Interleukin-1-dependent mitogenic responses induced by protoscoleces of Echinococcus multilocularis in mur ine lymphocytes

Abstract
Mitogenic effects of protoscoleces (PSCs) of Echinococcus multilocularis on murine lymphocytes were studied. Spleen cells from normal BALB/c mice showed significant proliferative responses when cocultured with PSCs. Proliferative responses were observed in both the T and B cell populations. The PSCs also stimulated cells of the macrophage/monocyte lineage to secrete inter-leukin-1 (IL-1). Depletion of plastic- and Sephadex G-10-adherent cells from the spleen cell population significant-ly reduced the proliferative responses to PSCs and the low responsiveness was restored by addition of plastic-ad-herent cells to these cultures. Furthermore, addition of anti-lL-l serum to the spleen cell cultures stimulated with PSCs completely suppressed the proliferative responses. These findings demonstrate that the mitogenic effect of PSC on lymphocytes depends on EL-1 secreted by cells of macrophage/monocyte lineage.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: