Immune responses to Campylobacter jejuni in mice

Proliferative responses of lymphocytes taken from Peyer's patches and spleens of mice orally infected with Campylobacter jejuni were tested against sonicated whole organisms. Peyer's patch lymphocytes from mice given a single dose of organisms proliferated specifically to C. jejuni sonicates, but not to sonicates of Campylobacter fetus, a closely related organism. Splenic lymphocytes from mice that received a single immunization did not proliferate. In contrast, splenic lymphocytes from mice immunized at two week intervals over a period of several months, were able to proliferate but Peyer's patch lymphocytes from such boosted mice did not proliferate. These results suggest that after multiple infections proliferating T cells recirculated from the Peyer's patches to more distant organs.