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Infection and Immunity, June 1999, p. 3108-3111, Vol. 67, No. 6
Kuzell Institute for Arthritis and Infectious
Diseases, California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San
Francisco, California 94115
Received 16 November 1998/Returned for modification 4 January
1999/Accepted 29 March 1999
The role of CD8+ T cells was evaluated in a mouse model
of disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection. C57BL/6J and
C57BL/6J
0019-9567/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Host Defense against Mycobacterium avium
Does Not Have an Absolute Requirement for Major Histocompatibility
Complex Class I-Restricted T Cells
2
/
(
2
/
) mice were infected intravenously,
and the number of viable bacteria in each liver and spleen was
determined. No significant difference between the number of bacteria in
the two strains of mice was observed at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks after
infection. Histopathological examination of granulomas from C57BL/6J
and
2
/
mice did not show any difference
either in the number of organisms per granuloma or in the size of the
granulomas. Investigation of the cytokine profile in the spleen
demonstrated that the
2
/
strain of mice
produced a significantly lower amount of gamma interferon at 8 weeks
after infection and significantly increased concentrations of tumor
necrosis factor alpha compared with that from the wild-type mouse.
Interleukin-12 and transforming growth factor
1 levels
did not differ between the two strains of mice at 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks.
Although previous work had found that host response against
Mycobacterium tuberculosis involves major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted T cells, our results indicate that chronic deficiency of CD8+ T cells does not
lead to a different expression of the disease and that if
CD8+ T cells are involved in the host response, their
function can be assumed by other immune cells.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Kuzell
Institute, 2200 Webster St., Suite 305, San Francisco, CA 94115. Phone:
(415) 561-1734. Fax: (415) 441-8548. E-mail:
luizb{at}cooper.cpmc.org.
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