Human T lymphocytes distinguish bovine from human P sub(2) peripheral myelin protein: Implications for immunological studies on inflammatory demyelinating neuropathies

• Published in: Journal of neuroimmunology Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 47 - 52
• Main Authors: Pette, M, Gengaroli, C, Hartung, H P, Greiner, A, Giegerich, G, Toyka, K V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.1994
• ISSN: 0165-5728

In patients with inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy, which is possibly mediated by autoreactive, myelin-specific T lymphocytes, most studies focusing on immune responses to the major neuritogenic myelin protein P sub(2) have been performed with bovine P sub(2). However, the primary structure of bovine P sub(2) differs from the human protein by nine amino acid residues that may profoundly influence the antigen recognition by T lymphocytes. We purified bovine and human P sub(2) from peripheral nervous tissue and established a total of 19 T cell lines (TCL) reactive with bovine P sub(2) from blood of two patients with acute Guillain-Barre syndrome (n = 5 TCL) and from six healthy individuals. Only four of these TCL, all raised from the blood of the GBS patients, transiently cross-recognized human P sub(2) protein. Our results suggest that the use of human autoantigen may be crucial for the characterization of T cellular immune responses against P sub(2) protein both in patients with inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy and in healthy controls.