BALB/c mice display more enhanced BCG vaccine induced Th1 and Th17 response than C57BL/6 mice but have equivalent protection. Issue 1 (January 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Garcia-Pelayo, M. Carmen; Bachy, Véronique S.; Kaveh, Daryan A.; Hogarth, Philip J.
• Is Part Of: Tuberculosis. Volume 95:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 48
• Page End: 53
• Publication Date: 2015-01
• Subjects: 616.995
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2014.10.012
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1472-9792

Abstract

<abstract xml:lang="en" abstract-type="author" id="abs0010"> <title id="sectitle0010">Summary</title> <sec> <p id="abspara0010">It is generally assumed that the inbred mouse strains BALB/c (<italic>H-2</italic><sup><italic>d</italic></sup>) and C57BL/6 (<italic>H-2</italic><sup><italic>b</italic></sup>) respond to mycobacterial infection with distinct polarisation of T helper responses, with C57BL/6 predisposed to Th1 and BALB/c to Th2. We investigated this in a BCG-immunisation, <italic>Mycobacterium bovis</italic> challenge model. Following immunisation, lung and spleen cell cytokine responses to <italic>in vitro</italic> re-stimulation with a cocktail of seven secreted, immunogenic, recombinant mycobacterial proteins were determined. In both lung and spleen, BALB/c cells produced at least 2-fold more IFN-γ, and up to 7-fold more IL-2 and IL-17 than C57BL/6 cells, whereas IL-10 production was reciprocally increased in C57BL/6 mice. These data suggest that, contrary to reports in the literature, specific mycobacterial antigens are able to induce strong Th1 and Th17 responses in BALB/c mice following BCG vaccination, whilst in C57BL/6 mice, the Th1 response is partly counterbalanced by IL-10. After subsequent <italic>M. bovis</italic> low dose challenge, protection, as measured in the lungs and dissemination to the spleen, was equivalent in BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice, indicating that BCG-induced immunity was equivalent in both strains. Thus, the differential immune responses do not appear to have a role in protection, but further, as yet unidentified, specific immune responses play a significant role.</p> </sec> </abstract>