Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1992 Apr;60(4):1279-84.
doi: 10.1128/iai.60.4.1279-1284.1992.

Importance of endogenous tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon in host resistance against Pneumocystis carinii infection

W Chen  1 , E A Havell, A G Harmsen
Affiliations

Importance of endogenous tumor necrosis factor alpha and gamma interferon in host resistance against Pneumocystis carinii infection

W Chen et al. Infect Immun. 1992 Apr.

Abstract

C.B-17 scid/scid (SCID) mice that have acquired natural pulmonary infection with Pneumocystis carinii clear these organisms by 19 days after reconstitution with spleen cells from immunocompetent mice and therefore serve as a model for studying the pathogenesis of and immunity to P. carinii pneumonia. The present study examined the importance of endogenous tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in the clearance of P. carinii by treatment of reconstituted SCID mice with anti-TNF-alpha and anti-IFN-gamma immunoglobulin G (IgG). Treatment of reconstituted mice with monospecific rabbit anti-TNF-alpha IgG almost completely inhibited the clearance of P. carinii from the lungs. In contrast, treatment with either anti-IFN-gamma antibody (polyclonal or monoclonal) or control IgG had no detectable effect on the clearance of P. carinii. The importance of endogenous TNF-alpha in the clearance of P. carinii was further supported by the finding of TNF-alpha but not IFN-gamma in lung homogenate supernatants from reconstituted SCID mice. Further study revealed that for the complete clearance of P. carinii, TNF-alpha must be present at the early stage of reconstitution, since clearance could be blocked by a single injection of anti-TNF-alpha IgG into SCID mice at day 0 but not at day 6 and/or day 12 after reconstitution. These results strongly suggest that, in reconstituted SCID mice, endogenous TNF-alpha is important in host resistance against P. carinii infection, whereas IFN-gamma appears not to play a significant role.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Exp Med. 1982 Jul 1;156(1):112-27 - PubMed
    1. J Interferon Res. 1983;3(2):191-8 - PubMed
    1. J Leukoc Biol. 1991 Nov;50(5):495-501 - PubMed
    1. J Interferon Res. 1991 Oct;11(5):291-5 - PubMed
    1. J Lab Clin Med. 1991 Sep;118(3):206-16 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources