Leishmania braziliensis : partial control of experimental infection by Interleukin-12 p40 deficient mice.

Resumo
Resistance to infection by Leishmania major has been associated with the development of a Th1 type response that is dependent on the presence of interleukin 12 (IL-12). In this work the involvement of this cytokine in the response to infection by L. braziliensis, a less virulent species in the mouse model, was evaluated. Our results show that while interferon (IFN-γ) deficient (-/-) mice inoculated L. braziliensis develop severe uncontrolled lesions, chronic lesions that remained under control up to 12 weeks of infection were observed in IL-12p40 -/- mice. IL 12p40 -/- mice had fewer parasites in their lesions than IFN-γ-/- mice. Lymph node cells from IL-12p40 -/- were capable of producing low but consistent levels of IFN-γ suggestive of its involvement in parasite control. Furthermore, as opposed to previous reports on L. major-infected animals, no switch to a Th2 response was observed in IL- 12p40 -/- infected with L. braziliensis.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Leishmania braziliensis
Citação
SOUZA NETO, S. M. de et al. Leishmania braziliensis: partial control of experimental infection by Interleukin-12 p40 deficient mice. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, v. 99, p. 289-294, 2004. Disponível em: <http://www.scielo.br/pdf/mioc/v99n3/v99n3a09.pdf>. Acesso em: 21 out. 2015.