title: The involvement of neutrophils in the resistance to Leishmania major infection in susceptible but not in resistant mice.
abstract: To understand the immunomodulatory roles of neutrophils in Leishmania major infection, we examined the expression of cytokine and chemokine mRNAs from neutrophils of the infected resistant C3H/HeJ and susceptible BALB/c mice. We also examined the effects of neutrophil depletion on the expression of cytokine by peritoneal macrophages and draining lymph node cells and on the footpad lesions and parasite burdens in these mice. Neutrophils from resistant C3H/HeJ but not from susceptible BALB/c mice expressed mRNAs for IL-12p40, IFN-gamma,TNF-alpha and monokine induced by IFN-gamma(MIG). Neutrophil depletion of the resistant mice reduced the expression of IFN-gammaandTNF-alpha in peritoneal macrophages but did not affect the expression of IL-12p40 and IFN-gamma in draining lymph node cells and the growth of footpad lesions. On the other hand, neutrophil depletion of susceptible BALB/c mice did not affect the expression of TNF-alpha and monocyte-derived chemokine (MDC) in peritoneal macrophages but induced the early stage expression of IL-4 in draining lymph node cells and exacerbated the footpad lesions and increased the parasite burden. The exacerbation of footpad lesions induced by neutrophil depletion was abolished by rIL-12 treatment. Our results suggest that even in susceptible BALB/c but not in C3H/HeJ mice there is a certain resistance requiring neutrophils at the early stage of infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Parasitology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, 2-2-2 Iida-Nishi, Yamagata 990-9585, Japan.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhi-Hui
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayakawa
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Fujiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sendo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000378:metabolism; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000378:metabolism; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology; D017737:Macrophages, Peritoneal / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000276:immunology*; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000378:metabolism; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40; D021122:Protein Subunits; D018664:Interleukin-12; D007371:Interferon-gamma