Leishmania braziliensis: partial control of experimental infection by interleukin-12 p40 deficient mice

Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

Sebastião Martins De Souza-neto²  Cláudia Martins Carneiro¹  Leda Quercia Vieira¹  Luís Carlos Crocco Afonso² 

[1],Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas Departamento de Ciências Biológicas

关键词: cutaneous leishmaniasis;    Leishmania braziliensis;    interleukin 12;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0074-02762004000300009

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Resistance to infection by Leishmania major has been associated with the development of a Th1 type response that is dependent on the presence of interleukin 12 (IL-12). In this work the involvement of this cytokine in the response to infection by L. braziliensis, a less virulent species in the mouse model, was evaluated. Our results show that while interferon (IFN-g) deficient (-/-) mice inoculated L. braziliensis develop severe uncontrolled lesions, chronic lesions that remained under control up to 12 weeks of infection were observed in IL-12p40 -/- mice. IL 12p40 -/- mice had fewer parasites in their lesions than IFN-g-/- mice. Lymph node cells from IL-12p40 -/- were capable of producing low but consistent levels of IFN-g suggestive of its involvement in parasite control. Furthermore, as opposed to previous reports on L. major-infected animals, no switch to a Th2 response was observed in IL-12p40 -/- infected with L. braziliensis.

【 授权许可】

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