The major goal of the present study was to develop a limiting dilution system for the enumeration of T cells which respond to mycobacterial antigens. Purified T cells from M. tuberculosis-immune mice were restimulated with mycobacterial antigens and accessory cells, and after 4 days expanded with antigen, accessory cells and T cell growth factor. After another 3 days, proliferative responses were determined. Similar cultures performed without antigen served as controls. Limiting dilution analysis revealed that approximately 1/2000 to 1/3000 T cells from M. tuberculosis-immune mice responded to whole M. tuberculosis organisms while T cells from normal mice did not respond. Similar T cell numbers reacted with several mycobacterial strains indicating expression of shared T cell antigens. Using a semi-purified recombinant 64-kDa protein from M. bovis the frequency of T cells generated after immunization with M. tuberculosis which reacted with a single mycobacterial protein could be estimated. We found that approximately 1/5 of the M. tuberculosis-reactive T cells recognized this particular antigen. Immunization with the recombinant 64-kDa protein in an adjuvant containing trehalose dimycolate, monophosphoryl lipid A and mycobacterial cell wall skeleton stimulated an equally high number of M. tuberculosis-reactive T cells (1/2000). These findings demonstrate that a high proportion of tuberculosis-responsive T cells are directed against the 64-kDa protein and that immunization with this antigen in an appropriate adjuvant system is capable of stimulating high numbers of M. tuberculosis-reactive T cells. Limiting dilution analysis with a panel of mycobacterial proteins or peptides may allow their ranking from immunodominant to immunosilent and facilitate identification of antigens or epitopes relevant to protection.

Selected L3T4-and Lyt 2-T-cell subpopulations from Listeria monocytogenes-infected mice were transferred into syngenic recipients, and their capacity to adoptively mediate protection against L. monocytogenes and delayed-type hypersensitivity to listerial antigens was determined. Both functions were markedly reduced by pretreatment of cells with either anti-L3T4 or anti-Lyt 2.2 antibodies plus complement, but they could be restored by admixture of the two selected T-cell subsets. Thus, after systemic cell transfer effective protection against L. monocytogenes and delayed-type hypersensitivity to listerial antigens depend on cooperation between specific L3T4+ and Lyt 2+ T cells.

Mice were infected with the intracellular bacterium, Listeria monocytogenes, and T cell clones from spleens, lymph nodes and peritoneal exudates were established. The capacity of L3T4+, Lyt2- T-cell clones to specifically lyse L. monocytogenes-infected macrophages was analyzed. As a source of target cells, bone marrow macrophages (BMM phi) after 9 days of culture in hydrophobic teflon bags were used. These BMM phi were totally Ia-; however, significant Ia-expression could be induced by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). IFN-gamma-stimulated BMM phi, after priming with live or killed L. monocytogenes organisms were effectively lysed by the vast majority of L3T4+ T cell clones. In the absence of either IFN-gamma stimulation or antigen priming, no lysis occurred. Cytolysis was demonstrable in a conventional 4-h 51Cr-release assay and in an 18-h neutral red uptake assay and was antigen specific and class II restricted. Native T cells from L. monocytogenes-infected mice failed to lyse stimulated, L. monocytogenes-primed BMM phi and gained their cytolytic activity after antigenic restimulation in vitro. These data demonstrate that L. monocytogenes-specific L3T4+ T cells could lyse M phi presenting listerial antigens provided that Ia antigen expression had been induced. L3T4+ T cell clones produced IFN-phi after restimulation with antigen plus accessory cells in vitro and IFN-gamma secretion could be increased by costimulation with recombinant IL 2. These T cell clones conferred significant protection upon recipient mice which was more pronounced in the liver. The possible relevance of lysis by L3T4+ T cells of infected M phi to protection against and pathogenesis of intracellular bacterial infections is discussed.