In vivo involvement of polymorphonuclear neutrophils in Leishmania infantum infection.

BACKGROUND: The role of lymphocytes in the specific defence against L. infantum has been well established, but the part played by polynuclear neutrophil (PN) cells in controlling visceral leishmaniasis was much less studied. In this report we examine in vivo the participation of PN in early and late phases of infection by L. infantum. RESULTS: Promastigote phagocytosis and killing occurs very early after infection, as demonstrated by electron microscopy analyses which show in BALB/c mouse spleen, but not in liver, numerous PN harbouring ultrastructurally degraded parasites. It is shown, using mAb RB6-8C5 directed against mature mouse granulocytes, that in chronically infected mice, long-term PN depletion did not enhance parasite counts neither in liver nor in spleen, indicating that these cells are not involved in the late phase of L. infantum infection. In acute stage of infection, in mouse liver, where L. infantum load is initially larger than that in spleen but resolves spontaneously, there was no significant effect of neutrophils depletion. By contrast, early in infection the neutrophil cells crucially contributed to parasite killing in spleen, since PN depletion, performed before and up to 7 days after the parasite inoculation, resulted in a ten-fold increase of parasite burden. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together these data show that neutrophil cells contribute to the early control of the parasite growth in spleen but not in liver and that these cells have no significant effect late in infection in either of these target organs.

Sustained parasite burden in the spleen of Leishmania infantum-infected BALB/c mice is accompanied by expression of MCP-1 transcripts and lack of protection against challenge.

We analyzed differential responses of spleen and liver, major organ targets for viscerotropic Leishmania species, to experimental infection and examined if resistance to challenge was organ-specific. In liver, parasites were spontaneously cleared and iNOS trancripts expression paralleled that of amastigote load. In the spleen, amastigote multiplication was only partly controlled, and iNOS transcripts expression was transient. Total numbers of spleen cells, B cells, and T cells were decreased, while F4/80(+) and Mac1(+) cells were conserved. Expression of splenic MCP-1 transcripts remained constant, indicating its possible contribution to immigration of Leishmania host cells and to sustained parasite load. Spleen cells produced both, Th1- and Th2-type cytokines and Th2-type response was dominant, compatible with the sustained MCP-1 expression. Challenge experiments showed that in contrast to the liver, where initial infection conferred a progressively established immunity, in the spleen there was no induced protection against reinfection. Organ-specific resistance against challenge could be important for designing antileishmanial vaccines.

Differential expression of the keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and KGF receptor genes in human vascular smooth muscle cells and arteries.

Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a secreted member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family of heparin-binding proteins. Studies reported to date indicate that it functions primarily as an important paracrine mediator of epithelial cell growth and differentiation. KGF appears to act via binding to a specific FGF receptor-2 isoform generated by an alternative splicing mechanism. To determine whether KGF may play a role in vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) biology, we investigated KGF and KGF receptor gene expression in human SMC cultured in vitro as well as in several human nonatherosclerotic artery and atheroma specimens. KGF mRNA but not KGF receptor mRNA was expressed by SMCs, as determined by Northern blot hybridization analysis or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays, respectively. Additional experiments demonstrated that 1) human SMCs produce and secrete mitogenically active KGF and that 2) the cytokine interleukin-1 increases KGF mRNA and protein levels in human SMCs. We also found that KGF transcripts but not KGF receptor transcripts were expressed in control and atherosclerotic human arteries. Taken together, these results indicate that KGF is unlikely to be involved in SMC growth regulation unless it can function intracellularly or interact with a presently unidentified KGF receptor.

Severe delayed inflammatory reactions from injected insulin. Association with cell-mediated immunity.

A diabetic patient had severe, delayed cutaneous reactions to insulin accompanied by fever, leukocytosis, and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Replacement of isophane beef-pork insulin suspension with other commercially available lente beef-pork, single-component beef and pork insulin preparations brought about no improvement. Intradermal testing demonstrated biphasic reactions to a wide variety of insulin preparations except for two recently available purified single-component (less than 1 ppm proinsulin) insulins. Immunologic studies showed increased incorporation of tritiated thymidine by the patient's peripheral blood lymphocytes after incubation with these insulin preparations that incited subcutaneous and intradermal reactions. Additionally, there was significant elaboration of the lymphokine, migration inhibitory factor, in response only to isophane beef-pork insulin. Control lymphocytes from a normal subject, from a patient with non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and from a patient with insulin-dependent diabetes without delayed allergy demonstrated no response to insulin preparations. The data suggest these delayed reactions were associated with a cellular immune response to one or more contaminants in the less purified insulin preparations.

Unidirectional migration of osteosarcoma cells with osteoblast characteristics in response to products of bone resorption.

To investigate the mechanisms by which bone-forming cells are attracted to areas of bone resorption during bone remodeling, we have used in vitro methods to look for signals released by resorbing bone, which may be chemotactic for cultured bone cells. We have found that cultured rat osteosarcoma cells, which have characteristics associated with the osteoblastic phenotype, migrate in a unidirectional manner in response to a signal released by resorbing bones. These cells also migrated unidirectionally in response to Type I collagen, which comprises 95% of the bone matrix. This phenomenon of chemotaxis of bone-forming cells to sites of previous resorption may be an important component of the process of bone remodeling and the coupling of bone formation to bone resorption.

Collagen and collagen-derived fragments are chemotactic for tumor cells.

Organs that are rich in collagen such as liver, lungs, and bone are frequently sites of tumor cell metastasis. In this study, we have found that cultured tumor cells of human and rat origin migrated unidirectionally in response to collagen in vitro. Synthetic di- and tri-peptides that contained amino acid sequences found frequently in the collagen helix caused similar effects. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that collagen or collagen fragments released during connective tissue remodeling may be important in tumor cell metastasis.