HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data All Versions of this Article: M900107-MCP200v1 8/8/1850    most recent Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Glossary Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cragnolini, J. J. Articles by López de Castro, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cragnolini, J. J. Articles by López de Castro, J. A. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 8:1850-1859, 2009.
© 2009 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

---

Research

Endogenous Processing and Presentation of T-cell Epitopes from Chlamydia trachomatis with Relevance in HLA-B27-associated Reactive Arthritis^*,

Juan J. Cragnolini, Noel García-Medel and José A. López de Castro

From the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Universidad Autónoma, 28049 Madrid, Spain

Chlamydia trachomatis triggers reactive arthritis, a spondyloarthropathy linked to the human major histocompatibility complex molecule HLA-B27, through an unknown mechanism that might involve molecular mimicry between chlamydial and self-derived HLA-B27 ligands. Chlamydia-specific CD8⁺ T-cells are found in reactive arthritis patients, but the immunogenic epitopes are unknown. A previous screening of the chlamydial genome for putative HLA-B27 ligands predicted multiple peptides that were recognized in vitro by CD8⁺ T-lymphocytes from patients. Here stable transfectants expressing bacterial fusion proteins in human cells were generated to investigate the endogenous processing and presentation by HLA-B27 of two such epitopes through comparative immunoproteomics of HLA-B27-bound peptide repertoires. A predicted T-cell epitope, from the CT610 gene product, was presented by HLA-B27. This is, to our knowledge, the first endogenously processed epitope involved in HLA-B27-restricted responses against C. trachomatis in reactive arthritis. A second predicted epitope, from the CT634 gene product, was not detected. Instead a non-predicted nonamer from the same protein was identified. Both bacterial peptides showed very high homology with human sequences containing the HLA-B27 binding motif. Thus, expression and intracellular processing of chlamydial proteins into human cells allowed us to identify two bacterial HLA-B27 ligands, including the first endogenous T-cell epitope from C. trachomatis involved in spondyloarthropathy. That human proteins contain sequences mimicking chlamydial T-cell epitopes suggests a basis for an autoimmune component of Chlamydia-induced HLA-B27-associated disease.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?