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*Substance via MeSH
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*Leishmaniasis
The Journal of Immunology, 2002, 168: 5771-5777.
Copyright © 2002 by The American Association of Immunologists

The Role of IL-12 in Maintaining Resistance to Leishmania major1

Audrey Y. Park*, Brian Hondowicz*, Manfred Kopf{dagger} and Phillip Scott2,*

* Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; and {dagger} Department of Environmental Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
IL-12p40 is required for the maintenance of resistance during Leishmania major infection. In this study, we addressed how IL-12 mediates this function. First, we demonstrated that both subunits of IL-12, p40 and p35, were required for continued resistance to L. major. Second, using IL-12, IL-4 doubly deficient mice, we investigated the possibility that IL-12 inhibits IL-4-induced outgrowth of Th2 cells that might compete with Th1 cells. We found that even in the absence of a Th2 response, IL-12 was still required to maintain resistance. Next, using adoptive transfer of Thy-1 disparate CD4+ T cells from L. major-healed mice, we were able to show that the loss of a protective response in L. major-infected IL-12-deficient mice is linked with the loss of Th1 cells. In contrast, there was an equal recovery of CD4+ Th1 cells from wild-type and IL-12-deficient mice when transferred into mice that were not challenged with L. major. The ability of Th1 cells to survive regardless of IL-12 levels in the absence of Ag stimulation was confirmed by adoptive transfer studies of CD4+ Th1 cells from DO11.10 TCR transgenic mice. Taken together, these results indicate that, rather than modulating Th2 responses or optimizing IFN-{gamma} production, the critical role for IL-12 in maintaining cell-mediated immunity may be to prevent the loss of Th1 cells during a challenge infection.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Interleukin-12 has been important in the field of cell-mediated immunity since its discovery more than 10 years ago (1, 2). It plays a critical role in the development of Th1 cells under a variety of conditions (3, 4, 5, 6). However, in contrast to its role in altering the initial immune response, once a Th1 response has been established during an infection the role of IL-12 was thought to be minimal (7, 8, 9, 10). Several recent papers now challenge the notion that IL-12 is only required for the initiation of a Th1 immune response (11, 12, 13). For example, we found that Leishmania major-infected IL-12 p40-/- C57BL/6 mice (referred to as p40-/- mice in this work) treated with IL-12 for the first few weeks of infection were able to control a primary infection and to develop an anti-leishmanial-specific Th1 response (11). However, upon challenge, these mice lost their protective immunity and exhibited a Th2 response. In fact, given enough time, p40-/- mice transiently treated with IL-12 eventually developed progressive lesions at the primary site of infection without rechallenge (11). This observation is not unique to leishmaniasis, because a similar study in IL-12-/- mice infected with Toxoplasma also found that mice lost resistance when IL-12 treatment was discontinued (12).

These results raise the question of what role IL-12 plays once cell-mediated immunity is established. Although IL-12 is best known for initiating the development of a Th1 response, there are other activities that might contribute to the maintenance of a Th1 response. IL-12 promotes cell division and inhibits apoptosis of T cells expressing a functional IL-12R, thus promoting the expansion of a Th1 response (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20). IL-12 can also block Th2 responses, as seen in L. major-infected BALB/c mice treated with IL-12 (21, 22). Thus, IL-12 may be required to inhibit the development of Th2 cells, which uncontrolled might overwhelm the established Th1 response. Finally, IL-12 directly augments the effector function of established Th1 cells by promoting IFN-{gamma} synthesis following cell activation (15), and thus, although Th1 cells might be present, their functional capacity may be limited.

In this study, we investigated the mechanisms that might be involved in the requirement for IL-12 to maintain cell-mediated immunity once it is established. Our first experiments confirmed that IL-12, and not IL-23, was required to maintain a Th1 response following infection with L. major. Next, we found that the loss of a Th1 response and susceptibility to L. major in IL-12-deficient mice was not due to the action of IL-4 in promoting a nonprotective Th2 cell population, because IL-12 and IL-4 doubly deficient mice exhibited the same phenotype as IL-12-deficient mice. Finally, we followed the fate of a Th1 cell population in IL-12-deficient mice and discovered that in the absence of IL-12, Th1 cells are eliminated during an infection, suggesting that IL-12 has a direct role in the ability to maintain a Th1 cell population.


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Mice

Female C57BL/6 (B6), B6 IL-12 p40-/-, B6 IL-12 p35-/-, B6 Thy-1.1 congenics, BALB/c, BALB/c p40-/-, and BALB/c DO11.10 TCR transgenic mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME). IL-12 p35 x IL-4 doubly deficient (p35,IL-4-/-) B6 mice and IL-4-/- B6 mice were generated by M. Kopf and generously provided by E. Pearce (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA). The p35,IL-4-/- mice were found to be susceptible to L. major (F. Mattner and M. Kopf, unpublished data). Animals were used at 4–6 wk of age and were maintained in a specific pathogen-free environment and tested negative for the presence of murine pathogens.

Parasites and Ag

L. major parasites (MHOM/IL/80/Friedlin) were grown in Grace’s insect culture medium (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) with 20% heat-inactivated FBS (HyClone Laboratories, Logan, UT), 2 mM glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin 6-potassium, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin sulfate. Metacyclic promastigote parasites were isolated by negative selection with Arachis hypogae agglutinin, as previously described (23). Mice were injected in the left hind footpad with 2 x 106 metacyclic parasites. After 8 wk postprimary infection, mice were inoculated in the contralateral hind footpad with 2 x 106 metacyclic promastigotes. Soluble leishmanial Ag (SLA)3 was prepared as previously described (24).

In vivo IL-12 treatment

Mice were treated intralesionally with 0.2 µg IL-12 per footpad (Genetics Institute, Cambridge, MA) three times per week over the first 2 wk of infection. The course of infection for IL-12-treated and untreated mice was monitored by measuring the footpad sizes with a dial caliper (Starrett, Athol, MA). The lesion size was determined by subtracting the size of the normal hind footpad from the size of the infected hind footpad. In secondary infections, the lesion size was determined by comparing the size of the footpad before and after challenge.

In vitro recall responses

Popliteal lymph nodes were harvested, and single cell suspensions were prepared. Cells were resuspended at 4 x 106/ml in DMEM, 10% heat-inactivated FBS, 2 mM glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin 6-potassium, 100 mg/ml streptomycin sulfate, 25 mM HEPES, and 5 x 10-5 M 2-ME and plated at 200 µl/well in 96-well flat-bottom tissue culture plates. Cells were stimulated with or without 50 µg/ml SLA Ag. In addition, 5 µg/ml anti-IL-4R mAb (M1; a generous gift from F. Finkelman, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, and Immunex, Seattle, WA) was added to block consumption of IL-4. In some instances, 1 ng/ml IL-12 was added in vitro. Three days later, supernatants were collected and assayed for IFN-{gamma} and IL-4 production by ELISA, as previously described (25).

Adoptive transfers

Single cell suspensions were prepared from the spleen and/or draining lymph nodes of donor mice, which included C57BL/6 Thy-1.1+ mice that had healed a primary infection with L. major (>=6 wk postinfection) and BALB/c D011.10 TCR transgenic mice. Cells were incubated with 5 µg/ml anti-CD8 (H35-17.2; IgG2b; hybridoma generously provided by J. P. Farrell, University of Pennsylvania) for 30 min on ice and washed, and rabbit complement (Pel-Freez, Brown Deer, WI) was added at a 1/10 dilution for 1 h at 37°C. The remaining cells were then panned with anti-Ig Abs (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA) for 30 min at 37°C to remove B cells. The CD4+-enriched cell populations (80–85%) were adoptively transferred by i.v. injection (10 x 106/mouse) into a variety of recipient mice. As indicated in the figure legends, in some experiments the recipients were adult thymectomized, lightly irradiated (400 rad), and/or treated on days -1, 0, 7, and 14 with 1 mg injection of anti-Thy-1.2 mAb (30H12; IgG2b; purified from ascites and tested endotoxin free; hybridoma generously provided by M. Greene and G. Massey, University of Pennsylvania). For some experiments, cells from Thy-1.1+ C57BL/6 mice that had healed a primary infection with L. major were cultured with SLA under Th1 cell-promoting conditions (1 ng/ml IL-12 and 10 µg/ml anti-IL-4 mAb (11B11)) to expand Ag-specific cells. After 3 days in culture, lymphocytes were enriched for CD4+, as described above, and used for cell transfer. Similarly, D011.10 lymphocytes from lymph nodes and spleens were cultured with 1 ng/ml OVA peptide (323–339) under Th1 cell-promoting conditions (1 ng/ml IL-12 and 10 µg/anti-IL-4 mAb (11B11)). OVA peptide (323–339) was synthesized by the Protein Chemistry Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania. After 4 days, cells were washed thoroughly in PBS and enriched for CD4+ T cells, as described above. Some of the cells were incubated with 10 µg anti-FC{gamma}III/IIR Ab (2.4G2) and 10 µg rat IgG (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) to block nonspecific binding of Abs, and stained with KJ126-FITC (Caltag Laboratories, Burlingame, CA) and anti-CD4 PE (BD PharMingen, San Diego, CA). Based on the FACS profile, 10 x 106 clonotypic KJ-126+CD4+ cells from naive D011.10 mice or Th1 cells were used for cell transfer.

Detection and intracellular cytokine staining of TCR transgenic T cells

Lymphocytes were pooled from the lymph nodes and spleens of IL-12 p40-/- or wild-type BALB/c recipients and stained for KJ-126 and CD4, as described above. The number of D011.10 T cells present in the recipients was determined by multiplying the total number of viable cells recovered by the percentage of CD4+, KJ-126+ events obtained by flow cytometry. The remaining cells were resuspended at 5 x 106/ml and plated at 1 ml in 24-well tissue cultures plates with or without 1 ng/ml OVA peptide323–339. A total of 10 µg/ml anti-IL-12 mAb (C17.8) was added to all of the wells. After 24 h, surface staining for KJ-126 and CD4 and intracellular cytokine staining for IFN-{gamma} were performed, as previously described (26).


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
IL-12p40 and IL-12p35 subunits are both required to maintain resistance to L. major

IL-12 is a heterodimer composed of a p40 and p35 subunit, both of which are required for IL-12 function. Infection of mice that lack either of these subunits of IL-12 leads to extreme susceptibility to infection, associated with a Th2 response (27). In previous studies, we found that the susceptibility of p40-/- mice to L. major was temporarily reversed by administration of IL-12, and control of the parasites was associated with the development of a Th1 response (11). However, upon rechallenge in the absence of IL-12, p40-/- mice were found to be susceptible. Recently, a new cytokine, called IL-23, has been discovered that uses the p40 chain of IL-12 in combination with a unique subunit, p19 (28). IL-23 has been implicated in enhancing proliferation and IFN-{gamma} production of memory T cells (28), and therefore we were interested to know whether IL-23, instead of IL-12, might be the required cytokine to maintain resistance to L. major. Because p40-/- mice will lack the activity of both IL-12 and IL-23, while p35-/- mice will only lack the activity of IL-12, we compared the ability of these two IL-12-deficient mouse strains to maintain resistance to L. major after transient treatment with IL-12. Mice were infected with L. major and some groups treated with IL-12 for the first 2 wk of infection. For at least the first 8 wk of infection, transient IL-12 treatment was associated with control of leishmaniasis in both p40-/- and p35-/- mice (Fig. 1GoA). In contrast, IL-12-deficient mice not treated with IL-12 developed uncontrolled lesions, and had to be sacrificed by 6 wk of infection. We then challenged the groups of mice that had been transiently treated with IL-12 during the primary infection, but without any additional administration of IL-12. As we previously reported, p40-/- mice were unable to maintain their resistance when challenged (11). In addition, p35-/- mice were also unable to maintain resistance to L. major (Fig. 1GoB). Although the lesions were slightly smaller in the p35-/- mice compared with the p40-/- mice, in a second experiment no difference was observed between p35-/- and p40-/- animals. These results do not preclude a role for IL-23 in resistance, because the requirement for IL-12 might mask any protective contribution of IL-23. However, they do confirm the absolute dependence upon IL-12 for mice to maintain resistance to L. major.



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FIGURE 1. IL-12p40-/- and IL-12p35-/- mice are unable to maintain resistance to L. major in the absence of IL-12. A, IL-12p40-/-, IL-12p35-/-, and C57BL/6 (B6) mice were infected in the footpad with L. major and the course of infection followed. Some mice were treated intralesionally with IL-12 (0.2 µg) six times over the first 2 wk of infection. Untreated IL-12p40-/- and p35-/- mice were sacrificed at 6 wk due to progressive infection. B, Eight weeks after the primary infection, the mice that were treated with IL-12 in the primary infection were challenged in the contralateral footpad with L. major, without any additional IL-12 treatment, and the course of infection was monitored. Results are expressed as the mean (±SE) lesion size of five mice per group. Data shown are representative of two experiments.

 
Inhibition of a Th2 response does not lead to the ability of Th1 cells to protect mice in the absence of IL-12

The reason IL-12 is required to maintain an established Th1 response is unknown. One possibility is that IL-12 is continuously required to prevent Th2 cell development during an established Th1 response. Therefore, to determine whether blocking the capacity to develop a Th2 response would eliminate the requirement for IL-12, we infected p35,IL-4-/- mice with L. major and treated the animals with IL-12 for the first 2 wk of infection to induce a Th1 response (Fig. 2Go). When Ag-specific responses were assessed 2 wk after infection, cells from p35-/- and p35,IL-4-/- mice that had been treated with IL-12 produced substantial levels of IFN-{gamma}, but little IL-13 (Fig. 3Go, A and B), indicating that the exogenous IL-12 was effective at inducing a Th1 response in mice lacking IL-12. This Th1 response was associated with substantial control of the L. major infection, as is evident in Fig. 2GoA. Nevertheless, upon reinfection, the p35,IL-4-/- mice that had been transiently treated with IL-12 in the primary infection were unable to control L. major and developed progressive infections, although more slowly than p35-/- mice (Fig. 2GoB). An analysis of the immune response in IL-12-deficient mice indicated a complete loss of the Th1 response in both p35-/- and p35,IL-4-/- animals (Fig. 3GoC). Interestingly, only in the p35-/- mice was there a compensatory increase in a Th2 response, as measured by IL-13 production (Fig. 3GoD). Taken together, these results strongly suggest that while a Th2 response may promote more rapid lesion development, the inability to maintain a Th1 response in the absence of IL-12 is not solely due to the development of a compensatory Th2 response.



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FIGURE 2. In the absence of IL-4 and IL-12, transient IL-12 treatment fails to provide long-term protection to L. major. A, IL-12p35-/- and p35,IL-4-/- mice, as well as control C57BL/6 mice (B6) were infected with L. major in the footpad. Some mice were treated intralesionally with IL-12 (0.2 µg) six times over the first 2 wk of infection. Untreated IL-12p35-/- and p35,IL-4-/- mice were sacrificed at 6 wk due to progressive infection. B, Eight weeks after the primary infection, the mice that had been treated transiently with IL-12 were challenged in the contralateral footpad with L. major, without any additional IL-12 treatment, and the course of infection was monitored. Results are expressed as the mean (±SE) lesion size of five mice per group. Data shown are representative of two experiments.

 


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FIGURE 3. Transient treatment with IL-12 promotes a Th1 response in IL-12p35-/- and p35,IL-4-/- mice, but upon reinfection the Th1 response is lost. Mice were infected as described in Fig. 3Go. Draining lymph node cells were harvested 2 wk after the primary infection (A and B), or 10 wk after a secondary infection (C and D) and were cultured in vitro with SLA. Supernatants were collected after 3 days, and IFN-{gamma} (A and C) and IL-4 (B and D) levels were measured by ELISA. Results are expressed as the mean (±SE) of three to five individual mice per group. Data shown are representative of two experiments.

 
Th1 cells are eliminated during infection in the absence of IL-12

To determine whether the inability of Th1 cells to provide protection to L. major in the absence of IL-12 is due to the loss of Th1 cells, we transferred Thy-1.1+ CD4+ T cells from healed C57BL/6 mice into p40-/- (Thy-1.2+) and wild-type mice (Thy-1.2+) that were immediately infected. One group of recipients (Thy-1.2) was depleted of endogenous T cells by adult thymectomy and treatment with anti-Thy-1.2 mAb, while another group was untreated. A comparison of the course of infection in p40-/- mice that were or were not depleted of endogenous T cells indicated that Th1 cells were slightly more effective in controlling infection in T cell-depleted recipients (Fig. 4Go, A and B). Nevertheless, all of the p40-/- mice that had received CD4+ T cells from healed mice developed an uncontrolled infection. After 6 wk, the recipient mice were sacrificed, the draining lymph nodes were harvested, and cells were sorted into Thy-1.1+ (donor) and Thy-1.2+ (recipient) cells. Similar numbers of donor cells were recovered from p40-/- and wild-type mice. The cells were then stimulated with SLA, with or without the addition of IL-12, and the production of IFN-{gamma} and IL-4 was assessed. As seen in Fig. 4GoC, donor cells (Thy-1.1+) from wild-type (C57BL/6) recipients produced IFN-{gamma} upon stimulation with SLA. In contrast, donor cells harvested from p40-/- recipients failed to produce IFN-{gamma} in response to SLA. Because IL-12 augments IFN-{gamma} production, it was possible that Th1 cells were present, but failed to make IFN-{gamma} due to the absence of IL-12. This possibility does not seem likely, because even with the addition of IL-12 in vitro, donor cells taken from p40-/- mice still failed to produce IFN-{gamma} (Fig. 4GoC). In contrast, donor cells from p40-/- mice produced substantial levels of IL-4 after Ag stimulation (Fig. 4GoD). Thus, although the recovery of donor cells was similar in wild-type and IL-12-deficient mice, there appeared to be a specific loss of leishmanial-specific Th1 cells in p40-/- mice.



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FIGURE 4. The inability of Leishmania-specific Th1 cells to protect IL-12p40-/- mice is associated with a loss of the Th1 response from donor cells. CD4+ T cells (107) from healed C57BL/6 Thy-1.1+ mice were transferred into normal IL-12p40-/- (Thy-1.2+) mice (A) or thymectomized and anti-Thy-1.2 mAb-treated (B) IL-12p40-/- (Thy-1.2+) mice. Cells were also transferred into C57BL/6 mice (data not shown). All mice were infected with L. major 1 day after cell transfer, and the course of infection was monitored. Results represent the mean (±SE) lesion size of five mice per group. Data shown are representative of two experiments. After 6 wk, cells were collected from the draining lymph nodes of C57BL/6 or IL-12p40-/- mice (thymectomized and anti-Thy-1.2 mAb-treated (B)) that were recipients of CD4+ Th1 cells (Thy-1.1+) and sorted to collect Thy-1.1+ (donor) cells, and the Thy-1.1- (Thy-1.2+) (recipient) cells. We recovered a slightly higher percentage of Thy-1.1+ CD4+ T cells from p40-/- mice (3.5–5.2%; average 4.1%) compared with that from wild-type mice (1.5–2.8%; average 2%). Cells were cultured in vitro with SLA or SLA and IL-12 (with irradiated splenocytes as APCs). Supernatants were collected after 3 days, and IFN-{gamma} (C) and IL-4 (D) levels were measured by ELISA. Results are expressed as the mean (±SE) of triplicate samples per group. Data shown are representative of three experiments.

 
Th1 cells survive without IL-12 in the absence of Ag stimulation

To determine whether the loss of Th1 cells in IL-12-deficient mice occurred independently of Ag stimulation, we compared the recovery of Th1 cells after transfer into wild-type or p40-/- mice that were not infected with L. major. These experiments were performed as described above, except the recipient mice were not challenged. Thus, a Th1 population from healed Thy-1.1+ C57BL/6 mice was transferred into either Thy-1.2+ wild-type or p40-/- mice. After 4 wk, mice were sacrificed, and the survival of the Th1 cells was assessed. CD4+ Thy-1.1+ T cells were detected in uninfected wild-type and p40-/- recipients at similar numbers (Fig. 5GoA). To test whether these recovered Thy-1.1+ CD4+ maintained a Th1 phenotype, we stimulated the cells with SLA and measured the production of IFN-{gamma} (Fig. 5GoB). In contrast to our results with infected mice, we observed similar levels of IFN-{gamma} produced by both wild-type and p40-/- recipients (Fig. 5GoB). Thus, in the absence of Ag, Th1 cells do not appear to require IL-12 to be maintained in vivo.



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FIGURE 5. A Leishmania-specific Th1 response is maintained in IL-12p40-/- mice in the absence of infection. Lymphocytes from L. major-healed C57BL/6 Thy-1.1+ mice (8–10 wk postinfection) were harvested and stimulated in vitro with SLA and IL-12. After 3 days, the cells were collected, and 107 CD4+ T cells were transferred into either C57BL/6 (Thy-1.2+) (B6) or IL-12p40-/- (Thy-1.2+) mice. The recipient mice were thymectomized and irradiated (400 rad) before cell transfer. A, After 4 wk, the number of Thy-1.1+ CD4+ T cells recovered from the spleen was determined by multiplying the total number of viable cells by the percentage of Thy-1.1+ CD4+ events obtained by flow cytometry. B, The recovered splenocytes were stimulated in vitro with SLA in the presence of anti-IL-12 mAb, and after 3 days supernatants were collected and assayed for IFN-{gamma}. IFN-{gamma} levels were undetectable in unstimulated cultures (data not shown). Results are expressed as the mean (±SE) of three mice per group.

 
To confirm these findings, D011.10 TCR transgenic cells were simulated in vitro with OVA under Th1 conditions (IL-12 and anti-IL-4 mAb) for 4 days. The Th1 cell population was enriched for CD4+ T cells and transferred into BALB/c or BALB/c p40-/- mice. Four weeks later, lymph nodes and spleens were collected, and the D011.10 T cells were visualized using the clonotypic mAb KJ-126. The number (Fig. 6GoA) and frequency (Fig. 6GoB) of Ag-specific DO11.10 CD4+ Th1 cells recovered were similar between BALB/c and p40-/- BALB/c mice. In agreement with previous reports using wild-type recipients for transfer of naive DO11.10 T cells (29), naive CD4+ T cells were recovered in substantially reduced frequency compared with the recovery of the Ag-experienced Th1 population. When we tested for the percentage of IFN-{gamma}-producing cells, the numbers were similar in both wild-type and p40-/- recipients, as assessed by intracellular cytokine staining (Fig. 6GoC). As expected, the cells that were previously polarized to a Th1 cell population contained significantly more IFN-{gamma}-positive cells than the donor naive DO11.10 T cells. From these results, we conclude that in the absence of stimulation, Th1 cells are not dependent upon IL-12 to be maintained in vivo.



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FIGURE 6. DO11 Th1 cells survive equally well in BALB/c and BALB/cp40-/- mice. DO11 T cells were stimulated with OVA under Th1 conditions (IL-12 and anti-IL-4). After 4 days, the cells were collected, and 107 CD4+ KJ-126+ Th1 cells were transferred into either BALB/c or BALB/cp40-/- mice. Some mice also received the same number of naive DO11 T cells. The recipient mice were thymectomized and irradiated (400 rad) before cell transfer. After 4 wk, the number (A) of KJ-126+ CD4+ T cells recovered from the spleen and lymph nodes was determined by multiplying the total number of viable cells by the percentage (B) of KJ-126+ CD4+ events obtained by flow cytometry. The results in A are expressed as the mean (±SE) of three individual mice. C, The recovered cells were stimulated with OVA peptide in the presence of anti-IL-12 mAb overnight, and then stained for intracellular expression of IFN-{gamma}. The data shown are representative of two experiments.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
IL-12 is required to maintain resistance to L. major (11, 13). In these studies, we investigated how IL-12 functions to maintain an established Th1 response. We demonstrated that it was indeed the absence of IL-12, and not IL-23, that was responsible for the phenotype we have observed. Next, we asked whether the loss of a Th1 response was due to an inability of Th1 cells to make IFN-{gamma}, or to their deletion during infection. By using Thy-1 disparate mice, we were able to show that the lack of a Th1 response in IL-12-deficient mice is associated with a loss of the Th1 cells. Although IL-12 can enhance IFN-{gamma} production by Th1 cells, these results suggest that IL-12 is required for more than optimizing IFN-{gamma} levels. We also considered that IL-12 may be required to inhibit the development of a Th2 response. However, even in mice that lack IL-4 and any evidence of a concomitant Th2 response, IL-12 was required for maintaining resistance. Similarly, we considered the possibility that IL-12 might function as a homeostatic survival factor for CD4+ Th1 cells, much the way IL-15 has been reported to maintain CD8 T cells (30). However, we found that IL-12 was not required to maintain Th1 cells in the absence of Ag stimulation. Thus, the requirement for IL-12 is only evident during an ongoing T cell response. Taken together, these results suggest that IL-12 maintains resistance by keeping a population of Th1 effector cells present in infected mice.

The role of IL-12 in maintaining a Th1 effector cell population might best be understood in the context of how memory CD4+ T cells function. One memory T cell model suggests the existence of two memory T cell subsets (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39); one subset has the characteristics of effector cells, while the other subset acts as a reservoir of Ag-specific T cells that have not committed to a specific cytokine profile, and hence are referred to as nonpolarized (Tnp). These cells are able to renew the effector T cell pool as required. The Tnp subset, termed T central memory cells (32), expresses the chemokine receptor CCR7 and the adhesion molecule CD62L (L-selectin), which target the cells to the lymph nodes. The other subset, termed T effector memory cells, produces effector cytokines (such as IFN-{gamma} or IL-4) and migrates through the tissues. The existence of CD4+ memory T cells with the characteristics of Tnp (or T central memory cells) and T effector memory cells now seems well established (15, 37, 40, 41). Particularly relevant, we and others have demonstrated that L. major-infected C3H and B6 mice contained CD4+ CD62L high T cells that were Ag reactive and capable of becoming either Th1 or Th2 cells depending upon the culture conditions, analogous to Tnp cells, and were also able to show the nonpolarized nature of similar T cells from L. major-infected mice in adoptive transfer experiments (34, 35, 42).

The existence of a Tnp population that acts as a reservoir of Ag-reactive T cells capable of becoming Th1 effector cells provides a logical role for IL-12 in maintaining immunity. We propose that IL-12 is required to promote the development of Th1 effectors from the Tnp population. Our studies demonstrated that after CD4 T cells from healed mice (tracked by differential expression of the T cell marker, Thy-1) were transferred to wild-type C57BL/6 L. major-infected mice, a Th1 response by the donor cells was evident several weeks later. In contrast, we were unable to recover a Th1 response by the same T cell population when transferred to L. major-infected IL-12p40-deficient mice. The T cell population transferred in this experiment would have contained Tnp and Th1 cells (and probably naive T cells) that were Leishmania specific. We hypothesize that the Th1 cells recovered from the wild-type mice 6 wk after infection were daughter cells of Tnp cells that had differentiated during infection, and that most of the original donor Th1 cells were deleted by activation-induced cell death. In IL-12-deficient mice, the Tnp cells would be unable to differentiate into Th1 cells, thus leading to a loss of a Th1 response. Consistent with this hypothesis was our finding that there was no difference in the recovery of Th1 cells in wild-type and IL-12-deficient mice if they were not challenged, possibly because the Th1 cells were better able to survive in the absence of activation.

Another possibility, which is not mutually exclusive with a role for IL-12 in promoting the development of Th1 cells from Tnp cells, is a role in preventing T cell apoptosis. Previous studies indicate that IL-12 prevents apoptosis of Ag-specific T cells (17, 18, 19), and because Th1 cells have been characterized to be more susceptible than Th2 cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis (43), IL-12 may be important in Th1 cell survival during an ongoing cell-mediated immune response. Indeed, it is possible that in the absence of IL-12, Th1 cells may be particularly prone to cell death, which would lead to a greater need for Tnp cells to differentiate into Th1 effector cells, a pathway that would be blocked in the absence of IL-12. Finally, IL-12 might be required to expand the Th1 cell population, and in this regard it was recently found that proliferation of autoreactive T cells is deficient in the absence of IL-12 (20).

The studies examining the role of IL-12 in maintaining immunity have been performed using either anti-IL-12 p40 mAb or p40-/- mice. In addition to p35, p40 pairs with another subunit, p19, to form IL-23 (28). The importance of IL-23 in the development and maintenance of cell-mediated immunity has yet to be fully characterized. Clearly, IL-23 is not sufficient in inducing early Th1 cell development during L. major infection, because p35-/- mice, which have intact IL-23, still remain susceptible (shown in this work and in Ref. 27). However, IL-23 has been shown to induce proliferation of mouse memory CD4+ CD45RBlow T cells and IFN-{gamma} production of human memory T cells (28). Because p40-/- mice lack both IL-12 and IL-23, it was possible that the absence of IL-23 was responsible for the loss of immunity in the IL-12-treated p40-/- mice. However, both p40-/- and p35-/- mice treated with IL-12 were equally unable to maintain a Th1 cell response. Because we did not examine the role of IL-23 in our adoptive transfer studies, it is possible that IL-23 contributes to memory T cell activation, but our data clearly indicate that by itself it is insufficient to maintain protection in IL-12-treated p35-/- mice.

Our observation that p35,IL-4-/- C57BL/6 mice were unable to control L. major infection is an interesting finding, because previous results show that simultaneous treatment with anti-IL-12 and anti-IL-4 mAbs prevents disease progression in L. major-infected C57BL/6 mice (44). The discrepancy between these results is most likely due to the inability to neutralize all of the endogenous IL-12 using mAbs. Our results with p35,IL-4-/- mice underscore the central role IL-12 plays in resistance to L. major. Resistance to several bacterial and viral infections can be IL-12-independent, although IFN-{gamma}-dependent (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51). It was conceivable that in the absence of an IL-4-mediated Th2 response, sufficient IFN-{gamma} might be produced by IL-12-independent mechanisms to promote resistance. However, this was not the case. Whether IL-10 is involved in promoting disease progression in p35,IL-4-/- mice, as IL-10-/- mice exhibit greater control over the infection (52, 53), has yet to be determined.

It is likely that IL-12 will be required to maintain cell-mediated immunity to other pathogens, although the types of studies described in this work and previously have only been done with L. major and Toxoplasma gondii (11, 12, 13). The practical component to these observations is that modulation of IL-12 levels may be important for altering immunopathologic responses associated with certain infectious diseases, in the same way that interventions have been developed for autoimmune diseases. Moreover, they suggest that the efficacy of vaccines will depend on the induction and continuous production of IL-12, or at least the production of IL-12 at the time of challenge, which may explain why plasmid IL-12 DNA provides better protection when used in a leishmanial vaccine than IL-12 protein (54). Our results indicate that rather than modulating the development of a Th2 response, or optimizing IFN-{gamma} production by Th1 cells, the critical role of IL-12 may be to ensure that Th1 cells are not eliminated during a challenge infection.


    Acknowledgments
 
We thank members of the laboratories of Drs. P. Scott, C. Hunter, and J. Farrell for critical discussions regarding the work; Drs. E. Pearce and F. Finkelman, as well as Genetics Institute and Immunex for the donation of critical reagents; and Dr. Artis for critically reading the manuscript.


    Footnotes
 
1 This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants AI-35914 and T32-AI-07532. We also acknowledge the generous contribution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the School of Veterinary Medicine. Back

2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Phillip Scott, Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. E-mail address: pscott{at}vet.upenn.edu Back

3 Abbreviations used in this paper: SLA, soluble leishmanial Ag; Tnp, nonpolarized T cell. Back

Received for publication January 28, 2002. Accepted for publication March 25, 2002.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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