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Profiles of cytokine production in relation with susceptibility to cerebral malaria.

Infection with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) leads, in susceptible strains of mice, to the development of cerebral malaria (CM), a lethal syndrome that reproduces some features of human CM. To study a possible relationship between genetic susceptibility to CM and the cytokine expression pattern, we quantitatively evaluated gene expression on RNA extracted from various organs of malaria-infected mice, using strains that are susceptible and resistant to CM. Northern blot analysis and semi-quantitative PCR showed that CM is associated with an increased TNF-alpha mRNA accumulation in the brain of mice developing the neurologic complications of CM. An increased IFN-gamma mRNA accumulation and a decreased expression of IL-4 and TGF-beta genes were also observed in mice susceptible to CM. In vitro restimulation studies using crude malarial Ag showed that lymphoid cell proliferation was higher in CM-susceptible than in CM-resistant infected mice. Moreover, susceptible mice produced large amounts of IFN-gamma, in a dose-dependent manner, in response to PbA Ag, whereas cells from resistant mice failed to produce significant amounts of this cytokine. Conversely, IL-2 and IL-4 production was significantly higher in infected CM-resistant mouse cells. No difference was seen in the production of IL-3 and IL-5 between resistant and susceptible PbA-infected mice. Upon stimulation with various malarial Ag, comparable amounts of TNF-alpha were produced by macrophages of either strain of mice. Taken together, these findings indicate that susceptibility to CM resides at the level of T cells rather than macrophages. Furthermore, the cytokine production profile is consistent with a predominant Th1-like response in mice developing cerebral complications of malaria.