PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SYPHILIS LESIONS CONTAIN MESSENGER-RNA FOR TH1 CYTOKINES

Phagocytosis of Treponema pallidum by cytokine-activated macrophages a ids bacterial clearance and lesion resolution in early syphilis, To in vestigate the cytokine profiles of cells infiltrating primary and seco ndary syphilis lesions, reverse transcription and polymerase chain rea ction (RT-PCR) were used to detect cytokine mRNA in 13 lesion biopsies . Both primary and secondary lesions contained mRNA encoding interleuk in (IL)-2, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), IL-12p40, and IL-10, In contr ast to a lesion from a patient with recurrent herpes simplex virus typ e 2, no message for IL-4 could be detected in any of the syphilis lesi ons, and 10 of 13 had no mRNA for IL-5 or IL-13. These findings are co nsistent with a Th1-predominant local cellular response activating mac rophages and support the hypothesis that IFN-gamma-activated macrophag es are primary effecters in treponeme clearance.