Interleukin-6 deficiency influences cytokine expression in susceptible BALB mice infected with Leishmania major but does not alter the outcome of disease.
Since interleukin-6 (IL-6) may promote Th2 responses, we infected BALB IL-6-deficient (IL-6(-/-)) mice with Leishmania major. There was not a significant difference between the courses of infection (lesion size and parasite burden) in IL-6(-/-) and wild-type mice, but IL-6(-/-) mice expressed lower levels of Th2- and Th1-associated cytokines.
Titus
R G
RG
Departments of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1671, USA. rtitus@cvmbs.colostate.edu
DeKrey
G K
GK
Morris
R V
RV
Soares
M B
MB
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics*; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000276:immunology; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000276:immunology*; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology
D016207:Cytokines; D015850:Interleukin-6