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T Cells in the Brain and Alters Resistant Mice to Susceptible-Like Phenotype




From the Immunologie et Génétique des Maladies
Parasitaires,*
INSERM U399, Faculté de Médecine,
Université de la Mediterranee, La Timone, Marseille, France; and
the Departments of Medicine and
Microbiology
and
Pathology,
Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon,
New Hampshire
| Abstract |
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and nitric oxide
production. Unexpectedly, IL-10 levels were also elevated in
IL-2-treated DBA/2 mice during late stage of infection (at day 6 of
infection) whereas the inverse relationship between IL-10 and
interferon-
or nitric oxide was maintained in the early stage of
infection (at day 3 after infection). The level of tumor necrosis
factor-
production was moderately increased in the late phase of
infection in these mice. Histology of brain from IL-2-treated mice
demonstrated the presence of parasitized erythrocytes and infiltration
of lymphocytes in cerebral vessels, and also displayed some
signs of endothelial degeneration. Confocal microscopical studies
demonstrated preferential accumulation of 
T cells in the
cerebral vessels of IL-2-treated and -infected mice but not in mice
treated with IL-2 alone. The cells recruited in the brain were
activated because they demonstrated expression of CD25 (IL-2R) and CD54
(intercellular adhesion molecule 1) molecules. Administration of
anti-
mAb prevented development of CM in IL-2-treated mice until
day 18 after infection whereas mice treated with control antibody
showed CM symptoms by day 6 after infection. The information concerning
creating pathological sequelae and death in an otherwise resistant
mouse strain provides an interesting focus for the burden of
pathological attributes on death in an infectious
disease.
| Introduction |
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T cell antibody, the susceptible mice failed to
develop CM after P. berghei ANKA infection indicating some
pathological role of 
T cells.6
However, the extent
of T cell activation that is required for the development of CM and
whether actual T cell infiltration occurs at the site of brain has not
been known. Morphological and biochemical studies have so far not
recognized a focal or global determinant(s) for CM pathogenesis or a
clear relationship between brain lesion and death.
P. yoelii 17XL regularly induces a CM syndrome in
susceptible mice that parallels human disease in several respects
including cytoadherence of parasitized red blood cells (PRBCs) in the
brain and pathological symptoms.7,8
Whether CM represents
an inflammatory pathogenesis was not clarified by studying P.
yoelii infection in susceptible mice. It remains debatable whether
human CM presents an inflammatory pathogenesis.9,10
Development of CM in humans infected with P. falciparum has
often been accompanied by increased production of interferon (IFN)-
and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-
.11,12
Interleukin
(IL)-2 is a potent T cell activator and has the ability to induce
production of these pro-inflammatory cytokines.13,14
Considering that IL-2 is central in the regulation of cell-mediated
immune responses, we have hypothesized whether the systemic
administration of IL-2 can induce pathological manifestations of CM in
a strain of mouse that is otherwise resistant to this syndrome. If it
does so, this will be invaluable for analysis of the immune response,
particularly of T cell responses and the associated pathology. In this
report, we demonstrate that enhanced immunoreactivity induced by IL-2
treatment alters CM-resistant mice to susceptible-like phenotype as
revealed by development of symptoms and histological changes
characteristic of CM. This condition in resistant DBA/2 mice was
associated with increased production of IFN-
and nitric oxide (NO).
Confocal microscopic studies showed preferential recruitment of 
T-bearing cells in cerebral vessels of IL-2-treated mice manifesting CM
symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence of
accumulation of 
T cells in the brain of a host that developed
CM. Treatment with anti-
T cell mAb arrested the development of
CM in IL-2-treated DBA/2 mice. These results suggest that 
T
cells play an important role in the pathways of CM pathogenesis.
| Materials and Methods |
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Female DBA/2 (H-2d) mice, 5 to 6 weeks old, were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME) and from Iffa Credo (LArbresle, France). All animals were housed in the accredited Animal Research Facility and maintained under the guidelines established by the institution for their use. There are two strains of P. yoelii available, one is lethal and the other is nonlethal. Throughout our present study, we used the lethal (17XL) strain (PYL). The parasite was stored in liquid nitrogen and then used to infect source mice. PRBCs obtained from source mice were suspended in RPMI 1640 and were injected intraperitoneally (5 x 105 PRBCs/mouse) in all experimental mice. Parasitemia was monitored by making blood smears and counting Giemsa-stained fields. The survival of mice was assessed until day 30 after infection.
Monoclonal Antibody PRBCs
Antibodies directed against CD3 (mAb 145-2C11), 
TCR-expressing T cells [mAb GL3, fluorescein isothiocyanate
(FITC)-conjugated],
ß TCR-bearing T cells (mAb H57-597,
FITC-conjugated), CD25 (mAb 7D4, FITC-conjugated), and CD54
[intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1)] (mAb 3E2, PE-conjugated)
were used in this study. All these monoclonal antibodies were obtained
from PharMingen (San Diego, CA). Hybridoma secreting anti-
TCR
mAb (GL3) was obtained from Dr. Pablo Pereira, Institut Pasteur, Paris,
France.
Interleukin 2 (IL-2) Treatment
Recombinant IL-2 was a kind gift from Dr. Tom Ciardelli, Department of Toxicology, Dartmouth Medical School. DBA/2 mice were treated with rIL-2 as essentially reported previously.15 Mice were administered rIL-2, 1 µg in the presence of 1% of normal mouse serum in 200 µl of physiological saline per injection. Administration was via intraperitoneal inoculation three times daily for total of 8 days. It was shown previously that IL-2 was detectable in the serum samples from the mice treated three times a day with the above dose. Two days after the initiation of therapy, mice were infected with P. yoelii 17XL (5 x 105 PRBCs/mouse). Age-matched control mice were given similar doses of rIL-2 injections in 1% normal mouse serum but they did not receive any infection.
Histopathological Analysis
The brain of each mouse was removed immediately after anesthesia and placed in 10% buffered neutral formaldehyde (Polyscience Inc., Warrington, PA). Paraffin-embedded brain tissues were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. These are random sections of the cerebrum. The slides were examined and then photographed.
T Cell Preparation and Culture
Mice were killed on days 3 and 6 after infection, spleens were
removed and gently dissociated into single-cell suspensions. Red blood
cells were removed by using lysing buffer (Sigma Chemical Co., St.
Louis, MO). Cell suspensions were passed through nylon wool columns to
enrich for T cells. These cells were
90% T cells. Bulk cultures
were set up in 24-well plates with 2 x 106
cells/well, and stimulated with cross-linked anti-CD3 mAb as described
previously.15
For anti-CD3 mAb (1452C11 mAb;
PharMingen,) driven activation, culture-plate wells were precoated with
goat anti-hamster IgG (14 µg of anti-hamster IgG) (Jackson Immunology
Research Laboratories, West Grove, PA) overnight at 4°C. After
washing, the wells were incubated with 5 µg/ml of anti-CD3 mAb at
37°C for several hours.
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Quantitation of Cytokine in Splenic T-Cell Culture Supernatants
Supernatants from cultures of cross-linked anti-CD3 mAb stimulated splenocytes from the various groups of mice were collected at 24 and 48 hours after the beginning of culture. The bulk cultures were set up in 24-well plates (Nunc, Rochester, NY) with 2 x 106 cells/well, in a final volume of 1 ml of RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with fetal calf serum, HEPES, L-glutamine, 2 mercaptoethanol, and gentamicin. In preliminary experiments, a 48-hour incubation time was found to be optimum for cytokine and nitrite productions. Cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were conducted using paired capture and biotinylated detection antibodies from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN) following the manufacturers recommendations. The cytokine level was calculated by reference to standard units provided by the manufacturer. The results were presented as pg/ml.
Assay for Nitrite Production
Nitrite production in 48-hour culture supernatants was measured using Griess reagent.16 Briefly, 0.05 ml of supernatant was mixed with 0.05 ml of Griess reagent (0.5% sulfanilamide and 0.05% N-1-naphthylenedimine hydrochloride in 2.5% H3PO4) then incubated for 10 minutes at room temperature and the absorbency was read at 570 nm by using an automated plate reader. The nitrite concentration was calculated from a NaNO2 (Sigma Chemical Co.) standard curve. The results were presented as µmol/L.
Immunofluorescence for T Cell Visualization in Brains by Confocal Microscopy
The blocks of brain tissue were trimmed, and 30- to 70-µm sections were cut using a vibratome (V1000, TPI; Energy Beam Sciences, Agawam, MA). Sections were maintained in ice-cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) throughout processing. To phenotype the immune cells present in the brain, immunofluorescent staining of tissue sections was conducted according to the method described previously.17 Briefly, immediately after cutting, for direct staining, 2 µg/100 µl each of FITC-, PE-labeled Abs in PBS/1% bovine serum albumin/0.1% azide (PBA)-containing mouse Ig (6 mg/ml to block nonspecific binding) were added to sections in 96-well plates and incubated overnight at 4°C in the dark with continuous gentle agitation. Unbound Ab was removed from the sections by aspiration followed by four 20-minute washes in PBA. Washed sections were then fixed overnight in the same buffer containing 1% paraformaldehyde. Stained sections were wet-mounted in anti-fade (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR), sealed with nail varnish, and stored at 4°C in the dark for up to 10 days before confocal imaging. Unstained and fluorescein isotype controls were used to control for autofluorescence and nonspecific Ab binding, respectively.
In Vivo Administration of Anti-
TCR mAb
Protein G-purified anti-
TCR mAb was injected
intraperitoneally at a dose of 500 µg as described
previously.6
Groups (n = 7) of
IL-2-treated DBA/2 mice were used to assess the effect of depletion of

T cells on development of CM. One group was administered with
anti-
TCR mAb on days -1 and +2 after infection, and another
group received injections on days +3 and +6 after infection. Control
groups were administered with purified hamster IgG (Jackson Immunology
Research Laboratories) diluted with PBS in the manner as in
experimental groups. The efficacy of 
T-cell depletion was
determined by flow cytometry of spleen lymphocytes. The percentage of

T cells was <0.02% after anti-
mAb treatment.
Statistical Significance
Probability significance was determined by two-tailed Students t-test, assuming equal variances. Statistical significance was set at P of <0.05 for all comparisons except murine survival after immunization. Fishers exact test was used for murine survival experiments.
| Results |
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In a previous study, we showed that BALB/c mice infected with
P. yoelii 17XL developed symptoms of CM and died by days 6
to 8 after infection.18
In this study, BALB/c and
DBA/2 mice were given different doses of blood-stage infection with
P. yoelii 17XL and we then evaluated parasitemia and
survival in these two strains of mice. Whatever inoculum was given the
level of parasitemia was almost the same in both BALB/c and DBA/2 mice
at day 4 after infection but it increased rapidly and became
significantly higher in BALB/c mice than in DBA/2 mice on day 6 of
infection (P < 0.005). When infection was given
with a lower dose (0.2 x 105
PRBCs), the
peak of parasitemia was slightly delayed in BALB/c mice compared to
that after infection with a higher dose (1 x
105
PRBCs) (Figure 1)
. The results presented in Figure 2
clearly demonstrate that whatever dose
of inoculum ranging from 0.2 x 105
to
1 x 107
was given, all of DBA/2 mice
survived the infection whereas all of the BALB/c mice died by day 6 to
8 after infection. Both DBA/2 and BALB/c mice were infected with 5
x 105
PRBCs, and then brain sections were
obtained from them on day 6 of infection. The results of brain
histology showed the presence of parasitized erythrocytes adjacent to
endothelial wall, infiltration of lymphocytes, and signs of endothelial
cell activation in susceptible BALB/c (Figure 3A)
but not in DBA/2 mice (Figure 3B)
.
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To determine whether CM pathology is related to an enhanced T cell
activation, resistant DBA/2 mice were administered with rIL-2. After
the treatment, all of the DBA/2 mice that were infected with P.
yoelii 17XL (TI) developed symptoms of CM by day 6 after
infection. The symptoms include: appearance of ruffled hair,
convulsions, seizure, ataxia, and coma, whereas none of the nontreated
but infected mice (IO) showed any of these CM signs. All TI animals
succumbed to infection by 6 to 8 days after infection whereas none of
the IO mice died by the same time period (Figure 4)
. The regimen of IL-2 treatment was not
toxic for DBA/2 mice because all of the IL-2-treated but noninfected
mice (TO) were in good health and survived until the end of observation
period (Figure 4)
. There was no significant difference in parasitemia
between treated and untreated mice at day 3 after infection. The
IL-2-treated moribund mice at day 6 after infection showed slightly
higher parasitemia than nontreated infected mice (Figure 5)
.
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The extent of T cell activation after administration of rIL-2 was
assessed by measuring cytokine production by T-cell enriched
populations obtained from spleens. Splenic cells were enriched for T
lymphocytes by passage on nylon-wool columns and then were stimulated
with cross-linked anti-CD3 mAb. This TCR-mediated activation has
allowed potential generation of cytokines by mouse T cells. A
significantly lower IFN-
production was found at day 3 after
infection in TI mice than in TO, IO, or in normal mice
(P < 0.005) (Figure 6A)
. The diminished production of IFN-
at an early stage of infection (on day 3 of infection) in TI animals
was accompanied by an enhanced production of IL-10, an immunoregulatory
cytokine (Figure 6A)
. The level of IFN-
was significantly augmented
in TI mice at day 6 after infection compared to that in the early stage
of infection (P < 0.005) (Figure 6B)
. There was
no significant difference in the level of IFN-
between IO and TO
mice on day 6 of infection (Figure 6B)
. Our findings showed
significantly higher IL-10 production in the early stage of infection
in TI mice than in IO or TO mice (P < 0.005).
No such difference in IL-10 production was seen between these groups in
the late stage of infection (P > 05). The level
of TNF-
production was lower in TI mice (532 ± 57 pg/ml) than
in IO animals (820 ± 170 pg/ml) during the early stage of
infection whereas this became higher in TI mice (772 ± 57 pg/ml)
than in IO animals (508 ± 94 pg/ml) in the late stage of
infection. There was an increase in the production of TNF-
in TI
mice in the late stage of infection compared to that in the early
stage. Although these differences in TNF-
levels are significant
(P < 0.05), they are not extremely as
significant as seen in the case of IFN-
production. These results
are summarized in Figure 6
.
|
The production of NO by T-cell enriched splenic cell populations
after stimulation with cross-linked anti-CD3 mAb was assayed. Nitrite
production in TI mice was significantly reduced on day 3 of infection
compared to that in TO animals (P < 0.05). The
reduced production of nitrite in TI was associated with higher
production of IL-10 at this stage. When the IL-2 treatment continued
and the infection progressed to the late stage (day 6 of infection),
the level of NO production augmented in TI mice and became
significantly higher than in TO mice or in normal mice
(P < 0.005). These results are presented in
Figure 7
.
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Histological analysis revealed the changes in the brain in
IL-2-treated DBA/2 mice at day 6 after infection that closely resembled
those described in susceptible BALB/c mice. These include the
accumulation of PRBCs adjacent to endothelial wall, signs of activation
of endothelial cells by enlargement of their nuclei, weakness in the
integrity of blood-brain barrier, and signs of hemorrhage. In addition,
we observed infiltration of lymphocytes within cerebral vessels of
IL-2-treated and infected mice (Figure 8D)
. In contrast, no such histological
alterations were seen in the brains of normal mice (Figure 8A)
, in mice
that were given IL-2 only (Figure 8B)
, or in mice that received
infection but no IL-2 treatment (Figure 8C)
.
|

T Cells within
Cerebral Vessels of DBA/2 Mice Infected with P. yoelli
17XL
Confocal microscopy was performed with brain specimens obtained
from TI mice to characterize the nature of the cellular infiltrates.
Infiltration of lymphocytes was not observed in the brain of TI mice at
day 3 after infection in histological analysis (data not shown). For
this reason, brain samples were obtained only from the moribund TI mice
at day 6 after infection. Thin sections from brains were prepared and
these sections were incubated with fluorescent conjugated antibodies to
ß or 
TCRs. When analyzed by confocal microscopy, we could
observe recruitment of a few T cells belonging to
ß lineage in the
brains of TI mice (Figure 9D)
.
Interestingly, the T cells that were predominantly accumulated in the
brains of mice with CM were seen to be 
-bearing T cells (Figure 9E)
. Further, we were able to detect the expression of CD25
(IL-2R)-positive cells in the brains of TI but not in TO mice (data not
shown). This finding suggested that T cells recruited in the brains
were in a state of activation. Another important activation marker,
CD54 (ICAM-1) molecules were detected on the surface of recruited cells
(Figure 9F)
.
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mAb
on CM Development in DBA/2 Mice
Having observed the preferential recruitment of 
T cells
within cerebral vessels of TI mice, we wanted to investigate the
in vivo role of 
T cells in CM pathology and
subsequent mortality. Because of the nonavailability of 
T-cell-deficient mice with DBA/2 background, we studied the effect of
depletion of 
T cells by antibody treatment on the outcome of
infection in IL-2-treated mice. None of the anti-
mAb-treated TI
mice developed CM symptoms at day 6 after infection whereas all of the
control mice demonstrated signs of CM on day 6 of infection. Five of
the seven anti-
mAb-treated TI mice ultimately developed CM
symptoms and died by days 18 to 21 after infection. The remaining two
mice stayed healthy until the last day of observation. In a separate
experiment, TI mice that received anti-
T cell antibody on days
-1 and +2 after infection developed CM symptoms and died by days 6 to
8 after infection. Only one out of seven mice survived the infection in
this group. All of the control TI mice included in both of these
experiments became moribund with signs of CM by day 6 after
infection and succumbed to infection by day 8 after infection.
The results of these experiments are presented in Table 1
.
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| Discussion |
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It is still unclear whether human CM presents an immune-mediated
disease.9,10
In the current study, we have considered the
possibility that large doses of IL-2 administration may enhance
cell-mediated immune responses in resistant DBA/2 mice, and this in
turn may stimulate pathways for the development of CM pathology from
infection with P. yoelii 17XL. Indeed, treatment with IL-2
led to the development of CM symptoms by day 6 after infection in DBA/2
mice (TI), which subsequently died on days 6 to 8 of infection. The
regimen of IL-2 treatment was not toxic for DBA/2 mice because mice
treated in the same way and not given infection (TO) showed no signs of
disease until the end of observation period. These findings clearly
demonstrated that treatment with IL-2, a potent activator of T cells,
induced the CM-resistant mice to demonstrate a susceptible phenotype
and compromised their ability to survive a P. yoelii 17XL
infection. Our results suggest that development of CM, at least in
IL-2-treated DBA/2 mice, is independent of level of parasitemia because
parasitemia was increased only slightly in treated, moribund mice
compared to untreated, infected mice (IO). It seems that overall
parasitemia remains unpredictable as a marker of fatal infection in
malaria. In an earlier study we showed that after IL-2 treatment
70% of BALB/c mice infected with a nonlethal strain of P.
yoelii (17XNL strain) died, although parasitemia was markedly
decreased in those mice.15
Recently Landau and her
colleagues,19
by controlling parasitemia through
subcurative drug treatment, have concluded that pathological sequelae
are related not only to acute infections with high parasite levels, but
also are consequent to chronic infection with low-grade parasitemias.
T-cell enriched populations from the spleen, which is an active
lymphoid organ in mice and an important site for PRBC
clearance,20
were stimulated with cross-linked anti-CD3
mAb. Measurement of cytokine production by this TCR-mediated activation
has allowed us to evaluate the extent of T cell activation after
administration of rIL-2. Our results demonstrated that the production
of IFN-
was increased in moribund TI mice with CM symptoms during
the late stage of infection compared to that in the early stage of
infection. Further, early IFN-
response in TI mice was markedly
diminished compared to that in IO mice that had survived the infection.
These results correlate with previous reports by others and by us that
show a weak IFN-
response in the initial stage followed by an
increased expression of IFN-
in the late stage of infection that led
to fatal infections.2,18
It has been shown that
stimulation of strong IFN-
response in the initial stage of
infection with P. yoelii seems to defend the host against
the development of CM in susceptible mice.2,18,21
These
findings emphasize that the timing and level of IFN-
production is
critically important in determining whether the effects would be
beneficial or harmful. It has not yet been clearly established whether
NO plays a role in the development of CM. Some authors have suggested
that NO might be implicated in CM pathogenesis whereas others have
failed to show a relationship between them.22-24
Data
presented in this study clearly show heightened NO production was
associated with CM development in IL-2-treated mice. Patients
undergoing IL-2 therapy have been shown to express increased NO
synthesis from L-arginine.25
IL-2
treatment of DBA/2 mice may influence a similar NO synthesis pathway,
which may affect neurotransmission in the brain.26
The
effects of IL-2 treatment on production of IL-10 by primed T cells are
not clear. However, it seems from our results that the well-recognized
inverse relationship between IL-10 and IFN-
,27,28
or
between IL-10 and NO29
is maintained when the animals
received IL-2 treatment for a short duration (3 days of infection and 2
days before infection).
The balance of these factors became unstable when the immune cells were
exposed to IL-2 stimulation for a longer time (6 days of infection and
2 days before infection). It is of note that simultaneous elevated
serum levels of IL-10 and IFN-
have previously been reported in
patients with acute P. falciparum malaria.30
It
is possible that the inhibitory effect induced by IL-10 on IFN-
or
on NO may be dependent on their respective levels and/or other
regulatory mechanisms that are involved after extended IL-2-mediated
stimulation.31
We have demonstrated in this study that there was an augmentation in
TNF-
production in TI mice in the late stage compared to that in
early stage of infection, which indicated that TNF-
response
remained stimulated in moribund TI mice that developed CM. The
differences in TNF-
production are significant but less marked than
to changes in IFN-
levels observed among different groups. It may be
noted that in the current study we measured cytokine production by
T-cell enriched populations after TCR-mediated stimulation and thus
primarily excluded production of TNF-
by cells from the
monocyte/macrophage lineage. The moderately elevated TNF-
response
that we observed in TI mice may, along with other factors, participate
in the development of CM. TNF-
may not be the sole factor
responsible for CM. Recently Shear et al32
described that
TNF-
levels were not significantly different between infections with
lethal and nonlethal strains of P. yoelii. Treatment of
patients with a mAb against TNF-
did not diminish the incidence of
CM.33
Also, therapy with pentoxyfylline, an inhibitor of
TNF-
, did not improve the condition of patients in a controlled
study of P. falciparum infection.34
However,
another study reported reduction of both TNF-
and duration of coma
in CM in children after treatment.35
Production of
cytokine in TO mice is likely to involve a cytokine cascade initiated
by the administration of IL-2 and is not dependent on antigen
stimulation because TO mice were not exposed to infection and thus not
primed with P. yoelii blood-stage antigens.
In this study, histological analysis of brains from TI mice
demonstrated several anomalies, which include activation of endothelial
cells by enlargement of their nuclei, infiltration of erythrocytes
through the blood-brain barrier, and subsequent edema and hemorrhage.
This condition was associated with accumulation of PRBCs and
infiltration of lymphocytes in the perivascular space of cerebral
venules. These changes clearly correlated with the development of
clinical CM in TI mice. Some of the infiltrating lymphocytes were seen
to advance toward the endothelial wall. Examination of multiple brain
sections from TI mice did not show the presence of lymphocytes in the
parenchyma. Sequestration of recruited T lymphocytes to activated
microvascular endothelial cells may well occur via receptor-ligand
interaction. Weakness in the blood-brain barrier has been reported in
P. falciparum CM patients but transmigration of leukocytes
in brain parenchyma was not clearly demonstrated.36
No
infiltration of lymphocytes and parasitized erythrocytes or endothelial
damage was seen in the brains of mice that were infected but received
no IL-2 treatment, or in mice that were given IL-2 only. The
histological changes seen in the brain of IL-2-treated and infected
DBA/2 mice closely resemble those described in susceptible mice (see
Figure 3
in this study and Yoelii and Hargreaves7
and Kaul
et al8
).
A critical issue concerning pathology might be the preferential
recruitment of some activated T cells in certain microvascular beds,
particularly in the brain. The results of our confocal microscopical
studies showed infiltration of only a few
ß T cells in cerebral
vessels. The T cells accumulated in the brain vessels of mice with CM
were predominantly 
-bearing T cells. Recruitment of 
T
cells was not observed in the brain of mice given IL-2 only. As
expected, IL-2 treatment evoked a cascade of cytokine response that was
not sufficient to induce recruitment of 
T cells in cerebral
vessels of TO mice in the absence of infection. It has been postulated
that only memory T cells can enter and be retained in the central
nervous system, and only if the relevant antigens are
present.37
These results clearly demonstrated that
recruitment of 
T cells in the brain of TI mice was
infection-induced, and retention of 
T cells may be dependent on
the local presence of antigens from accumulated PRBCs. Some of the
activation markers such as CD25 (IL-2R) and CD54 (ICAM-1) molecules
were detected on the surface of recruited cells.38,39
This
indicated that T cells recruited in cerebral vessels of TI mice were in
a state of activation. ICAM-1 can be expressed on endothelial cells,
but the cells that showed positive staining with anti-ICAM-1 antibody
looked morphologically more like T cells than endothelial cells. The
ICAM-1 molecules expressed on activated T cells can induce aggregation,
adherence, and sequestration of T lymphocytes in the cerebral
venule.40
Moreover, accumulated 
T cells that are in
a state of activation can induce local production of IFN-
and
TNF-
,41,42
and also perhaps generate NO.43
These mediators will induce/up-regulate the expression of receptors at
the brain endothelium where accumulated PRBCs and T lymphocytes could
sequester, and this will lead to endothelial degeneration.
The evidence of an important role of 
T cells in the induction of
CM pathology in TI mice was bolstered by reversal of CM in these mice
by treatment with anti-
antibody. Approximately 70% of TI mice
treated with anti-
mAb succumbed to infection by days 18 to 20
after infection. This may be explained either by the pathological
activities of other cell types in the absence of 
T cells or by
the restoration of 
T cell expansion later in the infection,
because anti-
treatment terminated at day 6 after infection in
our experiments. Of note, treatment was inefficient when first given 1
day before infection and stopped at day 2 after infection. This
observation suggests a biphasic mechanism of action of 
T cells
(early protective/late pathological) in this murine malaria model. It
has recently been shown that mice depleted of 
T cells by
antibody failed to develop CM after infection with P.
berghei ANKA, however, mice deficient in 
TCR genes
developed CM pathology.6
The biphasic activity of 
T
cells may explain the failure to inhibit CM pathology in

-deficient KO mice. It may be noted that several authors have
reported a protective role of 
T cells in malaria
infections.44-46
An early infection-induced response of
natural killer cells and 
T cells, as a part of innate immunity,
may develop followed by, eventually, an adaptive immune response. But
abundant response of 
T cells late in malarial infection could be
detrimental for hosts, as has recently been described in
influenza.47
The results of the present study suggest a potential mechanism of CM
pathogenesis and support the hypothesis that CM is an immune-mediated
disease. Our findings show that the genetic resistance in mice to CM
syndrome may be altered by provoking enhanced immunoreactivity in the
hosts. Our results provide strong evidence that preferential
accumulation of 
T cells in the brain is crucial for induction of
the pathogenesis of CM.
| Acknowledgements |
|---|

TCR antibody, respectively; Dr. Tom Ciardelli (Dartmouth
Medical School, Hanover) for generously providing rIL-2; Drs. Jane
Collins and Grant Yeaman (Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon) for help
and technical advice; Mr. Kenneth Orndorff (Dartmouth Medical School,
Lebanon) and Mr. Claude Alesia (Faculté de Médecine,
Université de la Mediterranee, Marseille) for their expert help
with confocal microscopy and photoshop; and Dr. Bill Hickey (Dartmouth
Medical School, Lebanon) for helpful discussion and his encouragement. | Footnotes |
|---|
Supported by institutional funding to Unité de Recherche 399, INSERM.
Accepted for publication September 28, 2000.
| References |
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