Zb. Bi et al., IL-12 PROMOTES ENHANCED RECOVERY FROM VESICULAR STOMATITIS-VIRUS INFECTION OF THE CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM, The Journal of immunology, 155(12), 1995, pp. 5684-5689
To investigate the role of a cytokine in host defense against the vesi
cular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection of the central nervous system (
CNS), IL-12 was injected i,p, into groups of 10 BALB/c mice on days -1
, 0, 1, 2, and 3 postinfection, Four days postinfection, mice were exa
mined. IL-12 strongly enhanced immunity to VSV infection in the CNS as
demonstrated by i) decreased VSV titers in brain homogenate of IL-12-
injected mice compared with those of controls; 2) increased expression
of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the CNS; 3) enhanced expression
of both MHC class I and class II Ags in the CNS; 4) increased T cell
infiltration in the CNS, especially in the olfactory bulb; and 5) dimi
nished VSV-induced apoptosis in olfactory bulb, No detrimental effect
was observed even with the 200 ng/mouse dose of IL-12, Protective effe
cts of IL-12 were dose dependent, Collectively, these results demonstr
ate that exogenously added IL-12, even when injected peripherally, sig
nificantly enhances recovery from VSV infection of the CNS.