1989 Volume 30 Issue 4 Pages 247-253
Relationships between immunity and tissue reaction in mice infected with Candida albicans or Cryptococcus neoformans have been investigated. When mice immunized sublethally with live C. albicans were lethally infected with the same yeast, small inflammatory lesions were restricted in the renal glomerulus, while several large lesions were developed in the pyelic and urethric regions in control mice. When mice immunized with Cr. neoformans were infected with the same yeast, granulomatous lesions were predominant in the lung and kidney, while many cystic lesions were developed in control mice. On the other hand, in mice treated with interferon-γ (IFN-γ) before and after infection with C. albicans, a reduction in viable C. albicans cells in kidney were seen compared with that in control mice, although no significant difference in tissue response was found between treated and control mice. Likewise, in IFN-γ-treated mice, the viable cells in the lung and kidney decreased after Cr. neoformans infection compared with control mice without any change in tissue reactions from cystic to granulomatous lesions. These results suggest that although IFN-γ was able to activate phagocytes for killing, chemotactic lymphokine(s) other than IFN-γ is responsible for inducing changes of tissue reaction in immunized mice. Moreover, although Cr. neoformans cell walls activate the complement via the alternative pathway in vitro, chemotaxis of phagocytes was not demonstrated in fresh serum activated by Cr. neoformans whole cells, suggesting that the released chemotactic factor(s) for the phagocytes is consumed by adsorption with capsular polysaccharide.
