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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 289/2/L274    most recent 00004.2005v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (6) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Debbabi, H. Articles by Behar, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Debbabi, H. Articles by Behar, S. M.

Primary type II alveolar epithelial cells present microbial antigens to antigen-specific CD4⁺ T cells

Divisions of ERROR]zaff;1[ERROR]Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, and ¹Pulmonary Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and ²Department of Pathology, Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, ³St. Louis University Health Sciences Center, St. Louis, Missouri

Submitted 4 January 2005 ; accepted in final form 7 April 2005

Type II alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) can produce various antimicrobial and proinflammatory effector molecules. This, together with their abundance and strategic location, suggests a role in host defense against pulmonary pathogens. We report that murine type II AEC, like their human counterparts, express class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Using a murine model of pulmonary tuberculosis, we find that type II AEC become activated and have increased cell surface expression of class II MHC, CD54, and CD95 following infection. Type II AEC use the class II MHC pathway to process and present mycobacterial antigens to immune CD4⁺ T cells isolated from mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Therefore, not only can type II AEC contribute to the pulmonary immunity by secreting chemokines that recruit inflammatory cells to the lung, but they can also serve as antigen-presenting cells. Although type II AEC are unlikely to prime naïve T cells, their ability to present antigens to T cells demonstrates that they can participate in the effector phase of the immune response. This represents a novel role for type II AEC in the immunological response to pulmonary pathogens.

rodent; lung; infection; bacterial; major histocompatibility complex; antigen presentation

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