calcimycin and Chagas-Disease

Induction of polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis in cardiac tissue by IgG from chagasic mice was assayed. BALB/c mice auricles were labelled with myo-[3H]inositol precursor and inositol phosphate production in the presence or absence of chagasic IgG and the corresponding F(ab')2 was measured. Both chagasic IgG and F(ab')2 but not the normal forms specifically increased phosphoinositide turnover. This increment was blocked by muscarinic cholinergic antagonists and to an even greater extent by the phospholipase C inhibitor NCDC. Moreover, calcium channel blocking agents such as diltiazem, verapamil and D-600 also exerted an inhibitory action. A muscarinic cholinergic agonist, carbachol, and the ionophore A-23187, mimicked the action of the chagasic IgG upon phosphoinositide turnover. It is concluded that murine chagasic IgG and its F(ab')2 fragments result in stimulation of phospholipase C-mediated phosphoinositide hydrolysis through the interaction with muscarinic cholinergic receptors requiring the cytosolic calcium concentration to be raised.

Topics: Animals; Calcimycin; Calcium; Calcium Channel Blockers; Chagas Disease; Chromatography, Gel; Hydrolysis; Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; Immunoglobulin G; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Phosphatidylinositols; Receptors, Muscarinic; Type C Phospholipases

Mice infected with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of human Chagas' disease, are profoundly immunodepressed in their response to various Ag and mitogens. A key factor in this immunosuppression is the essential inability to produce the T cell growth factor IL-2. In this study we demonstrate that this failure to produce IL-2 in response to mitogen stimulation is not the result of the absence of production of soluble or membrane-bound IL-1 by macrophages. Limiting dilution analysis of the precursor frequency of IL-2 producers suggests that an adequate number of precursors for IL-2 production are present in the spleens of infected mice, but that their activity may be regulated by suppressor cells. The presence of precursor cells for IL-2 production is supported by experiments showing that the combination of calcium ionophores and PMA elicits IL-2 production by spleen cells from both normal and T. cruzi-infected mice. Although Con A can provide either of the signals necessary for IL-2 production, calcium flux or protein kinase C activation, to T cells from normal mice, Con A in combination with either calcium ionophore or phorbol ester failed to activate T cells from infected mice to produce IL-2. Preculture of spleen cells from infected mice for 48 to 72 h before addition of Con A results in near normal production of IL-2. This recovery of the capacity to produce IL-2 does not occur if parasite Ag is present during the preculture period. These results suggest that the inability of T cells from T. cruzi-infected mice to produce IL-2 in vitro in response to Con A is not due to the lack of IL-2-producing cells, but may be the result of the maturational state of the T cells or to the presence of a suppressor population.

Topics: Animals; Calcimycin; Calcium; Chagas Disease; Concanavalin A; Ethers; Female; Immune Tolerance; Interleukin-2; Ionomycin; Lymphocyte Activation; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Protein Kinase C; Spleen; T-Lymphocytes; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Trypanosoma cruzi