Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1980 Aug;41(2):237–242.

Leishmania mexicana in C3H mice: BCG and levamisole treatment of established infections.

G F Grimaldi, P L Moriearty, R Hoff
PMCID: PMC1537004  PMID: 7438553

Abstract

The effect of BCG and levamisole on the course of established murine leishmaniasis was examined. C3H mice infected subcutaneously in the perinasal region with 10(5) L. mexicana promastigotes produced chronic non-ulcerating, non-healing lesions and demonstrated positive humoral and delayed hypersensitivity responses to leishmanial antigens. Infected animals were treated during months 3-5 of infection with either live BCG or with levamisole. Neither treatment resulted in resolution of lesions or in production of a hyperallergic form of infection; similarly, neither immune responses to leishmanial antigens nor histopathological features of lesions were significantly altered. BCG treatment resulted in accelerated growth of primary leishmanial lesions and in the appearance of metastases in some animals. Levamisole treatment of uninfected animals resulted in low levels of antibodies reacting with promastigote antigens, but not in positive delayed intradermal responses. BCG induced delayed intradermal sensitivity to PPD in both infected and control animals; significantly increased delayed reactions to leishmania, were observed in treated uninfected mice.

Full text

PDF
237

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alexander J., Phillips R. S. Leishmania mexicana and L. tropica: inhibition of growth in mice by concurrent infections of Trypanosoma brucei. Exp Parasitol. 1978 Feb;44(1):136–142. doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(78)90089-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Alexander J., Phillips R. S. Leishmania tropica and Leishmania mexicana: cross-immunity in mice. Exp Parasitol. 1978 Jun;45(1):93–100. doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(78)90049-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Alexander J., Vickerman K. Fusion of host cell secondary lysosomes with the parasitophorous vacuoles of Leishmania mexicana-infected macrophages. J Protozool. 1975 Nov;22(4):502–508. doi: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1975.tb05219.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Behin R., Mauel J., Rowe D. S. Mechanisms of protective immunity in experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis of the guinea-pig. III. Inhibition of leishmanial lesion in the guinea-pig by delayed hypersensitivity reaction to unrelated antigens. Clin Exp Immunol. 1977 Aug;29(2):320–325. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Behin R., Mauel J., Sordat B. Leishmania tropica: pathogenicity and in vitro macrophage function in strains of inbred mice. Exp Parasitol. 1979 Aug;48(1):81–91. doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(79)90057-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bradley D. J., Taylor B. A., Blackwell J., Evans E. P., Freeman J. Regulation of Leishmania populations within the host. III. Mapping of the locus controlling susceptibility to visceral leishmaniasis in the mouse. Clin Exp Immunol. 1979 Jul;37(1):7–14. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bryceson A. D., Preston P. M., Bray R. S., Dumonde D. C. Experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis. II. Effects of immunosuppression and antigenic competition on the course of infection with Leishmania enriettii in the guinea-pig. Clin Exp Immunol. 1972 Feb;10(2):305–335. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Butler P. G. Levamisole therapy of chronic Leishmania tropica. J Trop Med Hyg. 1978 Nov;81(11):221–224. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Fidler I. J., Spitler L. E. Effects of levamisole on in vivo and in vitro murine host response to syngeneic transplantable tumor. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1975 Nov;55(5):1107–1112. doi: 10.1093/jnci/55.5.1107. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Gaafar S. M., Turk J. L. Granuloma formation in lymph-nodes. J Pathol. 1970 Jan;100(1):9–20. doi: 10.1002/path.1711000103. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gutteridge W. E., Knowler J., Coombes J. D. Growth of Trypanosoma cruzi in human heart tissue cells and effects of aminonucleoside of puromycin, trypacidin and aminopterin. J Protozool. 1969 Aug;16(3):521–525. doi: 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1969.tb02311.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hoff R. Killing in vitro of Trypanosoma cruzi by macrophages from mice immunized with T. cruzi or BCG, and absence of cross-immunity on challege in vivo. J Exp Med. 1975 Aug 1;142(2):299–311. doi: 10.1084/jem.142.2.299. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. LITT M. Studies in experimental eosinophilia. V. Eosinophils in lynph nodes of guinea pigs following primary antigenic stimulation. Am J Pathol. 1963 May;42:529–549. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Pérez H., Labrador F., Torrealba J. W. Variations in the response of five strains of mice to Leishmania mexicana. Int J Parasitol. 1979 Feb;9(1):27–32. doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(79)90062-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Shaw J. J., Voller A. Observations on the susceptibility of white mice to infection with Leishmania mexicana following whole-body x-irradiation. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1968 Jun;62(2):174–177. doi: 10.1080/00034983.1968.11686547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Shepard C. C., Van Landingham R., Walker L. L. Effect of levamisole on Mycobacterium leprae in mice. Infect Immun. 1977 May;16(2):564–567. doi: 10.1128/iai.16.2.564-567.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Smrkovski L. L., Larson C. L. Antigenic cross-reactivity between Mycobacterium bovis (BCG) and Leishmania donovani. Infect Immun. 1977 Nov;18(2):561–562. doi: 10.1128/iai.18.2.561-562.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Smrkovski L. L., Larson C. L. Effect of treatment with BCG on the course of visceral leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice. Infect Immun. 1977 Apr;16(1):249–257. doi: 10.1128/iai.16.1.249-257.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Symoens J., Rosenthal M. Levamisole in the modulation of the immune response: the current experimental and clinical state. J Reticuloendothel Soc. 1977 Mar;21(3):175–221. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Weintraub J., Weinbaum F. I. The effect of BCG on experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis in mice. J Immunol. 1977 Jun;118(6):2288–2290. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES