抄録
Sequential production of interferon (IFN)-α/β and IFN-γ in the circulation of mice which had been previously infected with viable Listeria monocytogenes was induced by injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from Salmonella typhimurium. IFN-α/β production occurred 2hr after injection of LPS, thereafter IFN-γ appeared and the maximum titer was demonstrated at 6hr. At that time, almost all of the IFN was IFN-γ. IFN-γ production in response to LPS was observed from the 5th through the 11th day after infection with Listeria, but it was not demonstrated in either mice infected with lower doses of viable Listeria or mice immunized with heat-killed bacteria. IFN-α/β production was not drastically affected by treatment with hydrocortisone, cyclophosphamide, carrageenan, anti-thymocyte serum, or anti-asialo GM1 antibody, whereas IFN-γ production was suppressed by administration of all those agents. Noteworthily, IFN-α/β, but not IFN-γ, was produced even 6hr after stimulation with LPS in cyclophosphamide- or antithymocyte serum-treated mice. IFN-γ induction by LPS was markedly suppressed in mice in which IFN-α/β produced by Listeria infection itself had been depleted by treatment with anti-mouse IFN-α/β antibody, but it was not inhibited in mice when IFN-α/β induced not by Listeria infection but by LPS had been depleted by treatment with anti-mouse IFN-α/β antibody.
