IL-12 increases resistance of BALB/c mice to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

JL Flynn, MM Goldstein, KJ Triebold… - … (Baltimore, Md.: 1950 …, 1995 - journals.aai.org
JL Flynn, MM Goldstein, KJ Triebold, J Sypek, S Wolf, BR Bloom
Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md.: 1950), 1995journals.aai.org
IL-12, a cytokine produced by macrophages and B cells, has recently been found to exert
pleiotropic effects on the immune system. When BALB/c mice, a strain highly susceptible to
virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, were given IL-12 at the initiation of infection
with M. tuberculosis, their mean survival time doubled from 58 to 112 days. IL-12-treated
mice had diminished bacterial burdens, whereas treatment with exogenous IFN-gamma had
no effect on survival or bacterial burden. IL-12 treatment also delayed lung pathology in …
Abstract
IL-12, a cytokine produced by macrophages and B cells, has recently been found to exert pleiotropic effects on the immune system. When BALB/c mice, a strain highly susceptible to virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, were given IL-12 at the initiation of infection with M. tuberculosis, their mean survival time doubled from 58 to 112 days. IL-12-treated mice had diminished bacterial burdens, whereas treatment with exogenous IFN-gamma had no effect on survival or bacterial burden. IL-12 treatment also delayed lung pathology in BALB/c mice. In contrast with the findings in the BALB/c model, IL-12 did not increase survival of M. tuberculosis-infected gko mice, transgenic mice in which the IFN-gamma gene has been disrupted, indicating that IL-12 does not induce protection against tuberculosis in mice in the absence of IFN-gamma.
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