g(m1)-ganglioside and Lung-Diseases

The effect of recombinant human interleukin-2 (rIL-2) on the course of experimental chronic respiratory tract infection caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae in mice was examined. rIL-2 was administered subcutaneously once a day for 7 or 14 days, starting 2 weeks after the mice were infected. Administration of 2 or 20 micrograms of rIL-2 per mouse daily for 7 days reduced bacterial counts in the lungs dose dependently. At a dose of 0.2 microgram per day, proliferation of bacteria in the lungs was suppressed after 14 days of administration. Agglutinin titers in serum were not affected by rIL-2 treatment. Monocyte and lymphocyte counts in peripheral blood were increased by administration of 20 micrograms of rIL-2 daily for 14 days but not by treatment for 7 days. In addition, clearance of bacteria from the lungs after aerosol exposure was enhanced by treatment for 7 days before infection. Thus, rIL-2 acted therapeutically or prophylactically in the presence or absence, respectively, of a specific antigen. These effects were not abolished by anti-asialo GM1 antibody. This suggests that activation of natural killer cells does not play a critical role in the therapeutic and prophylactic effects of rIL-2.

Topics: Aerosols; Agglutination Tests; Animals; Antibodies; Chronic Disease; Female; G(M1) Ganglioside; Glycosphingolipids; Interleukin-2; Kinetics; Klebsiella Infections; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Leukocyte Count; Lung Diseases; Mice; Mice, Inbred CBA; Recombinant Proteins; Respiratory Tract Infections

GM1-gangliosidosis is a disease characterized by abnormal accumulation of GM1-ganglioside in the brain and viscera. The disease is characterized by clinical findings similar to Hurler's disease and pathologic features resembling Niemann-Pick's disease but with involvement of the glomerular epithelium. A 14-month-old boy, clinically diagnosed as GM1-gangliosidosis, died of respiratory insufficiency and was autopsied except for the brain. Biochemically, marked increase of GM1-ganglioside in the viscera was demonstrated. Pathologically, the foam cells were present in the viscera. Some parts of the cytoplasmic vacuoles in the lungs and spleen contained osmiophilic fibrillar material electron-microscopically. This case was characterized by marked accumulation of foam cells in the pulmonary alveolar spaces.

Topics: Foam Cells; G(M1) Ganglioside; Gangliosides; Gangliosidoses; Humans; Infant; Lung; Lung Diseases; Male