Abstract | PURPOSE: METHODS: Groups of C57BL/6 mice with MAIDS and normal C57BL/6 mice were infected uniocularly with MCMV by subretinal MCMV injection. IL-4 levels in individual spleens collected five days later from groups of MAIDS mice and normal mice were assessed by quantitative ELISA. MCMV-infected eyes and uninfected contralateral eyes from another group of mice with MAIDS were also collected at five days postinfection and individually subjected to competitive RT-PCR assay and real-time RT-PCR assay for detection and quantification of IL-4 mRNA. Unmanipulated eyes from normal C57BL/6 mice served as controls. RESULTS:
IL-4 mRNA was detected at a level of 9.7 +/- 3.4 pg mRNA per 1000 ng total RNA in 100% of MCMV-infected eyes of mice with MAIDS by competitive RT-PCR assay, but could not be detected in any of the uninfected eyes of MAIDS mice. In comparison, the more sensitive technique of real-time RT-PCR assay detected copies of IL-4 cDNA in both MCMV-infected eyes and uninfected eyes of MAIDS mice. MCMV-infected eyes showed a 16-fold increase in the number of IL-4 cDNA copies when compared with uninfected eyes. Neither technique detected IL-4 mRNA in unmanipulated eyes of normal mice. As expected, spleen cells from mice with MAIDS expressed significantly greater levels of IL-4 when compared with spleen cells from normal mice. CONCLUSIONS: MCMV-infected mice with MAIDS exhibited an expected preferential activation of Th2 cells as determined by increased levels of IL-4 in spleen cells when compared with spleen cells of normal mice. MCMV-infected eyes destined to develop retinitis during MAIDS also showed increased levels of detectable IL-4 mRNA when compared with uninfected eyes of mice with MAIDS. It is therefore possible that IL-4 synthesis by Th2 CD4+ T cells during retrovirus-induced immunosuppression serves to inhibit the perforin cytotoxic pathway that subsequently allows susceptibility to MCMV retinitis during MAIDS.
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Authors | Richard Dix, Scott Cousins |
Journal | Current eye research
(Curr Eye Res)
2003 Mar-Apr
Vol. 26
Issue 3-4
Pg. 211-7
ISSN: 0271-3683 [Print] England |
PMID | 12815549
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)
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Chemical References |
- RNA, Messenger
- Interleukin-4
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Topics |
- Animals
- Computer Systems
- Cytomegalovirus Retinitis
(complications, metabolism, pathology)
- Disease Susceptibility
- Eye
(metabolism)
- Herpesviridae Infections
(complications, metabolism, pathology)
- Interleukin-4
(genetics, metabolism)
- Mice
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(complications, metabolism, pathology)
- Muromegalovirus
- RNA, Messenger
(metabolism)
- Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Spleen
(metabolism, pathology)
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