Immunoallergologic Aspects of Syphilis

Susceptibility of rabbits to Treponema pallidum after infection with Mycobacterium bovis.

“…There is evidence that cell-mediated immunity does develop in the host (rabbit or man) during the course of an infection with T. pallidum (Musher et al, 1976;Kiraly, 1976), and possibly it plays some role in the regression of lesions and the ultimate recovery of the host-for example, in human infections where recovery is sometimes spontaneous. Is phagocytosis by macrophages an important effector mechanism of cell-mediated immunity in syphilis?…”

“…Human syphilis and the animal model disease (Treponema pallidum infection in rabbits) results in both a humoral and a cell-mediated immune response by the host (Kiraly, 1976;Musher et al, 1976), but the relative contribution of each to overall immunity has yet to be determined. Antibody alone is not fully protective, since in passive transfer experiments rabbits ultimately succumb to infection (Perine et al, 1973;Sepetjian et al, 1973;Turner et al, 1973;Bishop and Miller, 1976;Weiser et al, 1976).…”

Rate of clearance of virulent Treponema pallidum (Nichols) from the blood stream of normal, Mycobacterium bovis BCG-treated, and immune syphilitic rabbits

“…Cell-mediated immunity is also involved as shown by various in vitro tests of lymphocyte function and other evidence, although a period of T-cell immunosuppression appears to be an important stage in the pathogenesis of syphilis. These matters have been well reviewed (11,15,17).…”

“…There is no good evidence as yet for any significant phagocytosis of virulent T. pallidum in vivo in rabbits or humans. Poor phagocytosis of T. pallidum may lead to slow antigenic processing of the bacterium and a delay in the establishment of immunity, as is observed in syphilis (11,15,17).…”