Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells differ in their capacity to recognize infected macrophages.

Containment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection requires T cell recognition of infected macrophages. Mtb has evolved to tolerate, evade, and subvert host immunity. Despite a vigorous and sustained CD8+ T cell response during Mtb infection, CD8+ T cells make limited contribution to protection.

Vaccine-elicited memory CD4+ T cell expansion is impaired in the lungs during tuberculosis.

Immunological memory is the key biological process that makes vaccines possible. Although tuberculosis vaccines elicit protective immunity in animals, few provide durable protection. To understand why protection is transient, we evaluated the ability of memory CD4+ T cells to expand, differentiate, and control Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Roles of PKC and phospho-adducin in transepithelial fluid secretion by Malpighian tubules of the yellow fever mosquito.

The diuretic hormone aedeskinin-III is known to increase the paracellular Cl conductance in Malpighian (renal) tubules of the mosquito via a G protein-coupled receptor. The increase serves the blood-meal-initiated diuresis and is associated with elevated levels of Ca and phosphorylated adducin in the cytosol of tubule. In the present study we have cloned adducin in Aedes Malpighian tubules and investigated its physiological roles.

The single kinin receptor signals to separate and independent physiological pathways in Malpighian tubules of the yellow fever mosquito.

In the past, we have used the kinins of the cockroach Leucophaea (the leucokinins) to evaluate the mechanism of diuretic action of kinin peptides in Malpighian tubules of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti. Now using the kinins of Aedes (the aedeskinins), we have found that in isolated Aedes Malpighian tubules all three aedeskinins (1 microM) significantly 1) increased the rate of fluid secretion (V(S)), 2) hyperpolarized the basolateral membrane voltage (V(bl)), and 3) decreased the input resistance (R(in)) of principal cells, consistent with the known increase in the Cl(-) conductance of the paracellular pathway in Aedes Malpighian tubules. Aedeskinin-III, studied in further detail, significantly increased V(S) with an EC(50) of 1.