Exposure to mycobacteria primes the immune system for evolutionarily diverse heat shock proteins.

ABSTRACT: During stress conditions, such as infection, the synthesis of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in microorganisms is upregulated. Since a high degree of homology exists within each HSP family, we postulated that exposure to microorganisms could prime the immune system for evolutionarily diverse HSPs. We tested this hypothesis by priming mice with three microorganisms, namely, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, Mycobacterium vaccae, and Chlamydia pneumoniae. After this, mice received a dose of the various HSPs. We found that BCG and M. vaccae but not C. pneumoniae primed the immune system for the induction of secondary immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses to most of the HSPs tested. Analysis of the IgG1 and IgG2a profile and gamma interferon production induced against the HSPs revealed the induction of a mixtur

SUBMITTER: Qazi KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1273840 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature