Abstract
Pathogenic mycobacteria such as tubercle bacilli are usually killed when immunity is developed in an infected animal or man. It has long been thought that macrophages are responsible for this killing but all attempts to demonstrate this in vitro have been unsuccessful1–7, which has severely hampered our understanding of how immunity to tuberculosis is expressed. In particular, indirect evidence that hydrogen peroxide from macrophages might kill tubercle bacilli in vivo8–11 could not be properly tested. Recent studies have shown that macrophages can be activated by exposure to soluble products of immunologically stimulated T lymphocytes (lymphokines) so that they acquire a new or enhanced ability to kill infectious agents and tumour cells12–15. Hydrogen peroxide has been implicated as a key macrophage product needed for killing13–16. We report here that normal mouse peritoneal macrophages can be activated in vitro by lymphokines to kill Mycobacterium microti, the natural agent of tuberculosis in voles, and that added catalase protects the bacilli from killing.
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Walker, L., Lowrie, D. Killing of Mycobacterium microti by immunologically activated macrophages. Nature 293, 69–70 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/293069a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/293069a0
