BALB/c mice can be protected against a normally fatal Leishmania major infection by immunization with a partially purified, soluble subfraction of the parasite (fraction 9). In this study, we demonstrate that a T cell line established against fraction 9, designated line 9, transfers protection equivalent to that obtained by active immunization. In contrast, T cell lines (lines 1 and 9.2) responsive to a nonprotective soluble fraction (fraction 1) not only failed to protect BALB/c mice against L. major, but exacerbated the infection. Most importantly, in addition to differing in their antigen specificity, protective and exacerbative T cells lines could be distinguished on the basis of the lymphokines produced, a characteristic previously used to separate murine Th cells into two subsets, designated Th1 and Th2. We found that the protective cell line, line 9, displayed the Th1 property of secreting IL-2 and IFN-gamma, while the exacerbating lines secreted IL-4 and IL-5, a characteristic of Th2 cells. Our results demonstrate that Th1 and Th2 cells may have dramatically different effects on the outcome of an infection, and suggest that susceptibility and resistance in experimental leishmaniasis may depend upon a balance between the Th subsets induced.
Cell-mediated immune responses contributing to macrophage activation were compared in mice that demonstrated partial resistance to challenge Schistosoma mansoni infection as a result of vaccination with radiation-attenuated cercariae or of ongoing low-grade primary infection. Vaccinated mice developed significant delayed hypersensitivity reactions to soluble schistosome antigens in vivo. Splenocytes from vaccinated animals responded to in vitro culture with various specific antigens (soluble adult worm extract, living or disrupted schistosomula) by proliferation and production of macrophage-activating lymphokines as did lymphocytes from S. mansoni-infected animals. Macrophage-activating factors produced by spleen cells from vaccinated mice upon specific antigen stimulation eluted as a single peak on Sephadex G-100 with a molecular weight of approximately 50,000 and contained gamma interferon activity. Moreover, peritoneal macrophages with larvicidal and tumoricidal activity were recovered from vaccinated mice after intraperitoneal challenge with soluble schistosome antigens, a procedure also observed to elicit activated macrophages in S. mansoni-infected animals. These observations demonstrate that vaccination with irradiated cercariae stimulates many of the same cellular responses observed after primary S. mansoni infection, and suggest that lymphokine-activated macrophages may participate in the effector mechanism of vaccine-induced and concomitant immunity to challenge schistosome infection. This is the first demonstration of a potential immune effector mechanism in the irradiated vaccine model.
BALB/c mice can be protected against a fatal Leishmania major infection by immunization with whole radio-attenuated promastigotes; however, neither the antigens responsible for protection nor the protective immunologic mechanisms have been defined. In this study, the ability of promastigote fractions to elicit similar immunity to that obtained with whole organisms, and the immune responses associated with such protection were analyzed. Intraperitoneal immunization with a soluble, membrane-free parasite extract was found to induce protection against L. major challenge equal to that obtained with whole organisms. Induction of immunity (89% protection in seven experiments) was most effective with 100 micrograms of the soluble leishmanial antigen (SLA) and required concomitant injection of the bacterial adjuvant, Corynebacterium parvum (CP), followed by an i.p. boost of SLA alone 1 wk later. Vaccinated animals exhibited Leishmania-specific cell-mediated immunity, as assessed both by lymphocyte transformation and the production of macrophage-activating factors (MAF). In addition, although SLA + CP-immunized mice failed to exhibit delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) before challenge, splenic lymphocytes from these mice could transfer a local DTH reaction to naive recipients. Immunization also induced the production of antibodies against two major metabolically labeled proteins of m.w. 30,000 and 53,000, but failed to stimulate a detectable humoral response against promastigote surface antigens. Thus, these experiments demonstrate that vaccine-induced immunity against cutaneous leishmaniasis is strongly associated with the induction of cell-mediated immunity, but does not require the development of an antibody response to promastigote surface antigens. In addition, these studies establish the feasibility of employing soluble, nonmembrane-derived parasite material as a source of protective immunogens.
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