The role of interferon-gamma in murine pneumococcal pneumonia. |
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Authors: | Anita W Rijneveld Fanny N Lauw Marc J Schultz Sandrine Florquin Anje A Te Velde Peter Speelman Sander J H Van Deventer Tom Van Der Poll |
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Affiliation: | Department of Experimental Internal Medicine, Tropical Medicine, and AIDS, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.w.rijneveld@amc.uva.nl |
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Abstract: | To determine the role of interferon (IFN)-gamma in pneumonia, IFN-gamma receptor-deficient (IFN-gamma R(-/-)) and 129/Sv (wild-type wt]) mice were inoculated intranasally with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Although mortality did not differ between the groups 48 h after inoculation, IFN-gamma R(-/-) mice had significantly fewer pneumococci in their lungs than the wt mice. Similarly, IFN-gamma(-/-) mice had fewer colony-forming units in lungs than wt mice. The relatively increased resistance of IFN-gamma R(-/-) mice was not related to favorable effects on defense mechanisms known to contribute to antibacterial immunity-that is, the neutrophilic influx was reduced and the cytokine and nitric oxide levels were similar or lower in IFN-gamma R(-/-) mice. In contrast, mice treated with anti-IFN-gamma did not demonstrate a consistently altered bacterial outgrowth, compared with mice treated with a control antibody. These data suggest that endogenous IFN-gamma, despite its protective role in defense against intracellular pathogens, does not serve a protective role during pneumococcal pneumonia. |
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