Immunoglobulin A and CD8+ T-cell mucosal immune defenses protect against intranasal infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae

Chlamydia pneumoniae initiates infection in humans via the mucosal epithelia of the respiratory tract; therefore, immunity at this mucosal site is believed to be important to control infection with this pathogen. We compared the protective capacity of immunization in mice with two C. pneumoniae antigens, namely the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) and the heat shock protein 60 (HSP-60), against intranasal (i.n.) infection with the bacteria when given as protein or DNA and when administered by i.n. or intraperitoneal (i.p.) routes. Our data showed that i.n. immunizations with both antigens delivered as DNA were protective against C. pneumoniae infection, probably due to induction of cell-mediated immune responses. Our study also revealed that i.n. immunizations with MOMP, but not with HSP-60, given as protein induced protective local immune responses in the respiratory tract against C. pneumoniae infection. Moreover, no protection was induced by either antigen when the i.p. route of immunization was used. We further investigated in immunoglobulin (Ig)A-deficient mice whether the reduction in the bacterial loads observed when MOMP was administered intranasally was related to the strong local IgA responses induced by this route of immunization. Our data showed that IgA-deficient mice were more susceptible to infection than wild-type mice, suggesting that the induction of local IgA responses may play a role in the protection of the respiratory tract against C. pneumoniae infections.