Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Infect. Immun., Apr 1997, 1364-1369, Vol 65, No. 4
IP Oswald, CM Dozois, JF Petit and G Lemaire
Trehalose dimycolate (TDM), a glycolipid present in the cell wall of
Mycobacterium spp., is a powerful immunostimulant. TDM primes murine
macrophages (Mphi) to produce nitric oxide (NO) and to develop antitumoral
activity upon activation with low doses of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In
this study, we investigated the ability of TDM to induce interleukin 12
(IL-12) and the role of this cytokine in TDM-induced activation of murine
Mphi. RNA isolated from peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) collected at
different times after TDM injection was used to determine IL-12 (p35 and
p40 subunits) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) mRNA levels by
semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR. Constitutive expression of
IL-12p35 was observed in PEC from untreated as well as from TDM-injected
mice. In contrast, expression of the IL- 12p40 subunit was almost
undetectable in control PEC but was dramatically upregulated in PEC from
TDM-injected mice. IL-12p40 expression peaked at 8 h and subsided to
baseline levels at 39 h postinjection. TDM was also able to induce
IFN-gamma expression; however, kinetics of induction of IFN-gamma was
different from that of IL-12p40. Maximal levels of IFN-gamma mRNA were
reached by 24 h and did not return to baseline by 4 days. In addition,
pretreatment of mice with neutralizing monoclonal antibodies directed
against IL-12 (C15.6.7 and C15.1.2) blocked IFN-gamma mRNA induction in PEC
from TDM-treated mice. We further determined if the induction of IL-12
and/or IFN-gamma contributes to the in vivo priming effect of TDM on
peritoneal Mphi. TDM-injected mice were treated in vivo with anti-IL-12 or
anti-IFN- gamma (XMG.1.6) monoclonal antibodies. TDM-primed Mphi were then
activated in vitro with LPS and tested for their ability to produce NO and
to develop cytostatic activity toward cocultivated L1210 tumor cells.
Priming of Mphi by TDM was completely blocked by in vivo neutralization of
either IL-12 or IFN-gamma as demonstrated by an absence of tumoricidal
activity and NO production by TDM-elicited Mphi in the presence of LPS.
Taken together our results show that TDM, a defined molecule from M.
tuberculosis, induces in vivo production of IL- 12. Moreover, synthesis of
IL-12 mediates TDM priming of mouse peritoneal Mphi through IFN-gamma
induction.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Interleukin-12 synthesis is a required step in trehalose dimycolate- induced activation of mouse peritoneal macrophages
Laboratoire Associe INRA/ENVT, Toulouse, France.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| J. Bacteriol. | J. Virol. | Eukaryot. Cell |
|---|
| Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. | Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | All ASM Journals |
|---|