title: Interleukin-6 production during chronic experimental infection.
abstract: The appearance of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in serum of mice was monitored during the course of chronic infection with either Brucella abortus vaccine strain 19 or a virulent Mycobacterium avium Complex (MAC) isolate. Serum IL-6 during brucella infection was higher than during infection with MAC, despite similar numbers of bacteria. Furthermore, IL-6 titres decreased after the peak of infection, falling to baseline levels before these chronic infections were eradicated. The ability of peritoneal cells or spleen cell suspensions to produce IL-6 under either specific or non-specific stimulus was greatly enhanced by infection. While production of IL-6 by these cultures was apparently mostly independent of T cells, T cells from infected mice could produce an IL-6 response. Thus CD4+ T lymphocytes prepared from mice which had recovered from B. abortus infection, cultured with antigen and antigen presenting cells, resulted in IL-6 production, which was not observed in similarly cultured CD8+ T cells, indicating a role for T cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002003:Brucella abortus / Q000276:immunology; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D015269:Mycobacterium avium Complex / Q000276:immunology; D015270:Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6