Role of gamma interferon in natural clearance of Bordetella pertussis infection.
Using a mouse model of Bordetella pertussis infection, we have analyzed the role of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in bacterial clearance from the respiratory tract. Adult BALB/c mice began to clear a respiratory infection within 3 weeks postinfection, with complete resolution of infection 6 to 8 weeks postinfection. In contrast, neither adult SCID mice (which lack mature B and T lymphocytes) nor adult nude mice (which lack mature T lymphocytes) controlled B. pertussis infection, and both strains died within 3 to 5 weeks postinfection. Short-term T-cell lines generated from the draining lymph nodes of the lungs of infected BALB/c mice were found to be CD4+ and produced IFN-gamma but no detectable interleukin-4. Analyses of IFN-gamma mRNA induction in the lungs of mice following B. pertussis infection showed that in both BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, IFN-gamma mRNA levels increased sharply by 1 week postinfection and then subsequently declined. Further exploration of a potential role for IFN-gamma demonstrated that infection of adult BALB/c mice depleted of IFN-gamma in vivo with anti-IFN-gamma monoclonal antibodies resulted in greater numbers of bacteria recovered from the lungs than in infected, control BALB/c mice, although IFN-gamma-depleted mice could subsequently clear the infection. Infection of mice which have a disrupted IFN-gamma gene resulted in bacterial clearance with a time course similar to those seen with IFN-gamma-depleted mice. These results indicate that IFN-gamma plays a role in controlling B. pertussis infection.
Barbic
J
J
Laboratory of Pertussis, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Leef
M F
MF
Burns
D L
DL
Shahin
R D
RD
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001886:Bordetella pertussis / Q000276:immunology*; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016513:Mice, SCID; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000276:immunology*
D007371:Interferon-gamma