Role of CD4+IL-9 producing T lymphocytes in human tuberculosis.

IVANA B. ALVAREZ ; ROMINA ASPERA; DELFINA PEÑA; LUCILA MORACHO; ROSA M. MUSELLA; JAVIER JURADO; VIRGINIA PASQUINELLI; VERÓNICA GARCÍA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 1er Congreso Franco-Argentino de Inmunología; 2010

Protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) depends on cell mediated immunity. Thus, activated specific T lymphocytes display a crucial role in the immune response of the host against the pathogen. In particular, CD4+ IFNγ secreting T cells display a main function in this response. However, different subsets of CD4+ T lymphocytes might participate in the immune response to Mtb. Recently, a novel CD4+ T cell subset named “Th9” was described. This population are lymphocytes that secret IL-9 and IL-10 and express the transcription factor PU.1. In this work we investigated the potential function of CD4+ IL-9 producing T cells. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) from tuberculosis patients (TB) and healthy donors (HD) were stimulatedwith Mtb antigen and the production of IL-9 was determined by ELISA. Our results showed that Mtb-stimulation induced sig nificantly higher levels of IL-9 in HD compared to TB patients (p