Immunological basis for reactivation of tuberculosis in mice.
In this study different inbred strains of mice appeared to control and contain a low dose aerosol infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a similar manner, giving rise to a chronic state of disease. Thereafter, however, certain strains gradually began to show evidence of regrowth of the infection, whereas others consistently did not. Using C57BL/6 mice as an example of a resistant strain and CBA/J mice as an example of a strain susceptible to bacterial growth, we found that these animals revealed distinct differences in the cellular makeup of lung granulomas. The CBA/J mice exhibited a generally poor lymphocyte response within the lungs and vastly increased degenerative pathology at a time associated with regrowth of the infection. As a possible explanation for these events, it was then observed that the CBA/J mouse strain was also less able to upregulate adhesion molecules, including CD11a and CD54, on circulating lymphocytes. These results therefore suggest that a failure to control a chronic infection with M. tuberculosis may reflect an inability to localize antigen-specific lymphocytes within the lung.
Turner
J
J
Departments of Microbiology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA. Jturner@cvmbs.colostate.edu
Gonzalez-Juarrero
M
M
Saunders
B M
BM
Brooks
J V
JV
Marietta
P
P
Ellis
D L
DL
Frank
A A
AA
Cooper
A M
AM
Orme
I M
IM
D000818:Animals; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000032:analysis; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*
D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1; D018799:Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1