IL-12 increases resistance of BALB/c mice to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
IL-12, a cytokine produced by macrophages and B cells, has recently been found to exert pleiotropic effects on the immune system. When BALB/c mice, a strain highly susceptible to virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, were given IL-12 at the initiation of infection with M. tuberculosis, their mean survival time doubled from 58 to 112 days. IL-12-treated mice had diminished bacterial burdens, whereas treatment with exogenous IFN-gamma had no effect on survival or bacterial burden. IL-12 treatment also delayed lung pathology in BALB/c mice. In contrast with the findings in the BALB/c model, IL-12 did not increase survival of M. tuberculosis-infected gko mice, transgenic mice in which the IFN-gamma gene has been disrupted, indicating that IL-12 does not induce protection against tuberculosis in mice in the absence of IFN-gamma.
Flynn
J L
JL
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Goldstein
M M
MM
Triebold
K J
KJ
Sypek
J
J
Wolf
S
S
Bloom
B R
BR
D000818:Animals; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000473:pathology; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C / Q000276:immunology*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control
D001500:BCG Vaccine; D008222:Lymphokines; D018664:Interleukin-12; D007371:Interferon-gamma