抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

中枢神経系疾患の治療は正常細胞（ニューロン）の機能維持を目的とするが，脳血管障害のように機能障害の原因が細胞の死滅に基づくことは多い．一方，脳腫瘍の治療においては薬物療法や放射線療法といった腫瘍細胞の死滅を目標とするものが大きな位置を占める．いずれの場合にも，細胞死の機序を理解することは各種病態や治療法の理解のうえで重要である．現在のところ最も研究の進んでいる細胞死の型はアポトーシスである．そのなかで重要な位置を占めるミトコンドリアにおける反応および抗アポトーシス因子について概要を紹介する．

Neuroscience 細胞死：最近の知見

In the past decade, leptospirosis has emerged as a globally important infectious disease. It occurs in urban environments of industrialised and developing countries, as well as in rural regions worldwide. Mortality remains significant, related both to delays in diagnosis due to lack of infrastructure and adequate clinical suspicion, and to other poorly understood reasons that may include inherent pathogenicity of some leptospiral strains or genetically determined host immunopathological responses. Pulmonary haemorrhage is recognised increasingly as a major, often lethal, manifestation of leptospirosis, the pathogenesis of which remains unclear. The completion of the genome sequence of Leptospira interrogans serovar lai, and other continuing leptospiral genome sequencing projects, promise to guide future work on the disease. Mainstays of treatment are still tetracyclines and beta-lactam/cephalosporins. No vaccine is available. Prevention is largely dependent on sanitation measures that may be difficult to implement, especially in developing countries.

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099(03)00830-2.pdf

Leptospirosis: a zoonotic disease of global importance

Leptospira and leptospirosis.

Workshop cluster 1 (WC1) molecules are transmembrane glycoproteins uniquely expressed by gammadelta T cells. They belong to the scavenger receptor cysteine-rich superfamily and are encoded by a multi-gene family, which is divided on the basis of antibody reactivity, into three groups, WC1.1, WC1.2, and WC1.3. The potential role of WC1 as a co-stimulatory molecule for the gammadelta TCR is suggested by the presence of several tyrosine-based motifs in their intracellular domains. In this study, we found that WC1 was constitutively phosphorylated in ex vivo bovine gammadelta T cells and associated with src family tyrosine kinases. Crosslinking of WC1 molecules resulted in an increase in WC1 phosphorylation and co-crosslinking of WC1 and gammadelta TCR together prolonged WC1 phosphorylation. We identified the second tyrosine residue as the primary phosphorylation target in WC1.1 and WC1.2 intracellular sequences in both in vitro and in vivo assays. The cytoplasmic tails of WC1.1 and WC1.2 were phosphorylated on serine and PKC activity was required for PMA-induced endocytosis of WC1.1 or WC1.2. We found that phosphorylation of the second tyrosine in the WC1 cytoplasmic domain was required for the WC1-mediated potentiation of TCR-induced T-cell proliferation, suggesting that WC1 acts as a co-stimulatory molecule for gammadelta TCR.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/eji.200838472

Tyrosine phosphorylation of scavenger receptor cysteine-rich WC1 is required for the WC1-mediated potentiation of TCR-induced T-cell proliferation.

Differentiation antigens and functional characteristics of bovine leukocytes

Studies here describe expression and sequence of several new bovine T cell receptor gamma (TRG) genes to yield a total of 11 TRG variable (TRGV) genes (in eight subgroups) and six TRG constant (TRGC) genes. Publicly available genomic sequences were annotated to show their placement. Homologous TRG genes in cattle and sheep were assigned, using four accepted criteria. New genes described here include the bovine TRGC6, TRGV2, and TRGV4, homologues of ovine TRGC4, TRGV2, and TRGV4, respectively. The bovine Vγ7 and BTGV1 clones (previously TRGV4 and TRGV2, respectively) were reassigned to new subgroups TRGV7 and TRGV8, respectively, with approval by the IMGT Nomenclature Committee. Three TRGV subgroups (TRGV5, TRGV6, and TRGV8) were further designated as TRGV5-1 and TRGV5-2, TRGV6-1 and TRGV6-2, and TRGV8-1 and TRGV8-2 because each subgroup is comprised of two mapped genes. The complete sequence of bovine TRGC5 is also reported, for which a limited number of nucleotides was previously available, and shown to be most closely related to ovine TRGC5. Analysis of circulating γδ T cells revealed that rearrangement of TRGV genes with TRGC genes is largely dictated by their proximity within one of the six genomic V-J-C cassettes, with all TRG genes expressed by bovine peripheral blood γδ T cells. Cattle are useful models for γδ T cell biology because they have γδ T cells that respond to isopentenylpyrophosphate (IPP) antigens, while mice do not, and some bovine TRGV genes cluster closely with human genes.

/pdf/bovine-t-cell-receptor-gamma-variable-and-constant-genes-5845w75z7o.pdf

Bovine T cell receptor gamma variable and constant genes: combinatorial usage by circulating γδ T cells

Background. Brucella spp. are intracellular bacteria that establish lifelong infections whose mechanisms of chronicity are poorly understood. Notably, B cells facilitate the establishment of the high infection plateau that persists for months.

Methods. We evaluated the contribution of murine B cells toward providing infection niches for Brucella by using flow cytometry and microscopy and by determining live bacterial counts associated with B cells both in vivo and in vitro.

Results. Herein we demonstrate that immunoglobulin M and complement-opsonized Brucella abortus infects and survives inside primary murine B cells protected from bactericidal effects of gentamicin. The entry was dependent on microfilaments for internalization and subsequently brucellae reside in a late endosomal/lysosomal compartment. Throughout the infection, 10% of colony-forming units from infected mice was associated with B cells, and these cells transferred disease to naive hosts. Furthermore, Brucella-positive cells were positive for transforming growth factor (TGF) β1, and about 10% of such cells were B cells, similar to rates found for other intracellular pathogens that induce their hosts cells to produce TGF-β1.

Conclusions. To conclude, infected B cells contribute to chronic bacterial infections by providing an intracellular niche that may exert an immunoregulatory role. Although professional phagocytic cells harbor intracellular bacteria including Brucella, infection of lymphocytes by bacteria has not been previously appreciated.

/pdf/b-lymphocytes-provide-an-infection-niche-for-intracellular-2diqf1awpa.pdf

Cynthia L. Baldwin

Papers

Tyrosine phosphorylation of scavenger receptor cysteine-rich WC1 is required for the WC1-mediated potentiation of TCR-induced T-cell proliferation.

Differentiation antigens and functional characteristics of bovine leukocytes

Bovine T cell receptor gamma variable and constant genes: combinatorial usage by circulating γδ T cells

B Lymphocytes Provide an Infection Niche for Intracellular Bacterium Brucella abortus

Antigenic basis of diversity in the γδ T cell co-receptor WC1 family