@article{7438,
  keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Antigens, Bacterial, Armadillos, Blotting, Western, Cloning, Molecular, DNA, Bacterial, Gene Library, Genes, Bacterial, Heat-Shock Proteins, Humans, leprosy, Molecular Sequence Data, Molecular Weight, Mycobacterium leprae, Recombinant Proteins, Restriction Mapping, Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid, T-Lymphocytes},
  author = {Mehra V and Bloom B R and Bajardi A C and Grisso C L and Sieling P A and Alland D and Convit J and Fan X D and Hunter S W and Brennan P J},
  title = {A major T cell antigen of Mycobacterium leprae is a 10-kD heat-shock cognate protein.},
  abstract = {<p>Several mycobacterial antigens, identified by monoclonal antibodies and patient sera, have been found to be homologous to stress or heat-shock proteins (hsp) defined in Escherichia coli and yeast. A major antigen recognized by most Mycobacterium leprae-reactive human T cell lines and cell wall-reactive T cell clones is a 10-kD protein that has now been cloned and sequenced. The predicted amino acid sequence of this protein is 44% homologous to the hsp 10 (GroES) of E. coli. The purified native and recombinant 10-kD protein was found to be a stronger stimulator of peripheral blood T cell proliferation than other native and recombinant M. leprae proteins tested. The degree of reactivity paralleled the response to intact M. leprae throughout the spectrum of leprosy. Limiting-dilution analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes from a patient contact and a tuberculoid patient indicated that approximately one third of M. leprae-reactive T cell precursors responded to the 10-kD antigen. T cell lines derived from lepromin skin tests were strongly responsive to the 10-kD protein. T cell clones reactive to both the purified native and recombinant 10-kD antigens recognized M. leprae-specific epitopes as well as epitopes crossreactive with the cognate antigen of M. tuberculosis. Further, the purified hsp 10 elicited strong delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in guinea pigs sensitized to M. leprae. The strong T cell responses against the M. leprae 10-kD protein suggest a role for this heat-shock cognate protein in the protective/resistant responses to infection.</p>},
  year = {1992},
  journal = {The Journal of experimental medicine},
  volume = {175},
  pages = {275-84},
  month = {1992 Jan 01},
  issn = {0022-1007},
  doi = {10.1084/jem.175.1.275},
  language = {eng},
}