In article <kirberg-2711951310530001 at seven.bii.ch>, kirberg at bii.ch (Jorg
Kirberg) wrote:
> In article <1995Nov22.174120.5264 at alw.nih.gov>, calman prussin
> <calman_prussin at nih.gov> wrote:
>> > Kupfer has shown Th actually focally secrete their IL-4 in a very
> > directed manner (JEM 179, 1507-1515, 1994). Bill Paul calls this the
> > "immunological synapse". The idea is that their is intimate association
> > between the Th cell and in this case the B cell. It seems likely similar
> > associations exist between Th and CTL.
> >
> > Calman Prussin
> > Laboratotry of Allergic Disease
> > NIAID, NIH
>> Current dogma is that mouse T cells do not express class II MHC.
> Therefore, there will (likely) be no 'synapse' be between a class II
> restricted Th cell and a CTL.
> Close contact, e.g. both Th and CTL interact with the same APC expressing
> class I and class II MHC, seems bo be enough.
Sorry for this one more posting: I should be more precise. The contact
between a B cell and the Th cell is mediated by the TCR and CD4 (on the Th
side) and peptide + MHC class II (on the B cell side). This interaction
is the basis of the "immunological synapse". If this should have the same
basis for Th's and CTL's, there is a problem: T cells do not express class II
MHC (at least not in mouse, although in man they do following activation).
Therefore, the "immunological synapse", if it exists between Th's and CTL's
must have a different basis.
"Something" similar to a "immunological synapse" might exist, as there is
tremendous evidence indicating that a CTL response requires an APC presenting
antigen on class II to Th and at the same time on class I for a CTL. But
it could well be, that the proximity on an APC is already enough.
Thus, a formal proof for such a synapse is still missing in the Th / CTL
system, and they might well work without, based on the current knowledge.
Anyhow, the paper of Kupfer is nice to read. The pictures are really
worth to see !
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