Inhibition of interferon-gamma signaling by Leishmania donovani

Leishmania infection causes marked down-regulation of interferon (IFN)-gamm a-induced gene activity in macrophages, but the mechanism of the blockade h as not been fully defined. The IFN-gamma signal transduction pathway was an alyzed in Leishmania donovani-infected phorbol-differentiated U937 human pr omonocytic cells. IFN-gamma stimulation induced marked phosphorylation of i ts own receptor (IFN-gamma R)-alpha chain. Phosphorylation of the receptor subunit was significantly inhibited after 24 h of infection with the parasi te, apparently because of decreased amounts of the receptor subunit, Format ion of the IFN-gamma R complex, as assessed by tyrosine phosphorylation and association of Jak2, was strongly inhibited in cells infected for 24 h, In hibition of the IFN-gamma R complex formation correlated with inhibition of STAT1 alpha binding to the IFN-gamma response region. Pretreatment with pu rified parasite lipophosphoglycan before IFN-gamma stimulation had no effec t on tyrosine phosphorylation. Thus, inhibition of tyrosine phosphorylation of the IFN-gamma R-alpha chain and subsequent signal transduction are most likely due to the decreased amount of IFN-gamma R-alpha protein after infe ction.