The effect of cyclosporin A in murine visceral leishmaniasis
Olivier, M.; Tanner, C.E.
Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Official Organ of Deutsche Tropenmedizinische Gesellschaft and of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit 40(1): 32-38
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0177-2392 PMID: 2525802 Document Number: 341017
In order to determine the role of T-helper cells and their soluble mediators in the control of Leishmania donovani infection, the effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) were studied in C57L/J (resistant) and C57BL/6J (susceptible) mice. Mice treated with CsA (at 200 mg/kg daily for 4 days before infection and at weekly intervals up to day 75 pi) showed a significant increase in the level of infection from day 15. The number of parasites was 3 times higher in treated mice of both strains, as compared to untreated controls. The proportional difference in the level of infection in mice of different strains was not affected by CsA treatment. The spleen cells of the infected and treated animals of both lines showed a comparably suppressed mitogenic response when compared to mice which had received CsA only, showing that CsA significantly inhibited T cell function. Infected untreated mice showed suppressed response to Con A stimulation but this suppression was significantly smaller than in the CsA treated groups. The susceptible mouse strain was significantly more suppressed by infection than the resistant strain. Infection and CsA treatment respectively reduced or abolished the capacity of spleen cells to produce interluekin-2 (Il-2), and infection abolished the production of Il-2 by macrophages. Mice of both strains recovered from infection without functional T-helper lymphocytes or the Il-1 and Il-2 that had been inhibited by CsA.