Aqeel Ahmad, C Raykundalia, D Catty.
Superoxide Dismutase, An Immunodominant Antigen in Mycobacteria.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;10(2):50-3.

Tuberculosis is an ancient human scourge that continues to be an important public health problem worldwide. To control increasing incidence of tuberculosis and development of multidrug resistant strains, there is an immense need for developing new diagnostic tests and vaccines etc, by understanding pathological mechanisms. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a 23kDa secreted antigen of M. tuberculosis which may play an important role in intracellular survival of pathogen. Therefore, SOD was targetted to study its importance in mycobacterial infection. To achieve this goal, mice were infected with live and killed BCG. These mice were then tested for humoral and cellular response to mycobacterial SOD. Antibody level was determined by ELISA and T-cell response was noted by 3H-thymidine incorporation method. Mycobacterial SOD was found to be highly immunogenic in mice. A high antibody response was noted in mice injected with live BCG. Similarly, a good T-cell proliferation response was noted in mice that were primed with live BCG. T-cells isolated from mice were also challenged with SOD or BCG infected J774 murine macrophages. J774 cells were found to process and present mycobacterial SOD that are only recognised by T-cells of mice previously infected with live BCG. Interferon-y (IFN-y) activated J774 cells were found to be better antigen presenting cells than IFN-y+LPS or LIPS-activated cells.

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