title: Dissociation of disease susceptibility, inflammation and cytokine profile in lmr1/2 congenic mice infected with Leishmania major.
abstract: Severity of disease caused by Leishmania major depends on the genetics of the host. Early induction of T helper cell type 1 (Th1)-type responses in resistant C57BL/6 mice and T helper cell type 2 (Th2) in susceptible BALB/c mice is thought to determine cure or disease respectively. We have mapped three loci that confer susceptibility or resistance upon congenic mice on the C57BL/6 or BALB/c backgrounds. Here we examine the histopathology and production of interleukin 4 (IL-4) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) in the skin and draining lymph nodes in the congenic and parental mice. We show an evolving granuloma with a staged infiltration of inflammatory cells, but no difference between the groups. As an indication of an early-polarised Th1/Th2 response we measured IFN-gamma and IL-4 in the lymph nodes and found no difference between any of the mice during the first 48 h. During infection, the level of IL-4 correlated with the lesion size, indicating that IL-4 reflects the disease severity rather than controls it. Considering this effect, B6.C(lmr1,lmr2) mice had similar cytokine levels to the parental C57BL/6 mice despite increased susceptibility and C.B6(lmr1,lmr2) were similar to BALB/c despite increased resistance. We conclude that the lmr loci affect disease severity by a mechanism independent of conventional helper T-cell responses.
authors.affiliation: The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, 1G Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Elso
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Foote
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Handman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D007249:Inflammation; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism*; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000378:metabolism*; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D020297:Mice, Congenic; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma