In vitro correlates of Ld-restricted resistance to toxoplasmic encephalitis and their critical dependence on parasite strain

Johnson, Jennifer J. and Roberts, Craig W. and Pope, Constance and Roberts, Fiona and Kirisits, Michael J. and Estes, Randee and Mui, Ernest and Krieger, Tim and Brown, Charles R. and Forman, Jim and McLeod, Rima (2002) In vitro correlates of Ld-restricted resistance to toxoplasmic encephalitis and their critical dependence on parasite strain. Journal of Immunology, 169. pp. 966-973. ISSN 0022-1767

Abstract

Resistance to murine toxoplasmic encephalitis has been precisely and definitively mapped to the Ld class I gene. Consistent with this, CD8+ T cells can adoptively transfer resistance to toxoplasmic encephalitis. However, cytotoxic CD8+ T cells, capable of killing class I-matched, infected target cells, are generated during the course of Toxoplasma gondii infection even in mice lacking the Ld gene. Ld-restricted killing could not be demonstrated, and the functional correlate of the Ld gene has therefore remained elusive. Herein, Ld-restricted killing of T. gondii-infected target cells is demonstrated for the first time. Ld-restricted killing is critically dependent on the strain of T. gondii and is observed with all the derivatives of type II strains tested, but not with a type I strain. These results have important implications for vaccine development.

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