Immunological biomarkers of tuberculosis

Currently there are no sufficiently validated biomarkers to aid the evaluation of new tuberculosis vaccine candidates, the improvement of tuberculosis diagnostics or the development of more effective and shorter treatment regimens. To date, the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis or its products has not been able to adequately address these needs. Understanding the interplay between the host immune system and M. tuberculosis may provide a platform for the identification of suitable biomarkers, through both unbiased and targeted hypothesis-driven approaches. Here, we review immunological markers, their relation to M. tuberculosis infection stages and their potential use in the fight against tuberculosis.     

结核病免疫机制及疫苗研究进展

结核病是一种棘手的重大传染病.虽然存在一些有一定疗效的治疗药物,亦有预防性疫苗--卡介苗(BCG);但结核病仍在世界范围流行,且发病率和病死率居高不下.结核病的免疫病理机制及疫苗研究近年来取得了一定的进展.结核分枝杆菌通过Toll样受体(TLR)等模式识别受体,激活巨噬细胞的天然免疫反应,清除细菌和调节获得性免疫反应....     

Immunological reactivity of tuberculosis patients

Summary The investigation made byWilkens andTasman (1959) into the immunization of tuberculosis patients with Tetanus Phosphate Toxoid has been extended to a further group of patients and control subjects. The work described here covered a total of 29 controls and 54 tuberculosis patients; the latter were from two different clinics (SAZU and “Zonnegloren”). On the whole, the results previously reported byWilkens andTasman were comfirmed in that tuberculosis patients were found to respond to primary immunization with Tetanus-P.T. (2 injections of 0.5 ml at a one-month interval) by a less marked and slower antitoxin production than the normal controls. The patients treated at SAZU showed a more deviant behaviour in this respect, than did the “Zonnegloren” patients. A number of specifically designed animal experiments showed that administration of PAS had an unfavourable effect on development of immunity after the first P.T. injection. This fact might possibly explain the behaviour seen in the tuberculosis patients. It might also explain the marked difference in immunological reactivity between the SAZU and the “Zonnegloren” patients, because the former chiefly received this agent by intravenous drip, while the latter were given oral medication. It is possible that intravenous administration of PAS produces higher blood concentrations than oral administration.     

Pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine: mechanisms of protective immunity and human vaccine trials

In order to provide a rational basis for the development of a pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine we have aimed at: (a) elucidating the mechanisms of protection, and (b) identifying vaccine formulations that best elicit protection in experimental animals and humans. Based on earlier successful immunization of experimental animals with irradiated sporozoites, human volunteers were exposed to the bites of large numbers of Plasmodium falciparum or P. vivax infected irradiated mosquitoes. The result of this vaccine trial demonstrated for the first time that a pre-erythrocytic vaccine, administered to humans, can result in their complete resistance to malaria infection. However, since infected irradiated mosquitoes are unavailable for large scale vaccination, the alternative is to develop subunit vaccines. The human trials using irradiated sporozoites provided valuable information on the human immune responses to pre-erythrocytic stages and studies on mice an excellent experimental model to characterize protective immune mechanisms. The circumsporozoite protein, the first pre-erythrocytic antigen identified, is present in all malaria species, displaying a similar structure, with a central region of repeats, and two conserved regions, essential for parasite development. Most pre-erythrocytic vaccine candidates are based on the CS protein, expressed in various cell lines, microorganisms, and recently the corresponding DNA. We and others have identified CS-specific B and T cell epitopes, recognized by the rodent and human immune systems, and used them for the development of synthetic vaccines. We used synthetic peptide vaccines, multiple antigen peptides and polyoximes, for immunization, first in experimental animals, and recently in two human safety and immunogenicity trials. We also report here on our work on T cell mediated immunity, particularly the protection of mice immunized with viral vectors expressing CS-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cell epitopes, and the striking booster effect of recombinant vaccinia virus. To what degree CD8+ T cells, and/or other T cells specific for sporozoites and/or liver stage epitopes, contribute to pre-erythrocytic protective immunity in humans, remains to be determined.     

Immunological profiling of a panel of human ovarian cancer cell lines

Purpose The efficient identification of peptide antigens recognized by ovarian cancer-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) requires the use of well-characterized ovarian cancer cell lines. To develop such a panel of cell lines, 11 ovarian cancer cell lines were characterized for the expression of class I and class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-encoded molecules, 15 tumor antigens, and immunosuppressive cytokines [transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and IL-10]. Methods Class I MHC gene expression was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and class I and class II MHC protein expression was determined by flow cytometry. Tumor antigen expression was determined by a combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and flow cytometry. Cytokine expression was determined by ELISA. Results Each of the ovarian cancer cell lines expresses cytokeratins, although each cell line does not express the same cytokeratins. One of the lines expresses CD90, which is associated with a fibroblast lineage. Each of the cell lines expresses low to moderate amounts of class I MHC molecules, and several of them express low to moderate amounts of class II MHC molecules. Using a combination of PCR and flow cytometry, it was determined that each cell line expressed between six and thirteen of fifteen antigens tested. Little to no TGF-β3 was produced by any of the cell lines, TGF-β1 was produced by three of the cell lines, TGF-β2 was produced by all of the cell lines, with four of the cell lines producing large amounts of the latent form of the molecule, and IL-10 was produced by one of the cell lines. Conclusions Each of the 11 ovarian cancer lines is characterized by a unique expression pattern of epithelial/fibroblast markers, MHC molecules, tumor antigens, and immunosuppressive cytokines. Knowledge of these unique expression patterns will increase the usefulness of these cell lines in identifying the antigens recognized by ovarian cancer-specific CTL.     

Data mining of cancer vaccine trials: a bird's-eye view

Background

Details of the mechanisms and selection pressures that shape the emergence and development of complex biological systems, such as the human immune system, are poorly understood. A recent definition of a reference set of proteins essential for the human immunome, combined with information about protein interaction networks for these proteins, facilitates evolutionary study of this biological machinery.

Results

Here, we present a detailed study of the development of the immunome protein interaction network during eight evolutionary steps from Bilateria ancestors to human. New nodes show preferential attachment to high degree proteins. The efficiency of the immunome protein interaction network increases during the evolutionary steps, whereas the vulnerability of the network decreases.

Conclusion

Our results shed light on selective forces acting on the emergence of biological networks. It is likely that the high efficiency and low vulnerability are intrinsic properties of many biological networks, which arise from the effects of evolutionary processes yet to be uncovered.     

Immunological monitoring of the tumor immunoenvironment for clinical trials

Monitoring of immunotherapeutic clinical trials has undergone a considerable change in the last decade resulting in a general agreement that immune monitoring should guide the development of cancer vaccines. The emphasis on immune cell functions and quantitation of antigen-specific T cells have been playing a major role in the attempts to establish meaningful correlations between therapy-induced alterations in immune responses and clinical endpoints. However, one significant unresolved issue in modern immunotherapy is that when a tumor-specific cellular immune response is observed following the course of immunotherapy, it does not always lead to clinically proven cancer regression. This disappointing lack of a correlation between the tumor-specific cytotoxic immune responses and the clinical efficacy of immunotherapy may be explained, among other reasons, by the notion that the analysis of any single immunological parameter is not sufficient to provide clinically feasible information about the complex interactions between different cell subsets in the peripheral blood and immune, tumor, and stromal cells in the tumor milieu. By contrast, a systemic approach is required for improving the quality of a serial monitoring to ensure that it adequately and reliably measures potential changes induced in patients by administered vaccines or immunomodulators. Comprehensive evaluation of the balance between the immunostimulatory and immunosuppressive compartments of the immune system could be critical for a better understanding of how a given immunotherapy works or does not work in a particular clinical trial. New approaches to characterize tumor-infiltrating leukocytes, their phenotypic, biochemical, and genetic characteristics within the tumor microenvironment need to be developed and validated and should complement current monitoring techniques. These immune-monitoring assays for the local tumor immunoenvironment should be developed, validated, and standardized for reliability and consistency in order to establish the overall performance standards.     

结核分枝杆菌Rv2628蛋白的免疫生物学特性

Rv2628蛋白是结核分枝杆菌Mycobacterium tuberculosis(M.tb)DosR调控的潜伏感染相关抗原。本研究对Rv2628蛋白进行了原核表达和纯化,并以巨噬细胞系和小鼠为研究模型,对其免疫生物学特性进行了分析。SDS-PAGE及Western blotting鉴定结果表明,Rv2628-His融合蛋白以包涵体形式表达,能与兔抗H37Rv多抗血清发生特异性反应,具有较好的免疫反应性。与巨噬细胞系RAW264.7的互作实验结果表明,在1–12 h内Rv2628蛋白能诱导前炎性因子IL-6的上调表达。将纯化的Rv2628融合蛋白皮下免疫BALB/c小鼠,夹心ELISA的测定结果表明,Rv2628蛋白免疫组诱导产生的特异性IFN-γ水平显著高于IL-4的水平(P0.000 1),呈现Th1型细胞免疫应答趋势;以Rv262811-30多肽作为包被抗原,通过间接ELISA测定的血清抗体效价能达到11 600,表明Rv2628也能诱导体液免疫应答。总之,Rv2628能促进巨噬细胞炎症反应的发生,激发小鼠产生强烈的Th1型细胞免疫应答和较好的体液免疫应答,具有作为亚单位疫苗的潜力,为M.tb与宿主之间的相互作用奠定了一定的理论基础。     

Immunological effectiveness of a dried group-A meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine

The immunological effectiveness of dried group A meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine, developed at the Gabrichevsky Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow, for children aged 5-14 years was studied. The intensiveness of the immune response of children to 0.5 ml of the vaccine introduced in a single injection was evaluated by a rise in the level of agglutinating antibodies to group A meningococcal polysaccharide in the sera of the vaccinees 3-4 weeks after immunization with the following optimum doses: 25 micrograms for children aged 5-8 years, 50 micrograms for children aged 9-13 years and 75 micrograms for children aged 14 years and over. The vaccine was shown to be highly immunogenic. Antibodies to group A meningococcal polysaccharide were identified as IgM. These antibodies in a titer of 1:40 and higher could be detected in 90% of the vaccinated children in the younger age group, 7 months after immunization.     

Vaccination against enteric pathogens: from science to vaccine trials

Recent advances in scientific research and clinical trials have shown promise for vaccine development against enteric pathogens. Identification of new virulence factors, such as the two distinct shigella enterotoxins, has allowed the development of new immunogen or new attenuated strains. Improved knowledge facilitated the development of safer attenuated live microorganism and construction of multivalent vaccines. Finally, an important advantage is the use of nonreplicating plasmid DNA vectors to express protective antigens in the host.     

Immunological evaluation of novel Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate proteins

Culture filtrate from Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains molecules which can promote protective immunity to tuberculosis in animal models. Six novel proteins in the region of 17-29 kDa were purified and investigated for their immunological relevance in M. tuberculosis-infected mice, guinea pigs and tuberculosis patients. The proteins CFP17, CFP21, CFP25 and CFP29 were all identified as strong interferon-gamma inducers in M. tuberculosis-infected mice and in tuberculosis patients. The CFP21 protein is encoded in the genomic region RD-2 which is deleted from a number of BCG strains and the diagnostic potential of this antigen was evaluated.