Cytokine, chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNA expression in different strains of normal mice: implications for establishment of a Th1/Th2 bias

The resistance or susceptibility of inbred shins of mice to various pathoge ns and autoimmune diseases such as EAE has been linked to differences in th e balance between cytokines associated with Th1- and Th2-type immune respon ses. Previous work from this laboratory on the mouse strain specific resist ance to mouse adenovirus type I (MAV-1)-induced encephalopathy revealed sub tle differences in the transcription rates of several immunologically impor tant molecules that was evident prior to infection. In this study, we show striking differences in cytokine, chemokine and chemokine receptor mRNA exp ression in the spleens of normal, immunologically naive C57BL/6J, BALB/cJ a nd SJL/J mice. Messenger RNAs for interferon (IFN)-gamma and the chemokine IFN gamma inducible protein (IP)-10 were preferentially expressed in C57BL/ 6J spleens, whereas in BALB/cJ spleens mRNAs for lymphotoxin-beta, interfer on-beta, transforming growth factor-p, and the chemokine receptors CCR3 and CXCR4 predominated. A unique profile of chemokine receptors was found in s pleens from normal SJL/J mice that correlated with the presence of polymorp hisms within the CCR-3; gene. The patterns of gene expression fit well into the Th1/Th2 paradigm for C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ strains and suggest an impor tant role for chemokines, as well as cytokines, in contributing to the gene tic basis of the immune response. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.