Impaired IL-15 production associated with susceptibility of murine AIDS to mycobacterial infection.
LP-BM5 murine leukemia virus (MuLV) injection causes murine AIDS (MAIDS), a disease characterized by many functional abnormalities of immunocompetent cells. We show that MAIDS mice are susceptible to Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) infection as assessed by survival rate and bacterial counts. The peritoneal exudate macrophages from MAIDS mice produced a significant level of interleukin (IL)-12 soon after inoculation with BCG, whereas IL-15 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) production were severely impaired in BCG-infected MAIDS mice. The appearance of natural killer (NK) and CD4+ T helper type 1 (Th1) cells specific for mycobacterial antigen were depressed in MAIDS mice after BCG infection. Thus, it appeared that impaired production of IL-15, besides other inflammatory cytokines, in MAIDS mice may be involved in the poor responses of the NK and Th1 cells, resulting in an increased susceptibility to BCG.
Umemura
M
M
Laboratory of Host Defense, Research Institute for Disease Mechanism and Control, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Hirose
K
K
Wajjwaiku
W
W
Nishimura
H
H
Matsuguchi
T
T
Gotoh
Y
Y
Takahashi
M
M
Makino
M
M
Yoshikai
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D019409:Interleukin-15 / Q000276:immunology*; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016183:Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000276:immunology*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*
D019409:Interleukin-15