Identification and frequency of circulating CD4+ T lymphocytes specific to Benzylpenicillin in healthy donors

BackgroundDrug hypersensitivity is known to rely on a drug-specific T-cell response. Amplitude of antigen-specific T-cell response is partly controlled by the size of the antigen-specific naive CD4(+) T-cell repertoire, but estimate of this repertoire has never been investigated for allergenic drugs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the frequency of benzylpenicillin-specific CD4(+) T lymphocytes in healthy donors. MethodsCo-cultures were established with CD4(+) T lymphocytes from healthy donors and mature autologous dendritic cells loaded with benzylpenicillin coupled to human serum albumin. CD4(+) T lymphocytes were stimulated once a week for 4weeks with benzylpenicillin coupled to human serum albumin. The CD4(+) T-cell response was measured using an interferon- ELISPOT assay. Frequency of benzylpenicillin-specific naive CD4(+) T lymphocytes was then calculated using the Poisson distribution law. ResultsResults showed the presence of benzylpenicillin-specific CD4(+) T lymphocytes in 9 of 10 tested healthy donors irrespective of their HLA typing, with a mean frequency of 0.29 cells per million of CD4(+) T cells. Experiments performed on naive (CD45RA(+)) and on memory (CD45RO(+)) CD4(+) T lymphocytes showed that these benzylpenicillin-specific CD4(+) T lymphocytes belonged to the naive T-cell subpopulation. ConclusionThis study showed for the first time the existence of naive CD4(+) T lymphocytes specific to benzylpenicillin in healthy donors.