Impacts of interleukin-12 on multiplication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium complex in mice.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential impacts of exogenous administration of murine recombinant interleukin-12 (IL-12) on multiplication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. avium complex (MAC) in murine models. METHODS: Swiss or beige mice were infected intravenously with M. tuberculosis H37Rv or MAC respectively, and were treated by subcutaneous injection with various doses of IL-12, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Effectiveness of treatment was assessed by the enumeration of CFUs in the spleens and lungs, together with other indicators. RESULTS: Multiplication of M. tuberculosis was reduced by IL-12 in a dose-dependent manner if the treatment began at day 1, whereas no statistically significant suppression was observed if the treatment began at day 14. Combination with IL-12 did not enhance the bactericidal activity of antituberculosis chemotherapy. The growth curves of MAC in IL-12-treated mice were almost identical to those of untreated controls, indicating that IL-12 did not affect the multiplication of MAC in beige mice. In both experiments, the dosing of IL-12 approached levels of severe toxicity for the mouse strains used. CONCLUSIONS: IL-12 had a positive affect on early multiplication of M. tuberculosis. It had no effect on early multiplication of M. avium complex.