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Infection and Immunity, April 2007, p. 1852-1860, Vol. 75, No. 4
0019-9567/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01814-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Antigen-Specific CD4⁺ T Cells Recognize Epitopes of Protective Antigen following Vaccination with an Anthrax Vaccine

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, 1201 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, Washington,¹ Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia,² University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington³

Received 15 November 2006/ Returned for modification 15 December 2006/ Accepted 22 January 2007

Detection of antigen-specific CD4⁺ T cells is facilitated by the use of fluorescently labeled soluble peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) multimers which mirror the antigen specificity of T-cell receptor recognition. We have used soluble peptide-MHC class II tetramers containing peptides from the protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis to detect circulating T cells in peripheral blood of subjects vaccinated with an anthrax vaccine. PA-specific HLA class II-restricted T lymphocytes were isolated which displayed both TH1- and TH2-like characteristics, indicating heterogeneity of the lymphocyte lineage within the CD4⁺ response. Presentation of antigen to these T-cell clones by HLA-matched antigen-presenting cells exposed to the intact PA protein confirmed that the identified epitopes are indeed naturally processed by the human immune system. Specific tetramer-derived T-cell profiling may be useful for monitoring helper CD4⁺ T-cell responses to anthrax vaccination.

Published ahead of print on 5 February 2007.

Editor: D. L. Burns

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