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Impaired Peripheral Th1 CD4+ T Cell Response to Escherichia coli Proteins in Patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis

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Abstract

Background

To clarify the impact of T cell responses towards enteric antigens for chronic intestinal inflammation, we determined T helper 1 reactivity towards conserved Escherichia coli proteins in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) and healthy individuals and patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), who also often show microscopic inflammatory lesions within the gut or even develop overt inflammatory bowel disease.

Methods

We determined the frequency of IFNγ+CD40L+ cells/CD4+ T cells after stimulation of whole blood with pools of E. coli proteins.

Results

The E. coli-specific Th1 response was significantly reduced in CD patients and to a lower extent also in AS patients.

Conclusions

E. coli is a target for polyclonal Th1 responses in healthy individuals. The impairment of these responses in CD and AS patients might be due to recruitment of enterobacteria-specific Th1 cells to the gut or might reflect inadequate priming of adaptive immune response.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 633). We thank Ulrike Erben for critical discussion and reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Klinik für Gastroenterologie, Infektiologie und Rheumatologie, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200, Berlin, Germany

    Asgar Ergin, Uta Syrbe, Rebecca Scheer, Martin Zeitz & Joachim Sieper

  2. BCRT, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany

    Andreas Thiel

  3. Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 27, 12203, Berlin, Germany

    Thomas Adam

  4. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH, Inhoffenstraße 7, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Konrad Büssow

  5. Hospital zum Heiligen Geist, Lange Str. 3-6, 60311, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Rainer Duchmann

  6. Deutsches Rheumaforschungszentrum, Chariteplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Uta Syrbe & Joachim Sieper

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  1. Asgar Ergin
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  2. Uta Syrbe
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Correspondence to Joachim Sieper.

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Ergin, A., Syrbe, U., Scheer, R. et al. Impaired Peripheral Th1 CD4+ T Cell Response to Escherichia coli Proteins in Patients with Crohn’s Disease and Ankylosing Spondylitis. J Clin Immunol 31, 998–1009 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-011-9575-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-011-9575-x

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