|
|
||||||||

Division of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Correspondence T. J. Mitchell t.mitchell{at}bio.gla.ac.uk
Received August 20, 2004
Accepted December 16, 2004
IL-18, a multifunctional cytokine, has been shown to be involved in the immune response to numerous pathogens including several bacterial species. To study its role in infection by the Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, wild-type and IL-18 knockout BALB/c mice were compared in murine models of pneumococcal pneumonia, bacteraemia and nasopharyngeal colonization. The influence of IL-18 varied with the infection type, whereby it contributed to increased bacterial loads in pneumonia, reduced levels of colonization and had no effect on levels of bacteraemia following intravenous challenge. Likewise, the influence of IL-18 on pneumonia varied between two infecting pneumococcal strains. Comparison of these results with previous data also suggested that the influence of IL-18 in pneumococcal pneumonia differs with the mouse strain genetic background. Overall, these results demonstrate the complex influence of IL-18 in the response to the pneumococcus.
Present address: Division of Virology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G11 5JR, UK. Abbreviations: BALF, bronchoalveloar lavage fluid; IFN, interferon; IL, interleukin.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. Shoma, K. Tsuchiya, I. Kawamura, T. Nomura, H. Hara, R. Uchiyama, S. Daim, and M. Mitsuyama Critical Involvement of Pneumolysin in Production of Interleukin-1{alpha} and Caspase-1-Dependent Cytokines in Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae In Vitro: a Novel Function of Pneumolysin in Caspase-1 Activation Infect. Immun., April 1, 2008; 76(4): 1547 - 1557. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. L. Farnworth, N. C. Henderson, A. C. MacKinnon, K. M. Atkinson, T. Wilkinson, K. Dhaliwal, K. Hayashi, A. J. Simpson, A. G. Rossi, C. Haslett, et al. Galectin-3 Reduces the Severity of Pneumococcal Pneumonia by Augmenting Neutrophil Function Am. J. Pathol., February 1, 2008; 172(2): 395 - 405. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. M. C. van Rossum, E. S. Lysenko, and J. N. Weiser Host and Bacterial Factors Contributing to the Clearance of Colonization by Streptococcus pneumoniae in a Murine Model Infect. Immun., November 1, 2005; 73(11): 7718 - 7726. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL | J MED MICROBIOL | MICROBIOLOGY | J GEN VIROL | ALL SGM JOURNALS |