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Biomedical subjects

I M Orme

Publications and source records attributed to I M Orme.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

CD8- and CD95/95L-dependent mechanisms of resistance in mice with chronic pulmonary tuberculosis.

The role of CD8 T lymphocytes in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection remains enigmatic, with persuasive reports of both cytolytic and noncytolytic (cytokine-mediated) responses to infection. To address the importance of the cytolytic mechanisms, mice with targeted disruptions for CD8 and perforin or with gene mutations in the CD95/ CD95L signaling pathway were exposed to pulmonary infection. All mice tested showed no differences in their ability to contain the growth of infection during the early phase of disease. As the chronic phase of the disease ensued, however, both CD8- and CD95/CD95L-deficient mice gradually lost their ability to limit bacterial growth. This was associated with a tendency toward pyogenic inflammation in the lung. This tendency was not seen in the perforin gene-disrupted mice. In CD8 gene-disrupted mice, the ability to generate interferon-gamma secreting T cells was unimpaired. Although these cells were capable of entering the lung they were unable to influence the increasing bacterial load in this organ.

Animals↗

The search for new vaccines against tuberculosis.

The failure of the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis in large, controlled clinical trials, coupled with the gradual consensus that it is mostly ineffective in preventing adult pulmonary disease in endemic areas, has led to a concerted effort to develop a new generation of vaccines. This work is ongoing in a variety of areas, including DNA vaccines, subunit vaccines, recombinant vaccines, and auxotrophic vaccines. Several such candidates are giving promising results in mouse and guinea pig, aerosol-challenge infection models and should move to clinical trials in the near future.

Animals↗

T cell expression cloning of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene encoding a protective antigen associated with the early control of infection.

Infection of C57BL/6 mice with Mycobacterium tuberculosis results in the development of a progressive disease during the first 2 wk after challenge. Thereafter, the disease is controlled by the emergence of protective T cells. We have used this infection model in conjunction with direct T cell expression cloning to identify Ags involved with the early control of the disease. A protective M. tuberculosis-specific CD4 T cell line derived from mice at 3 wk postchallenge was used to directly screen an M. tuberculosis genomic expression library. This screen resulted in the identification of a genomic clone comprising two putative adjacent genes with predicted open reading frames of 10 and 41 kDa, MTB10 and MTB41, respectively (the products of Rv0916c and Rv0915c, respectively, in the TubercuList H37Rv database). MTB10 and MTB41 belong to the PE and PPE family of proteins recently identified to comprise 10% of the M. tuberculosis genome. Evaluation of the recombinant proteins revealed that MTB41, but not MTB10, is the Ag recognized by the cell line and by M. tuberculosis-sensitized human PBMC. Moreover, C57BL/6 mice immunized with MTB41 DNA developed both CD4- (predominantly Th1) and CD8-specific T cell responses to rMTB41 protein. More importantly, immunization of C57BL/6 mice with MTB41 DNA induced protection against infection with M. tuberculosis comparable to that induced by bacillus Calmette-Guérin. Thus, the use of a proven protective T cell line in conjunction with the T cell expression cloning approach resulted in the identification of a candidate Ag for a subunit vaccine against tuberculosis.

Animals↗

CD95 signaling is not required for the down regulation of cellular responses to systemic Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

There is a tendency among tuberculosis patients to have reduced cellular responses to mycobacterial antigens and this loss has been associated with apoptosis of CD4 T cells. In order to determine the role of CD95 in mediating apoptosis of antigen-specific lymphocytes in tuberculosis, mice with a mutated CD95L molecule were infected systemically with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Both control and CD95L mutant mice exhibited the expected loss of response to mycobacterial antigens, with the only difference being a slight delay in the loss of the response in the mutant mice. The limited persistence of the response in the mutant mice suggests that, while antigen-specific cellular responses do decline in mice infected with mycobacteria, this decline is not dependent upon CD95L.

Animals↗

Vaccination of cattle with Mycobacterium bovis culture filtrate proteins and interleukin-2 for protection against bovine tuberculosis.

In this study vaccines prepared from culture filtrate proteins (CFP) of Mycobacterium bovis and interleukin-2 (IL-2) were tested in cattle for their capacity to stimulate immune responses and to protect against an intratracheal challenge with virulent M. bovis. Nine groups of cattle were vaccinated with combinations of different doses of CFP and bovine IL-2 mixed with a monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) adjuvant. An additional group was vaccinated with M. bovis BCG. Immune responses in b1P-IL-2-vaccinated animals differed from those seen in BCG-vaccinated animals by inducing high antigen-specific antibody responses and low levels of gamma interferon and IL-2 released from purified protein derivative-stimulated whole-blood cultures. In a concurrent experiment, additional animals were added to the high-dose CFP-IL-2, MPL control, and BCG groups and these expanded groups of animals were challenged intratracheally with virulent M. bovis. Although the lung lesion scores were significantly lower for both the CFP-IL-2-and BCG-vaccinated groups compared to the MPL control group, the overall level of protection was greatest for the BCG-vaccinated animals. There were more animals with extrathoracic spread of disease in the CFP-IL-2 group than in the other groups. While vaccination of cattle with M. bovis CFP gave an encouraging reduction in tuberculous lesions and did not induce a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to PPD, future CFP vaccines must prevent any extrathoracic spread of disease.

Animals↗

Expression of the nitric oxide synthase 2 gene is not essential for early control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the murine lung.

The interleukin-12 and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) pathway of macrophage activation plays a pivotal role in controlling tuberculosis. In the murine model, the generation of supplementary nitric oxide by the induction of the nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2) gene product is considered the principal antimicrobial mechanism of IFN-gamma-activated macrophages. Using a low-dose aerosol-mediated infection model in the mouse, we have investigated the role of nitric oxide in controlling Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the lung. In contrast to the consequences of a systemic infection, a low dose of bacteria introduced directly into the lungs of mice lacking the NOS2 gene is controlled almost as well as in intact animals. This is in contrast to the rapid progression of disease in mice lacking IFN-gamma or a key member of the IFN signaling pathway, interferon regulatory factor 1. Thus while IFN-gamma is pivotal in early control of bacterial growth in the lung, this control does not completely depend upon the expression of the NOS2 gene. The absence of inducible nitric oxide in the lung does, however, result in increased polymorphonuclear cell involvement and eventual necrosis in the pulmonary granulomas of the infected mice lacking the NOS2 gene.

Animals↗

Neutrophils play a protective nonphagocytic role in systemic Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection of mice.

Evidence showing that neutrophils play a protective role in the host response to infection by different intracellular parasites has been published in the past few years. We assessed this issue with regard to the infection of mice with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We found a chronic recruitment of neutrophils to the infection foci, namely, to the peritoneal cavity after intraperitoneal infection and to the spleen and liver after intravenous inoculation of the mycobacteria. However, bacilli were never found associated with the recruited neutrophils but rather were found inside macrophages. The intravenous administration of the antineutrophil monoclonal antibody RB6-8C5 during the first week of infection led to selective and severe neutropenia associated with an enhancement of bacillary growth in the target organs of the mice infected by the intravenous route. The neutropenia-associated exacerbation of infection was most important in the liver, where a bacterial load 10-fold higher than that in nonneutropenic mice was found; the exacerbation in the liver occurred both during and after the neutropenic period. Early in infection by M. tuberculosis, neutropenic mice expressed lower levels of mRNAs for gamma interferon and inducible nitric oxide synthase in the liver compared to nondepleted mice. These results point to a protective role of neutrophils in the host defense mechanisms against M. tuberculosis, which occurs early in the infection and is not associated with the phagocytic activity of neutrophils but may be of an immunomodulatory nature.

Animals↗

Transient loss of resistance to pulmonary tuberculosis in p47(phox-/-) mice.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important respiratory pathogen the growth of which is controlled primarily by cytokine-activated macrophages. One of the principal mediators of this control is nitric oxide; however, superoxide has recently been shown to be protective in systemic mycobacterial infections. To determine whether superoxide is important in controlling M. tuberculosis during primary pulmonary infection, mice lacking the cytosolic p47(phox) gene (which is essential for effective superoxide production by the NADPH oxidase) were infected aerogenically. The lack of superoxide during an aerosol infection with M. tuberculosis resulted in a significant increase in bacterial growth over the early period of infection. Once antigen-specific gamma interferon-producing lymphocytes were detected in the draining lymph nodes, however, bacterial growth in the lung stopped. One interesting consequence of the lack of superoxide was an increase in neutrophilic infiltrates within the granuloma. This may be a consequence of increased tissue damage due to more rapid bacterial growth or may reflect a role for superoxide in controlling inflammation.

Animals↗

Effective preexposure tuberculosis vaccines fail to protect when they are given in an immunotherapeutic mode.

Two vaccine formulations previously shown to induce protective immunity in mice and prevention of long-term necrosis in guinea pigs were tested as potential immunotherapeutic vaccines in mice earlier infected by aerosol with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Neither vaccine had any effect on the course of the infection in the lungs, but both reduced the bacterial load in the spleen. Similarly, inoculation with Mycobacterium bovis BCG had no effect whatsoever and, if given more than once, appeared to induce an increasingly severe pyogranulomatous response in the lungs of these mice.

Animals↗

Interleukin-6 induces early gamma interferon production in the infected lung but is not required for generation of specific immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is dependent upon the generation of a protective gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-producing T-cell response. Recent studies have suggested that interleukin-6 (IL-6) is required for the induction of a protective T-cell response and that IL-4 may suppress the induction of IFN-gamma. To evaluate the role of the cytokines IL-6 and IL-4 in the generation of pulmonary immunity to M. tuberculosis, IL-6 and IL-4 knockout mice were infected with M. tuberculosis via aerosol. The absence of IL-6 led to an early increase in bacterial load with a concurrent delay in the induction of IFN-gamma. However, mice were able to contain and control bacterial growth and developed a protective memory response to secondary infection. This demonstrates that while IL-6 is involved in stimulating early IFN-gamma production, it is not essential for the development of protective immunity against M. tuberculosis. In contrast, while the absence of IL-4 resulted in increased IFN-gamma production, this had no significant effect upon bacterial growth.

Animals↗

Lack of protection in mice and necrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia with bronchiolitis in guinea pigs immunized with vaccines directed against the hsp60 molecule of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

In this study, the hsp60 and hsp70 heat shock protein antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were tested as potential vaccine candidates, using purified recombinant protein antigens or antigens encoded in the form of a DNA plasmid vaccine. Guinea pigs vaccinated with a mixture of the two proteins showed no evidence of resistance to low-dose aerosol challenge infection and quickly developed severe lung damage characterized by necrotizing bronchointerstitial pneumonia and bronchiolitis. As a result, we turned instead to a DNA vaccination approach using a plasmid encoding the hsp60 antigen of M. tuberculosis. Although immunogenic in mice, vaccination with plasmid DNA encoding hsp60 was not protective in that model or in the guinea pig model and again gave rise to similar severe lung damage. This study seriously questions the safety of vaccines against tuberculosis that target highly conserved heat shock proteins.

Animals↗

A novel nonclassic beta2-microglobulin-restricted mechanism influencing early lymphocyte accumulation and subsequent resistance to tuberculosis in the lung.

In this study, we compared the course of a low-dose aerosol Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in mice bearing gene disruptions for the beta2-microglobulin molecule, the CD8 molecule, and the CD1 molecule. Over the first 50 d of infection, the CD8- and CD1-disrupted mice were no more susceptible to infection than were the control mice. In contrast, the bacterial load in beta2-microglobulin gene-disrupted mice increased rapidly and attained much higher levels than that observed in the other gene-disrupted mice and in control mice. A second major difference between the beta2-microglobulin gene-disrupted mice and the other animals was the development of lung granulomas; both the CD8- and CD1-disrupted mice developed essentially normal granulomas except for an apparent increased lymphocyte influx in the CD8-disrupted mice. The beta2-microglobulin gene-disrupted mice, on the other hand, developed granulomas virtually devoid of lymphocytes, with these cells instead localized within prominent perivascular cuffing adjacent to the lesions. These data support the hypothesis that a beta2-microglobulin-dependent, non-CD8- and non-CD1-dependent mechanism controls the early and efficient influx of protective lymphocytes into infected lesions, and that the absence of this mechanism decreases the capacity of the animal to initially deal with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Animals↗

Tuberculosis: recent progress in basic immunity and vaccine development.

Tuberculosis continues to be the most prevalent cause of death from an infectious agent globally, and its interaction with HIV is having devastating effects, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past decade, my laboratory has developed small animal models of pulmonary infection, which have revealed new information regarding the nature of acquired immunity, and subsequent immunopathology, in the lungs. We propose that cell mediated immunity comprises two separate elements; protective immunity, driven by IL-12 and IFN; and DTH, mediated by TNF and driven by chemokines. The generation of a CD4 response is critical to both processes, but other cells are also involved in the overall control of the infection. These include gamma delta T cells, which we believe control the inflammatory influx of cells; CD4+ NK cells, which may play a role in focussing lymphocytes into lung granulomas; and CD8 T cells, which play a currently undefined role after initial expression of immunity and establishment of chronic disease in the lungs has ensued. Complex interactions between these populations of cells appear to control the influx of mediator cells into the lungs and then focus them at sites of infection. Prior to adequate expression of protective immunity the correct expression of chemokine and adhesion molecules is critical. A better understanding of these processes will hopefully in turn lead to better vaccine design, a topic which is also addressed in this paper.

Animals↗

Efficacy of culture filtrate protein preparations from Indian isolates of M. tuberculosis to activate T cells derived from healthy donors.

SETTING: While culture filtrate proteins (CFPs) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis appear to be good vaccine candidates for tuberculosis, only CFPs derived from certain popular laboratory strains of M. tuberculosis have been studied for this purpose. OBJECTIVE: To compare the relative efficacies of CFP preparations from two laboratory strains and four contemporary clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis to induce T-cell activation. DESIGN: CFPs were isolated from six strains of M. tuberculosis and were used to induce 1) T-cell proliferation, 2) IFN-gamma secretion, and 3) IL-12 secretion from peripheral blood derived mononuclear cell (PBMC) preparations from 33 healthy donors. RESULTS: Significant amounts of IL-12 were spontaneously secreted by PBMC preparations; CFP preparations from two clinical isolates (JNU-7 and JNU-51) significantly boosted this response. All six CFP preparations induced IFN-gamma secretion by PBMCs, but those from two contemporary strains of M. tuberculosis (JNU-7 and JNU-22) were most effective in this regard. The effect of CFPs from JNU-7 and JNU-22 was significantly better than those from the laboratory strains (H37Ra and Erdman). Similar results were obtained with the T-cell proliferation parameter. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that CFPs derived from selected clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis may outperform those of standard laboratory strains, and may therefore be a better source of potential candidates for a tuberculosis vaccine.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Identification of novel immunogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis peptides that stimulate mononuclear cells from immune donors.

Proteins which are secreted or associated with the cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may contain protective T-cell epitopes. Prior to this study, a recombinant clone bank of enzymatically active M. tuberculosis-alkaline phosphatase fusions, were screened for immunogenicity in a murine T-cell model. Five of these were selected for further study, and the IFN-gamma secretion and proliferation of human PBMC from purified protein derivative- (PPD)-positive and PPD-negative donors were measured in response to oligopeptides, Mtb-PhoA fusions and one full-length protein. Epitopes from four of the five selected antigens were immunoreactive in the human model and corresponded to cytochrome d ubiquinol oxidase, cytochrome c oxidase subunit II, MTV005.02 and MTV033.08. Thus, this strategy identified novel human immunogenic peptides as possible candidates for a subunit vaccine.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗

Cytokine/chemokine cascades in immunity to tuberculosis.

The relationship between acquired specific resistance and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) in immunity to tuberculosis has long been a topic of debate. Here, Ian Orme and Andrea Cooper propose that the events are separate mechanisms; protection is cytokine driven and initially controls the infection, whereas DTH is primarily chemokine driven and functions to wall off the infection and prevent further dissemination.

Animals↗

New vaccines against tuberculosis. The status of current research.

The increasing realization that the current vaccine for tuberculosis, bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is of varying effectiveness, and is less protective in adults than in children, has prompted new research for a replacement. New research has resulted in innovative approaches, including the use of sub-unit vaccines, auxotropic vaccines, DNA vaccines, and recombinant vaccines, among others. This article reviews these approaches and test results in animal models, and discusses their potential for use in humans.

Adult↗