PREFERENTIAL BINDING OF CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS TO SUBSETS OF HUMAN-LYMPHOCYTES AND INDUCTION OF INTERLEUKIN-6 AND INTERFERON-GAMMA

The interactions between Chlamydia trachomatis and human blood mononuclear leukocytes were studied using flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, electron microscopy and cytokine assays. Under serum-free conditions, elementary bodies (EB) of C. trachomatis were found to bind to human T lymphocytes as well as to B cells and monocytes/macrophages (M-phi). For all cell types the binding was saturable, rapid, temperature-independent and independent of the chlamydia-specific serological status of the donor. Similar proportions of T and B cells bound EB at similar levels. In the T cell population, proportionally less CD8+ cells bound EB. Whereas M-phi phagocytosed and destroyed the bound micro-organisms for lymphocytes. the Chlamydia remained at the surface, adherent to morphologically featureless membrane areas and showed no evidence of uptake even after long periods at 37-degrees-C. Host molecules modulated these basic binding patterns: a heat-stable serum factor inhibited EB binding to T cells and a heat-labile serum factor enhanced binding to B cells. Stimulation with C. trachomatis EB rapidly elicited cytokine production by lymphocytes including interleukin-6 from B cells and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) from T and/or nonT/nonB cells. The responses were irrespective of the serological status of the donor. The findings suggest that C. trachomatis-leucocyte interactions may differ from the interactions of other bacteria and human leucocytes. The possible relationship between leucocyte-binding, cytokine induction, and the pathognomonic development of lymphoid follicles during mucosal C. trachomatis infections is discussed.