of T cell-mediated immunity to pathogenic organisms, infection results in priming and expansion of a predictable hierarchy of T cell responses (1, 2, 3, 4). How T cell response sizes and hierarchies are determined, however, remains unclear.

Ag processing has been shown to play a pivotal role in generating T cell responses. For example, studies have shown that changing the flanking residues of T cell epitopes can alter the antigenicity of a protein (5, 6, 7, 8). Targeting of peptides to the endoplasmic reticulum can also enhance T cell responsiveness (9). The rate of peptide dissociation from MHC molecules has also been implicated in determining T cell response sizes (10, 11, 12). The overall complexity of the T cell response to a pathogen can influence the magnitude of the response to individual epitopes, as demonstrated in the MHC class I-restricted response to SV40 T Ag (2), influenza virus (13), and the MHC class II-restricted response to the staphylococcal nuclease (1). Other studies have implicated the TCR repertoire as a major determinant of the size of responding T cell populations (14, 15, 16, 17). The effect of TCR repertoire differences on immunodominance has been suggested to result from differences in positive selection (17). Several studies have demonstrated the dramatic influence of the CD28 and CTLA-4 costimulatory molecules on the size of in vivo T cell responses following immunization (18, 19).

Another factor that influences T cell responses is the number of epitopes presented on the cell surface. In vitro analyses of MHC class II-restricted CD4 T cells showed that variations in Ag dose swayed responding T cells to secrete either Th1 or Th2 cytokines (20, 21). Similar in vitro analyses with MHC class I-restricted CD8 T cells have shown that different concentrations of peptide epitopes during T cell priming can dramatically influence the kinetics of T cell proliferation and IL-2 expression (22). CTL clones vary in their sensitivity to surface epitope concentrations, with some requiring as few as 10 and others requiring thousands of surface epitopes for activation (23). The extent of in vitro activation of T cell clones can be determined by different epitope concentrations (24, 25). The effects of different epitope concentrations on in vivo T cell priming and expansion, however, are not known.

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive, pathogenic bacterium that enters the cytosol of infected cells. Mice infected with L. monocytogenes mount MHC class I-restricted CTL responses specific for several peptides presented by H2-Kd and H2-M3 molecules (26). Quantitative studies of the presentation of three H2-Kd-restricted epitopes revealed that they are presented by infected cells in vastly different amounts (8, 27). Thus, LLO 91–99, p60 217–225, and p60 449–457 are present in infected cells at a ratio of approximately 1:4:14, respectively. In contrast, the ratio of T cells specific for these three epitopes at the peak of the response is approximately 20:10:1, respectively (4). Thus, in comparing T cell responses with different epitopes, the efficiency of epitope presentation does not predict the magnitude of T cell responses.

In this study, we determine the influence of Ag-processing efficiency on the magnitude of in vivo CTL responses. Without changing the virulence, infectivity, or p60 secretion rate of L. monocytogenes, we have mutated a flanking residue of the dominant p60 217–225 epitope. This has generated a panel of L. monocytogenes strains that are identical, except that the relative amount of p60 217–225 that is presented upon cellular infection varies from 0 to more than 4000 epitopes per cell. We find that the magnitude of the in vivo T cell response to p60 217–225 does not directly reflect the amount of epitope that is presented. Over a fivefold range of epitope concentrations the size of the T cell response remains unchanged. However, once the efficiency of p60 217–225 drops below a threshold level, even though epitopes are being generated, there is no detectable T cell response. Our investigations indicate that the ultimate size of the T cell response is not determined by the number of epitopes that are presented in vivo.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Cell lines and mice

The CTL clones L9.6 (specific for p60 217–225) and WP11.12 (specific for p60 449–457) were maintained by weekly restimulation with L. monocytogenes-infected J774 cells, as described previously (8). P815 mastocytoma cell line (H-2d) and J774 macrophage cells (H-2d) were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Rockville, MD) and maintained in RP10 medium supplemented with 10% FCS, as described (27). BALB/c and CB6 mice (C57BL/6 x BALB/c F1; H-2bxd) were obtained from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME).

Bacterial strains

L. monocytogenes strain 10403S was obtained from Dr. Daniel Portnoy (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA) and cultured in brain-heart infusion broth (BHI3).

Generation of L. monocytogenes mutant strains

L. monocytogenes p60 216 mutant strains were generated by changing wild-type valine 216 codon to alanine, histidine, glycine, and aspartic acid within the p60 gene. A promoterless copy of the p60 gene spanning bp 431 to 1941 was amplified from genomic DNA of L. monocytogenes using the PCR with Vent polymerase (NEB, Beverly, MA). The 5' oligonucleotide sequence was 5'-GAGAGGAGTCATATGAATATGAAAAAAGCAACTG-3', and the 3' oligonucleotide sequence was 5'-CGCTTAAGGAACTGCTTGCTCCACAGGTT-3'. The 1.5-kb PCR product was cloned into ptz19U (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) after an intermediate cloning step into the TA vector (Invitrogen, San Diego, CA). ssDNA was generated from ptz19U for mutagenesis (28) and served as a template for generation of the various mutants in codon 216 and codon 218 of p60. The wild-type 216 valine codon was changed to alanine, histidine, glycine, and aspartic acid, and wild-type 218 tyrosine was changed to serine with the following primers:

Alanine: 5'-CATAATGTCTTGTACACTAACACCGTATTTTGGGGATAAAGCCC-3'

Histidine: 5'-CATAATGTCTTGTACACTAACACCGTATTTGTGGGATAAAGCCC-3'

Glycine: 5'-CATAATGTCTTGTACACTAACACCGTATTTTCCGGATAAAGCCC-3'

Aspartic acid: 5'-CATAATGTCTTGTACACTAACACCGTATTTGTCGGATAAAGCCC-3'

Serine: 5'-CATAATGTCTTGTACACTAACACCAGATTTTACGGATAAAGCCC-3'

The above primers also incorporated a unique, silent BsrGI restriction site (that is underlined) in p60 to simplify screening of the chromosomal mutants. All mutations were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Mutated p60 genes were cloned into the thermosensitive plasmid, pKSV7, to enable homologous recombination of these mutations into the chromosome of L. monocytogenes (29, 30). Briefly, the plasmid pKSV7 containing the mutant p60 gene was electroporated into L. monocytogenes 10403S and plated onto BHI plates containing 10 µg/ml chloramphenicol. Cultures of chloramphenicol-resistant colonies were passaged at 41°C to integrate the plasmid into the homologous chromosomal p60 gene of L. monocytogenes. The cultures were then passaged at 30°C in the absence of chloramphenicol, which resulted in excision of the plasmid. After several such passages, colonies were screened for the presence of the chromosomal mutation by replica plating on BHI plates with and without chloramphenicol. Genomic DNA from chloramphenicol-sensitive colonies carrying the unique restriction site was PCR amplified and sequenced to confirm the presence of the desired mutation.

Quantitation of p60 217–225 and p60 449–457 CTL epitope numbers from J774 cell line (H2-Kd)

CTL epitopes were isolated from cell pellets, as described previously (27, 31). Briefly, J774 cell pellets obtained after a 6-h infection with L. monocytogenes were resuspended in 10 ml of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), dounce homogenized, sonicated, and centrifuged at 100,000 x g for 35 min. Supernatants were concentrated by lyophilization, resuspended in 2 ml 0.1% TFA, and passed through a Centricon-10 membrane (Beverly, MA). The filtrate was HPLC fractionated, and fractions were lyophilized and resuspended in 200 µl of PBS. Fractions 28 and 29 were tested for p60 217–225 and p60 449–457, respectively, in a 4-h chromium-release assay using CTL clones L9.6 and WP11.12 (8) with 51Cr-labeled P815 cells. The concentration of epitope in HPLC fractions was determined by titration of HPLC fractions, and comparison with the percent specific lysis obtained with a standard curve of known concentrations of synthetic peptide (27). The number of epitopes per infected cell was calculated by correcting for a 50% extraction efficiency for p60 217–225, as described previously (27).

p60 217–225 epitope and bacterial quantitation from the spleens of Listeria-infected mice

BALB/c mice were infected with 1 x 106 wild-type L. monocytogenes and each of the L. monocytogenes 216 mutant strains. Spleens were removed 48 h after infection and homogenized with a sintered glass homogenizer, followed by dounce homogenization (32). p60 217–225 epitopes were extracted in 0.1% TFA and HPLC fractionated, as described above. HPLC fractions were assayed for p60 217–225 with P815 cells in a 51Cr release assay using the CTL clone L9.6 (specific for p60 217–225) at an E:T ratio of 20:1. The concentrations of epitopes in HPLC fractions of spleen extracts were calculated by comparing the specific lysis obtained with a standard curve generated with known concentrations of synthetic p60 217–225. For bacterial quantitation from infected spleens, a small sample of the infected spleen was washed and then passed through a wire mesh and solubilized in 0.05% Triton X-100, and an appropriately diluted aliquot was plated onto BHI plates.

The ELISPOT assay for quantitating the number of IFN-secreting T cells

The ELISPOT assay, as described previously (4, 33), was used to determine the number of IFN-{gamma}-secreting T cells specific for LLO 91–99, p60 217–225, and p60 449–457 in spleens of immunized mice. Briefly, 96-well nitrocellulose plates (Millipore, Bedford, Ma) were coated overnight with rat anti-IFN-{gamma} Ab. Immune splenocytes (105) were placed into wells along with 105 P815 cells that were precoated (or left uncoated) for 1 h at 37°C with 10-6 M of the three synthetic epitopes. Splenocytes were incubated with peptide-coated APCs for 24 h with 30 U/ml IL-2. Wells were then washed, and the production of IFN-{gamma} was detected by development of the plates, as described (4). The number of spots were counted under a dissecting microscope, and the magnitude of the in vivo CTL response was plotted as number of IFN-secreting T cells per 105 splenocytes.

Epitope-specific in vitro restimulation of Listeria-immune splenocytes from wild-type, p60 Asp216, and Ser218 strains of L. monocytogenes

CB6 mice were immunized by i.v. injection with 1000 L. monocytogenes wild-type, Asp216, and Ser218 strains. After 1 wk, splenocytes were harvested and restimulated in vitro with naive, irradiated syngeneic splenocytes that had been coated with 10-6 M of LLO 91–99, p60 217–225, and p60 449–457, as previously described (8). After 5 days of incubation at 37°C, responders were tested either undiluted or at serial threefold dilutions for recognition of 51Cr-labeled P815 target cells in the presence and absence of 10-6 M of the respective stimulating peptides. The percent specific lysis was calculated as previously described (8).


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Generation of L. monocytogenes Ag-processing mutants

Our previous studies have suggested that the magnitude of the T cell response to three different H2-Kd-restricted L. monocytogenes epitopes does not correlate with the efficiency of their presentation (4). Because of the difficulties inherent in comparisons of T cell responses different epitopes, we decided to determine the influence of different Ag-processing efficiencies on the magnitude of the in vivo CTL response to one epitope. We therefore generated strains of L. monocytogenes with mutations in position 216 of p60, the amino acid that flanks the N terminus of the immunodominant CTL epitope p60 217–225. The codon for amino acid 216 of p60 was mutated from wild-type serine to alanine, histidine, glycine, and aspartic acid. The mutant p60 genes were incorporated into the chromosome of L. monocytogenes by homologous recombination, thus enabling stable expression of mutant p60, even upon infection of mice (Fig. 1Go). Amino acid 218 of p60 was also mutated from tyrosine to serine, thereby replacing an essential anchor residue for binding to H2-Kd. This strain therefore served as a knockout of the p60 217–225 epitope during immunization studies. All of the mutant L. monocytogenes strains were evaluated for growth rate, p60 secretion, and J774 cell infectivity, and were found to be identical to the wild-type strain (data not shown).



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FIGURE 1. Strains of L. monocytogenes with mutations in the p60 gene. Amino acids 216 and 218 of p60 were mutated to the indicated amino acids shown as described in Materials and Methods. The nomenclature of the mutant strains is indicated on the left.

 
Quantitation of the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation in L. monocytogenes-infected cells

To determine whether mutations in amino acid 216 altered the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation, we infected J774 cells with the mutant L. monocytogenes strains and TFA-extracted and HPLC-fractionated MHC class I-associated peptides, as previously described (27). Relevant HPLC fractions were assayed for the presence of p60 217–225 and p60 449–457 in 51Cr release assay using CTL clone L9.6 (specific for p60 217–225) and CTL clone WP11.12 (specific for p60 449–457). As shown in Figure 2GoA, target cells coated with HPLC fractions from cells infected with the different L. monocytogenes strains were lysed to different extents by CTL clone L9.6. Fractions obtained from L. monocytogenes Ala216-infected cells reproducibly contained the largest amount of targeting peptide, while, as expected, no p60 217–225 targeting activity could be detected in extracts of L. monocytogenes Ser218-infected cells. L. monocytogenes wild-type, His216-, Gly216-infected cells yielded intermediate amounts of p60 217–225, while L. monocytogenes Asp216-infected cells yielded a smaller amount of the epitope. These results indicate that changes in amino acid 216 of p60 affect the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation. The amount of p60 449–457, as determined with CTL clone WP11.12, is similar in cells infected with the different L. monocytogenes strains. This indicates that altering residue 216 of p60 affected only the processing of the p60 217–225 epitope and not the generation of p60 449–457. Metabolic labeling and pulse/chase analyses of L. monocytogenes-infected J774 cells revealed that wild-type and mutant forms of p60 were degraded with similar kinetics (results not shown).



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FIGURE 2. The efficiency of p60 217–225 generation differs in cells infected with different strains of L. monocytogenes. J774 cells were infected with L. monocytogenes wild-type and the 216 mutant strains 6 h after infection. p60 217–225 epitopes were quantified as described in Materials and Methods. CTL clone L9.6 was used to detect p60 217–225 (A), and WP11.12 was used to detect p60 449–457 (B). The number of p60 217–225 epitopes per infected J774 cell was determined as described in Materials and Methods, and is plotted in C.

 
To obtain more quantitative information about p60 217–225 generation in cells infected with the mutant L. monocytogenes strains, we determined the specific lysis obtained with HPLC fractions from infected cell extracts and compared that with a standard curve of synthetic p60 217–225 peptide, as described previously (27). By calculating the number of p60 217–225 epitopes per cell, we found that L. monocytogenes 216 Ala-infected cells contain more than 4000 epitopes per cell, approximately twice the amount of p60 217–225 as L. monocytogenes wild-type infected cells. In contrast, L. monocytogenes 216 Asp-infected cells only generate about 200 epitopes per cell. It is possible that aspartic acid is an inferior substrate for proteasome-mediated generation of p60 217–225. L. monocytogenes His216- and Gly216-infected cells make intermediate levels of p60 217–225 epitopes. Thus, our results show that altering a single epitope-flanking residue can effectively alter the efficiency of epitope generation. Furthermore, we have generated a panel of L. monocytogenes mutants that are similar in all measurable ways, except for the amount of p60 217–225 that is generated upon cellular infection.

In vivo Ag processing following infection with mutant L. monocytogenes strains

Since T cell priming occurs in response to in vivo Ag processing, we determined whether our in vitro findings on the cellular processing of wild-type and mutant p60 approximated in vivo Ag processing. Mice were infected with L. monocytogenes Ala216, wild-type, His216, Gly216, and Asp216, and p60 217–225 epitopes were extracted from infected spleens. TFA extracts of infected spleens were HPLC fractionated, and p60 217–225-containing fractions were assayed for specific lysis with CTL clone L9.6. The concentration of p60 217–225 in the HPLC fractions of spleens infected with the different L. monocytogenes strains was determined by comparison with a standard curve of known concentrations of synthetic peptide p60 217–225 (27). The concentration of p60 217–225 in infected spleens reflects a range of cellular infections, with some highly and some minimally infected cells. As shown in Figure 3GoA, a hierarchy of epitope concentrations was present in HPLC fractions of infected spleens, similar to that obtained with infected J774 cells (Fig. 2Go, A and C). This indicates that in vitro analyses of Ag processing in L. monocytogenes-infected J774 cells closely approximate in vivo Ag processing in infected spleens. Our assays did not detect p60 217–225 in spleens infected with L. monocytogenes Asp216. Although it is possible that no p60 217–225 is generated in this situation, we believe it is far more likely that the number of epitopes produced falls below the detection sensitivity of our assay. To determine whether the mutant L. monocytogenes strains were of similar virulence upon murine infection, we quantified the number of bacteria in spleens of mice 48 h after i.v. infection. As shown in Figure 3GoB, the number of live bacteria obtained per gram of spleen is similar in mice infected with each of the L. monocytogenes strains, indicating similar extents of infection.



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FIGURE 3. The in vitro processing efficiency obtained with the mutant L. monocytogenes strains is maintained in vivo. BALB/c mice were infected with 1 x 106 L. monocytogenes wild-type or p60 216 mutant strains, and 48 h later spleens were TFA extracted and HPLC fractionated, as indicated in Materials and Methods. A, The p60 217–225 epitope concentrations were determined by comparison with a standard curve with synthetic peptide. B, The number of bacteria obtained per gram of infected spleen was determined by plating an aliquot of the infected spleen on BHI plates.

 
Ag-processing efficiency and its influence on the magnitude of the T cell response

To determine whether the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation influences the magnitude of the in vivo T cell response, mice were immunized with wild-type and the mutant L. monocytogenes strains. One week later, the number of p60 217–225-specific T cells was quantified by ELISPOT. The magnitude of the T cell response to LLO 91–99, p60 217–225, and p60 449–457 was similar in mice infected with wild-type and L. monocytogenes Ala216, Gly216, and His216 (Fig. 4Go). As expected, no p60 217–225 epitope-specific T cells are generated in mice infected with L. monocytogenes Ser218. Interestingly, immunization with L. monocytogenes Asp216 did not prime a T cell response to p60 217–225, while the response to LLO 91–99 and p60 449–457 was normal (Fig. 4Go). These results suggest that the amount of p60 217–225 generated by cells infected with L. monocytogenes Asp216 falls below a threshold required to elicit a T cell response. It is possible that a linear relationship between CTL response magnitude and Ag-processing efficiency exists in the narrow window between the Asp216 and Gly216 mutants. Nevertheless, our results demonstrate that once the threshold is exceeded, incremental increases in the amount of CTL epitope do not augment the magnitude of the in vivo T cell response.



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FIGURE 4. In vivo T cell responses to L. monocytogenes wild-type, Ala216, His216, Gly216 strains, and Ser218 do not directly reflect Ag-processing efficiency. Splenocytes of CB6 mice infected with 1000 L. monocytogenes wild-type, Ala216, His216, Gly216, Asp216, and Ser218 were assayed 1 wk after infection by ELISPOT for LLO 91–99-, p60 217–225-, and p60 449–457-specific T cells. The average of four CB6 mice is plotted, and the error bars indicate the SD.

 
To determine whether the T cell response to Asp216 was absent or just below the sensitivity of the ELISPOT assay, we restimulated immune splenocytes in vitro. As shown in Figure 5GoA, splenocytes from L. monocytogenes wild-type infected mice were readily restimulated with LLO 91–99, p60 217–225 (Fig. 5GoD), and p60 449–457 (Fig. 5GoG). As expected, splenocytes from L. monocytogenes Ser218-infected mice did not respond to restimulation with p60 217–225 (Fig. 5GoF), but did respond to LLO 91–99 (Fig. 5GoC) and p60 449–457 (Fig. 5GoI). Similarly, splenocytes from L. monocytogenes Asp216-immunized mice also did not respond to p60 217–225 (Fig. 5GoE), while LLO 91–99 (Fig. 5GoB) and p60 449–457 (Fig. 5GoH) stimulation readily expanded specific CTL. This result confirms that infection with L. monocytogenes Asp216 does not prime p60 217–225 epitope-specific T cells.



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FIGURE 5. Infection with L. monocytogenes Asp216 does not prime p60 217–225-specific T cells. Splenocytes of mice immunized with 1000 L. monocytogenes wild-type, Asp216, and Ser218 strains were harvested 1 wk after immunization and restimulated in vitro with 10-6 M LLO 91–99 (A–C), p60 217–225 (D–F), and p60 449–457 (G–I), as described in Materials and Methods. The responder cells were then tested at various E:T ratios for specific lysis of 51Cr-labeled P815 cells in the presence or absence of the respective peptides.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
In this study, we describe the impact of Ag-processing efficiency on the magnitude of T cell responses following infection by a pathogenic intracellular bacterium. We found that altering the efficiency of CTL epitope generation can dramatically impact the in vivo magnitude of T cell responses. If the MHC class I Ag-processing pathway produces a subthreshold number of epitopes, then CTL responses remain undetectable. However, once a threshold number of epitopes is presented, the magnitude of the CTL response is unaffected by further increases in epitope generation. Our findings, therefore, confirm and extend the findings of a recent study that used a similar approach of altering Ag-processing efficiency in a viral Ag expression system (34). To determine the impact of altering the in vivo prevalence of a CTL epitope on the magnitude of the T cell response, we mutagenized L. monocytogenes p60 to alter the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation. In previous studies, we determined that p60 is degraded intracellularly by proteasomes and that roughly 35 p60 molecules are degraded for every p60 217–225 epitope that is bound by the H2-Kd MHC class I molecule (35). To alter the efficiency of p60 217–225 generation, we mutated residue Val216, an obligate proteolytic site for epitope generation, to alanine, histidine, glycine, and aspartic acid. The efficiency of p60 217–225 generation was distinct for each of these mutant forms of p60. Although it is possible that cytosolic proteasomes cleave after residue 216 of p60, it is also possible that an amino peptidase cleaves the peptide at this site (36). Nevertheless, in the case of p60 217–225 generation, the hierarchy of processing efficiencies decreases from alanine to valine to histidine to glycine to aspartic acid, in J774 cells and infected spleens (Figs. 3Go and 4Go). Roughly 17 p60 molecules with alanine in position 216 must be degraded to generate one H2-Kd-bound p60 217–225 epitope. In contrast, roughly 350 p60 molecules with aspartic acid in position 216 are degraded to generate one p60 217–225 epitope. These experiments confirm the importance of flanking residues on the efficiency of epitope generation and presentation (5, 6, 8). Furthermore, these experiments demonstrate for the first time that quantitative analyses of Ag processing in infected J774 cells nicely reflect Ag processing occurring in vivo following L. monocytogenes infection.

How the size of a T cell response is determined in vivo is an important, unanswered question. Two factors, the number of responding T cells and their extent of replication, determine the ultimate magnitude of an epitope-specific T cell response. One might expect that higher in vivo epitope concentrations would stimulate a broader range of T cells and prolong the duration of T cell expansion. Our results suggest that neither of these circumstances is realized during in vivo T cell priming and expansion in response to L. monocytogenes infection. Instead, our experiments indicate that a relatively constant T cell response is activated by a range of suprathreshold epitope numbers. Although the mechanism underlying the constant T cell response to different concentrations of surface MHC/epitope complexes is unclear, several conclusions flow from our findings. First, it is likely that a population of CD8 T cells with similar avidities for H2-Kd/p60 217–225 complexes responds to p60 217–225. Thus, changing the concentration of epitope in vivo generates uniform behavior among responding T cells (i.e., either no response at subthreshold or a full response at suprathreshold epitope concentrations). Second, the extent of naive T cell priming and expansion is not related in a linear fashion to the amount of presented epitope. Thus, adding more epitopes during T cell priming does not appear to either recruit more or enhance the replication of T cells. Our findings suggest that the extent of T cell expansion during the response to L. monocytogenes infection is not influenced by the epitope concentration. Thus, synchronous expression of a T cell surface molecule such as CTLA-4 at a given time point following infection may curtail T cell expansion independent of epitope concentrations (37, 38). Alternatively, epitopes may be cleared from the infected focus at a fixed time point following infection, perhaps by CTL-mediated destruction of infected cells, regardless of the efficiency of Ag presentation.

The question of how T cell populations expand, contract, and enter the memory compartment following infection by pathogenic organisms is one of the most important in the field of immunology. Our findings suggest that the relationship between Ag presentation and immunodominance may be more complex than previously suspected, and may have important implications for vaccine design and development.


    Acknowledgments
 
We thank Greg Smith and Daniel Portnoy for helpful advice on the generation of L. monocytogenes mutant strains. We also thank Dirk H. Busch for helpful discussions and reading of the manuscript.


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was supported by grants from United States Public Health Service National Institutes of Health Research Grants AI 39031 and AI 33143. E.G.P. is a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, and S.V. was supported by National Institutes of Health Training Grant AI 07019-20 and the Brown-Coxe Fellowship by Yale University, School of Medicine. Back

2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Eric G. Pamer, Yale University School of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Section, 803 LCI, P.O. Box 208022, New Haven, CT 06520-8022. Back

3 Abbreviations used in this paper: BHI, brain-heart infusion; TFA, trifluoroacetic acid. Back

Received for publication November 14, 1997. Accepted for publication December 22, 1997.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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