Tumor necrosis factor alpha is a key mediator in the regulation of experimental Trypanosoma brucei infections.
In order to evaluate during experimental Trypanosoma brucei infections the potential role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in the host-parasite interrelationship, C57BL/6 TNF-alpha knockout mice (TNF-alpha-/-) as well as C57BL/6 wild-type mice were infected with pleomorphic T. brucei AnTat 1.1 E parasites. In the TNF-alpha-/- mice, the peak levels of parasitemia were strongly increased compared to the peak levels recorded in wild-type mice. The increased parasite burden did not reflect differences in clearance efficacy or in production of T. brucei-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies. Trypanosome-mediated immunopathological features, such as lymph node-associated immunosuppression and lipopolysaccharide hypersensitivity, were found to be greatly reduced in infected TNF-alpha-/- mice. These results demonstrate that, during trypanosome infections, TNF-alpha is a key mediator involved in both parasitemia control and infection-associated pathology.
Magez
S
S
Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Brussels, Belgium. stemagez@vub.ac.be
Radwanska
M
M
Beschin
A
A
Sekikawa
K
K
De Baetselier
P
P
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha