Selective activation of Th1- and Th2-like cells in vivo--response to human collagen IV

Mice immunized with human collagen IV develop either antibody responses or T-cell proliferative responses as a function of the MHC genotype of the immunized mice. CD4+ T cells, similar to Th1 and Th2 cells, participate in these two types of responses, with CD4+ T-cell proliferative responses associating with IL-2 and IFN gamma release, and antibody production associating with CD4+ T-cell IL-4 and IL-5 release. Thus it would appear that the same antigen can induce responses consistent with either cell-mediated or humoral immunity depending on MHC class II genotype. In attempting to understand how MHC genotype controls the class of immunity observed several models are discussed. It was proposed, based on results obtained upon priming with human collagen IV, that the activation of Th1 and Th2 responses may be regulated at several levels (presentation by different APCs, presentation of different densities of the T-cell receptor ligand and presentation of different T-cell epitopes). With the identification of the peptide recognized by the CD4+ T cells, it was clear that the inability to induce Th1 responses in H-2b and the inability to induce Th2 responses in H-2s could not be accounted for by the failure to generate an immunodominant peptide during processing or the failure of the peptides to bind to the MHC class II molecules. Furthermore, the difference in the type of response generated could not be explained by the use of different peptides of the human collagen IV molecule in the two mouse strains, as a single peptide will induce both types of CD4+ T-cell response. However, it cannot be ruled out that the a2 peptide-class II interaction forms different T-cell ligands in the two strains either because the two class II MHC molecules are different or that the peptide is processed and reveals a different antigenic activity (Fox et al. 1988). Perhaps the most important finding from the peptide studies is that the lack of proliferative response in H-2b mice is not absolute, but can be overcome either by priming with high doses of the a2 peptide or by increasing the amount of peptide needed to elicit a recall response. It seems reasonable to speculate that changes in the dose required for priming Th1 or Th2 responses may reflect differences in the activation requirements of the two types of cells with Th1 cells requiring a high ligand density and Th2 cells a low ligand density.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)