Profiling of cellular immune responses to Mycoplasma pulmonis infection in C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice

Infect Genet Evol. 2019 Sep:73:55-65. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2019.04.019. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Abstract

Mycoplasma infections cause respiratory tract damages and atypical pneumonia, resulting in serious problems in humans and animals worldwide. It is well known that laboratory inbred mouse strains show various susceptibility to Mycoplasma pulmonis (M. pulmonis) infection, which causes murine respiratory mycoplasmosis. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the difference in cellular immune responses between resistant strain, C57BL/6NCrSlc (B6) and susceptible strain, DBA/2CrSlc (D2) after challenging M. pulmonis infection. D2 mice showed higher amount of bacterial proliferation in lung, higher pulmonary infiltration of immune cells such as neutrophils, macrophages, and lymphocytes, and higher levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-17A, and tumor necrosis factor-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid than did B6 mice. The results of this study suggest that D2 mice are more susceptible than B6 mice to M. pulmonis infection due to a hyper-immune inflammatory response.

Keywords: Cellular immune response; Cytokine; Inbred mouse; Mycoplasma pulmonis; Pneumonia; Susceptibility.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Load
  • Biopsy
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Female
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / genetics
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / immunology*
  • Immunity, Cellular*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Inbred DBA
  • Mycoplasma Infections / diagnosis
  • Mycoplasma Infections / immunology*
  • Mycoplasma Infections / metabolism
  • Mycoplasma Infections / microbiology
  • Mycoplasma pulmonis / immunology*
  • Quantitative Trait Loci
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Species Specificity