Adenoviral-mediated gene transfer of interleukin-6 in rat lung enhances antiviral immunoglobulin A and G responses in distinct tissue compartments.
The effect of IL-6 transgene expression following lung gene transfer on anti-adenovirus humoral responses of immunoglobulin (Ig) G and A both in the lung and peripheral blood was investigated. Lung infection by a control adenovirus caused an increased level of circulating anti-adenoviral IgG antibodies. However, the magnitude of this response was many times higher in the peripheral blood of rats receiving an adenovirus engineered to express IL-6 transgene. In comparison, much lower levels of anti-adenoviral IgG were detected in the bronchoalveolar fluids of rats receiving either virus. In contrast, there was no detectable level of anti-adenoviral IgA in the peripheral blood in any cases, yet significantly detectable levels of anti-adenoviral IgA were measured in the lung. The levels of this IgA were much higher in the lung of rats expressing IL-6 than in the lung of control animals (15 times higher by day 14). Our findings thus provide evidence that IL-6 plays a significant role in enhancing specific airways mucosal IgA and systemic IgG responses during local lung viral infection, and provide the rationale for using IL-6 locally at mucosa sites as an immune adjuvant for antiviral vaccination program.
D000256:Adenoviridae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000276:immunology*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats