| First Author | Wei XQ | Year | 2004 |
| Journal | Immunol Lett | Volume | 94 |
| Issue | 1-2 | Pages | 35-7 |
| PubMed ID | 15234532 | Mgi Jnum | J:110960 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3652453 | Doi | 10.1016/j.imlet.2004.04.001 |
| Citation | Wei XQ, et al. (2004) Host genetic background determines whether IL-18 deficiency results in increased susceptibility or resistance to murine Leishmania major infection. Immunol Lett 94(1-2):35-7 |
| abstractText | Interleukin-18 (IL-18) plays an important role in innate and acquired immunity. IL-18 gene deficient (IL-18-/-) mice of the 129 x CD1 strain were reported to be more susceptible to Leishmania major infection than the wild-type mice. In contrast IL-18-/- mice of the C57BL/6 background were found to be as resistant as the wild-type (WT) mice. To resolve this discrepancy, IL-18 gene deficiency was introduced by backcrossing on to the highly susceptible BALB/c, or the moderately resistant DBA/1 backgrounds. Here we have demonstrated that BALB/c IL-18-/- mice were more resistant to L. major infection than WT BALB/c mice, whereas DBA/1 IL-18-/- mice were markedly more susceptible than their WT littermates. BALB/c IL-18-/- mice produced less IFNgamma and IL-4, whereas DBA/1 IL-18ko mice produced more IFNgamma and IL-4 than their respective WT controls. These result clearly demonstrate that the role of IL-18 in resistance or susceptibility to L. major is determined by host genetic background. |
