IL-6 And IL-10 Critical In Primary But Not Secondary Infection.(Brief Article)

2001 JUN 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 substantially decrease spleen viral loads following infection with Friend retrovirus (FV) but are less relevant in long-term infection or following vaccination, according to a new report in the Journal of General Virology.

"We investigated the role of the B-cell stimulating cytokines IL-5 and IL-6, and the immunosuppressive cytokine IL-10, during primary and secondary immune responses in mice against infection with Friend retrovirus (FV) (murine leukemia virus)," wrote B.D. Strestik and associates.

The researchers, from the University of Wurzburg, Germany, and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, found that IL-5(-/-) mice and C57BL/6 wild-type mice controlled the virus similarly well, but IL-6(-/-) and IL-10(-/-) mice carried enhanced viral loads in spleen cells during acute FV infection.

During chronic infection, however, deficiency of IL-6 or IL-10 became less relevant in control of FV, noted Strestik and colleagues.

Following vaccination with a live attenuated vaccine virus and subsequent challenge with FV, IL-5- and IL-6-deficient mice had significantly lower levels of virus-neutralizing immunoglobulin G antibodies, yet all three cytokine-deficient types of mice were protected, ...