SPECIFIC TH1 CELL-LINES THAT CONFER PROTECTIVE IMMUNITY AGAINST EXPERIMENTAL BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI INFECTION IN MICE

Although humoral responses to Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) have been show n to be protective in some animal models of Lyme disease, the role of T cells inn this disease is less well understood. This work describes three Bb-specific T cell Iines that prevent disease progression in syn geneic incest. The T cell lines were generated in C3H mice immunized w ith Bb in complete Freund's adjuvant. All lines were Bb-specific, CD4( +), TCR alpha beta(+), and they proliferated and produced inter-feron- gamma and interleukin-2 on stimulation with Bb. Injection of the cell lines into naive C3H recipients significantly reduced the number of or ganisms recoverable from the blood and tissues of infected mice and pr otected them from developing Bb-induced periarthritis, These studies d emonstrated that Th1 cells can confer resistance to Bb infection in su sceptible mice and suggested that the timing of this T cell response m ay be critical for determining disease outcome.