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

B and T lymphocytes are the mediators of immunity, but their function is under the control of dendritic cells. Dendritic cells in the periphery capture and process antigens, express lymphocyte co-stimulatory molecules, migrate to lymphoid organs and secrete cytokines to initiate immune responses. They not only activate lymphocytes, they also tolerize T cells to antigens that are innate to the body (self-antigens), thereby minimizing autoimmune reactions. Once a neglected cell type, dendritic cells can now be readily obtained in sufficient quantities to allow molecular and cell biological analysis. With knowledge comes the realization that these cells are a powerful tool for manipulating the immune system.

Dendritic cells and the control of immunity

Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells with a unique ability to induce primary immune responses. DCs capture and transfer information from the outside world to the cells of the adaptive immune system. DCs are not only critical for the induction of primary immune responses, but may also be important for the induction of immunological tolerance, as well as for the regulation of the type of T cell-mediated immune response. Although our understanding of DC biology is still in its infancy, we are now beginning to use DC-based immunotherapy protocols to elicit immunity against cancer and infectious diseases.

Immunobiology of Dendritic Cells

Approximately 10% of peripheral CD4+ cells and less than 1% of CD8+ cells in normal unimmunized adult mice express the IL-2 receptor alpha-chain (CD25) molecules. When CD4+ cell suspensions prepared from BALB/c nu/+ mice lymph nodes and spleens were depleted of CD25+ cells by specific mAb and C, and then inoculated into BALB/c athymic nude (nu/nu) mice, all recipients spontaneously developed histologically and serologically evident autoimmune diseases (such as thyroiditis, gastritis, insulitis, sialoadenitis, adrenalitis, oophoritis, glomerulonephritis, and polyarthritis); some mice also developed graft-vs-host-like wasting disease. Reconstitution of CD4+CD25+ cells within a limited period after transfer of CD4+CD25- cells prevented these autoimmune developments in a dose-dependent fashion, whereas the reconstitution several days later, or inoculation of an equivalent dose of CD8+ cells, was far less efficient for the prevention. When nu/nu mice were transplanted with allogeneic skins or immunized with xenogeneic proteins at the time of CD25- cell inoculation, they showed significantly heightened immune responses to the skins or proteins, and reconstitution of CD4+CD25+ cells normalized the responses. Taken together, these results indicate that CD4+CD25+ cells contribute to maintaining self-tolerance by down-regulating immune response to self and non-self Ags in an Ag-nonspecific manner, presumably at the T cell activation stage; elimination/reduction of CD4+CD25+ cells relieves this general suppression, thereby not only enhancing immune responses to non-self Ags, but also eliciting autoimmune responses to certain self-Ags. Abnormality of this T cell-mediated mechanism of peripheral tolerance can be a possible cause of various autoimmune diseases.

/pdf/immunologic-self-tolerance-maintained-by-activated-t-cells-4ig5217vg5.pdf

Immunologic self-tolerance maintained by activated T cells expressing IL-2 receptor alpha-chains (CD25). Breakdown of a single mechanism of self-tolerance causes various autoimmune diseases.

Recognition of microbial infection and initiation of host defense responses is controlled by multiple mechanisms. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have recently emerged as a key component of the innate immune system that detect microbial infection and trigger antimicrobial host defense responses. TLRs activate multiple steps in the inflammatory reactions that help to eliminate the invading pathogens and coordinate systemic defenses. In addition, TLRs control multiple dendritic cell functions and activate signals that are critically involved in the initiation of adaptive immune responses. Recent studies have provided important clues about the mechanisms of TLR-mediated control of adaptive immunity orchestrated by dendritic cell populations in distinct anatomical locations.

Toll-like receptor control of the adaptive immune responses.

https://www.cell.com/immunity/pdf/S1074-7613(14)00353-7.pdf

CD4 Helpers Put Tissue-Resident Memory Cells in Their Place

Hide and Seek: The Immunology of HSV Persistence

Naive and memory T cells show differences in their response to antigenic stimulation. We examined whether this difference extended to the peripheral deletion of T cells reactive to self-Ag or, alternatively, the induction of autoimmunity. Our results show that although both populations where susceptible to deletion, memory T cells, but not naive T cells, also gave rise to autoimmunity after in vivo presentation of skin-derived self-Ags. The same migratory dendritic cells presented self-Ag to both naive and memory T cell populations, but only the latter had significant levels of the effector molecule granzyme B. Memory T cells also expressed increased levels of the high affinity IL-2 receptor chain after self-Ag recognition. Provision of IL-2 signaling using a stimulatory complex of anti-IL-2 Ab and IL-2 drove the otherwise tolerant naive T cells toward an autoimmune response. Therefore, enhanced IL-2 signaling can act as a major selector between tolerance and autoimmunity.

Cutting Edge: Enhanced IL-2 Signaling Can Convert Self-Specific T Cell Response from Tolerance to

Many antigen-specific T cell responses show profound V-region biases in one or both chains of the TCR alpha beta heterodimer. We have examined how changes in residues within an MHC-bound peptide can influence V-region selection. Single-chain TCR transgenic mice were derived using a beta-chain specific for the Kb-restricted peptide from ovalbumin, OVA257-264. Transgenic T cells were stimulated in vitro using OVA257-264 or a single residue variant having a lysine to aspartic acid substitution at determinant position 7 (7D). Recent crystallographic analyses have shown that this variant residue is involved in direct contact with the TCR. Sequence analysis of the T cell populations showed that the majority OVA257-264-specific T cells used V alpha 10-positive TCR while the majority of the 7D-specific TCR expressed the V alpha 4 element. In both peptide responses we found that some cell lines appeared to be made up of more than one clone expressing the same V alpha sequence but having limited variation at the V-J junction. These results show that the TCR contact residues within the target peptide can influence V-region bias and suggest that the first and second hypervariable regions of the TCR are directly or indirectly involved in determining peptide specificity.

Francis R. Carbone

Papers

CD4 Helpers Put Tissue-Resident Memory Cells in Their Place

Hide and Seek: The Immunology of HSV Persistence

Cutting Edge: Enhanced IL-2 Signaling Can Convert Self-Specific T Cell Response from Tolerance to

T cell receptor Vα bias can be determined by TCR-contact residues within an MHC-bound peptide

Iconography : Staged development of long-lived T-cell receptor ?? T H 17 resident memory T-cell population to Candida albicans after skin infection