Following Leishmania major
infection, the early LACK (Leishmania homolog of
receptors for activated C kinase)-induced
IL-4 response appears to determine
disease susceptibility in BALB/c mice. Therefore, we sought to manipulate the pathogenic T cell responses to the
immunodominant epitope with the use of altered
peptide ligands (APLs). Conservative and non-conservative substitutions for each
amino acid of the LACK 161-175
peptide determinant were tested for their stimulatory capacity in four different LACK-reactive T cell systems. From these results, we propose a likely LACK 163-171/I-A(d) core
peptide register and show that APLs with changes at putative
T cell receptor (TCR) contacts provide the greatest potential for immune deviation. In particular, the TCR-contact H164V APL expanded Th1 cells upon in vitro recall of naïve splenocytes from LACK-specific BV4
T cell receptor transgenic mice and stimulated IFN-gamma secretion from a Th2-committed LACK-reactive T cell line. We also observed that non-conservative substitutions flanking the core determinant had strong agonistic effects for proliferation and Th1/Th2 modulation. However, upon immunization, the H164V APL considerably downregulated proliferation and
cytokine responses to the wild type LACK 161-175
peptide, while immunization with the weak agonist, MHC contact APL S171K, increased the IFN-gamma/IL-4 ratio to the wild type
peptide. In these instances, a hyporesponsive T cell response to the wild-type
peptide was achieved by immunizing with an APL possessing non-conservative substitutions at TCR contact sites, while immune deviation was accomplished using a weak-agonist APL that retained the core determinant. Thus, certain LACK-APLs are able to induce T cell responses with a protective phenotype in an
infectious disease such as
leishmaniasis.