Abstract
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 323-6 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Journal of Medical Microbiology |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | Pt 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2005 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Disease Models, Animal
- Interleukin-18
- Lung Diseases
- Mice
- Mice, Knockout
- Pneumococcal Infections
- Streptococcus pneumoniae