Despite a number of strategies for controlling the high incidence of gonorrhea and the fact that an adequate treatment exists for the disease, the reported incidence is almost a million cases a year. Control of this disease would be most successful if efforts were directed at understanding the interactions which occur between the gonococcus and the tissue it infects. It is the goal of this proposal to understand the immune reactivity of the immunocompetent cells of the human fallopian tube. We plan to extend our current knowledge of the immune responsiveness of the fallopian tube to include the induction of immune reactivity by exposure to viable gonococci or their isolated surface exposed antigen(s). Once the host cells have been exposed to gonococcal antigen it is our purpose to determine how and through which cells antigens are presented to immunocompetent cells in the mucosa. We will determine the specificity of the B cell involvement in the response as well as the involvement of T cells and NK cells through the production of specific clones. These cells will then be assayed functionally for their roles in natural cytotoxicity or antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity. Through a detailed analysis of these interactions we should be able to sort out the fallopian tube's responsiveness to gonococci. These studies will provide new information concerning the interaction of immunocompetent cells with the gonococcus or its antigens and in turn a better understanding of the immunological events relating to the establishment of gonococcal salpingitis.
| Cooper, M D; Rapp, J; Jeffery-Wiseman, C et al. (1990) Chlamydia trachomatis infection of human fallopian tube organ cultures. J Gen Microbiol 136:1109-15 |
| Cooper, M D; Moticka, E J (1989) Cellular immune responses during gonococcal and meningococcal infections. Clin Microbiol Rev 2 Suppl:S29-34 |
| Cooper, M D; Dever, C; Tempel, K et al. (1987) Characterization of lymphoid cells from the human fallopian tube mucosa. Adv Exp Med Biol 216A:387-94 |
| Cooper, M D; McGraw, P A; Melly, M A (1986) Localization of gonococcal lipopolysaccharide and its relationship to toxic damage in human fallopian tube mucosa. Infect Immun 51:425-30 |
| Cooper, M D; Jeffery, C (1985) Scanning and transmission electron microscopy of bacterial attachment to mucosal surfaces with particular reference to the human fallopian tube. Scan Electron Microsc :1183-90 |
