Antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells and protective immunity to tuberculosis

Adv Exp Med Biol. 2013:783:141-63. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-6111-1_8.

Abstract

The continuing HIV/AIDS epidemic and the spread of multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis has led to the perpetuation of the worldwide tuberculosis epidemic. While M. bovis BCG is widely used as a vaccine, it lacks efficacy in preventing pulmonary tuberculosis in adults [1]. To combat this ongoing scourge, vaccine development for tuberculosis is a global priority. Most infected individuals develop long-lived protective immunity, which controls and contains M. tuberculosis in a T cell-dependent manner. An effective T cells response determines whether the infection resolves or develops into clinically evident disease. Consequently, there is great interest in determining which T cells subsets mediate anti-mycobacterial immunity, delineating their effector functions, and evaluating whether vaccination can elicit these T cells subsets and induce protective immunity. CD4(+) T cells are critical for resistance to M. tuberculosis in both humans and rodent models. CD4(+) T cells are required to control the initial infection as well as to prevent recrudescence in both humans and mice [2]. While it is generally accepted that class II MHC-restricted CD4(+) T cells are essential for immunity to tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis infection elicits CD8(+) T cells responses in both people and in experimental animals. CD8(+) T cells are also recruited to the lung during M. tuberculosis infection and are found in the granulomas of infected people. Thus, how CD8(+) T cells contribute to overall immunity to tuberculosis and whether antigens recognized by CD8(+) T cells would enhance the efficacy of vaccine strategies continue to be important questions.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, Bacterial / immunology*
  • Bacterial Proteins / immunology
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Cross-Priming
  • Dendritic Cells / immunology
  • Endosomes / immunology
  • Endosomes / microbiology
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular
  • Immunodominant Epitopes / immunology
  • Macrophages / microbiology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Mutant Strains
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / immunology*
  • Phagosomes / immunology
  • Phagosomes / microbiology
  • T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity
  • Tuberculosis / epidemiology
  • Tuberculosis / immunology*
  • Tuberculosis / prevention & control
  • Tuberculosis Vaccines / immunology

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • CFP-10 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • ESAT-6 protein, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Immunodominant Epitopes
  • Tuberculosis Vaccines