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J W Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to J W Murphy.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Regulation of cell-mediated immunity in cryptococcosis. I. Induction of specific afferent T suppressor cells by cryptococcal antigen.

By injecting cryptococcal antigen i.v. into CBA/J mice, we have simulated a level of antigenemia that is known to occur naturally in murine and human cryptococcosis. The cryptococcal antigen induced a population of lymph node (LN) cells that, upon adoptive transfer, could specifically suppress the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response to cryptococcal antigen and the splenic T lymphocytes responsible for in vitro inhibition of growth of Cryptococcus neoformans. The cryptococcal-antigen-induced suppressor cell could be detected in the LN as early as 5 days and was still in significant numbers 7 days after antigen injection. Suppressor cells were not found in the spleens of tolerized mice, nor could serum from these animals adoptively transfer suppression. The suppressor cells in this model were shown to be T lymphocytes, which exerted their effect on the afferent limb of the DTH response; therefore, they were similar to the Ts1 cell in the ABA-DTH, NP-DTH, and NP cutaneous sensitivity models and to the afferent suppressor cells in the DNFB contact sensitivity system. The percent suppression of the cryptococcal DTH response was dependent on the amount of antigen injected. Approximately, 35 micrograms of cryptococcal antigen per ml of serum was sufficient to induce significant suppression of the cell-mediated immune response.

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Intestinal secretion of digoxin in the rat. Augmentation by feeding activated charcoal.

Secretion of tritium-labeled digoxin was studied in rats using noneverted gut sacs, in ligated and perfused intestinal preparations in bile duct ligated rats, and by measuring 4 day fecal excretion of total radioactivity in bile duct ligated rats. Serosal to mucosal transfer was proportional to substrate concentration in vitro. In ligated intestinal loops radioactivity was concentrated in the lumen relative to serum. In perfused intestinal preparations the fraction of dose increased with time and was similar over a 100-fold range of doses. Bile duct ligated rats excreted 13.4 +/- 5.8 (S.D.) % of parenterally administered label in 4 day stool collections. Bile duct ligated rats treated with p.o. activated charcoal excreted significantly more radioactivity (33.4 +/- 7.9%). The results suggest that net nonbiliary intestinal secretion of digoxin and metabolites can be augmented by intraluminal binding. A role for this phenomenon in accounting for some effects of diseases and drug interactions is suggested.

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Host-etiological agent interactions in intranasally and intraperitoneally induced Cryptococcosis in mice.

Inbred CBA/J mice were used in developing a defined in vivo model for studying host-parasite relationships in cryptococcosis. Mice were infected either intranasally or intraperitoneally with 10(3) viable Cryptococcus neoformans cells. At weekly intervals over a 92-day period, C. neoformans growth profiles in the lungs, spleens, livers, and brains of the infected animals were determined. In addition, humoral and delayed-type hypersensitivity responses and cryptococcal antigen levels were assayed in these mice. Intranasally infected mice developed strong delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions in response to cryptococcal culture filtrate (CneF) antigen, and there was good correlation between acquisition of delayed-type hypersensitivity and the reduction of C. neoformans cell numbers in infected tissues. In contrast, intraperitoneally infected mice displayed greater numbers of C. neoformans cells in tissues and had somewhat suppressed delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to CneF antigen. Anticryptococcal antibodies were not detected in intranasally or intraperitoneally infected mice, but cryptococcal polysaccharide antigen titers were relatively high in both groups. The transfer of sensitized spleen cells from intranasally infected mice to syngeneic naive recipient mice resulted in the transfer of delayed-type hypersensitivity responsiveness to cryptococcal antigen in the recipients. The intranasally induced infection in mice was similar to the naturally acquired infection in humans; therefore we are proposing that this murine-cryptococcosis model would be useful in gaining a greater understanding of host-etiological agent relationships in this disease.

Animals↗

Transfer of immunity to cryptococcosis by T-enriched splenic lymphocytes from Cryptococcus neoformans-sensitized mice.

Splenic enriched T-cells and sera were obtained from inbred CBA/J mice injected 7 or 35 days earlier with either 10(3) viable Cryptococcus neoformans or sterile physiological saline. The transfer of enriched T-cells collected 7 days after immunization or of normal enriched T-cells did not transfer immunity to C. neoformans or delayed-type hypersensitivity responsiveness to cryptococcal culture filtrate (CneF) antigen to the recipients. However, enriched T-cells harvested 35 days after immunization, when transferred to recipient mice, were able to confer immunity as indicated by the reduction in numbers of C. neoformans cells in the tissues, and they also transferred delayed-type hypersensitivity responsiveness to CneF antigens. Sera from either sensitized or normal mice were unable to transfer immunity to recipient animals. These results suggested that there was a time requirement for development of the immune response in the donor mice and that T-cells were crucial in the host defense against a cryptococcal infection. Culturing of day-35 C. neoformans-sensitized T-cells in the presence of homologous antigen (CneF) but not in the presence of heterologous antigen (purified protein derivative or 2, 4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene) induced the production of migration inhibition factor, thus indicating that lymphocytes from C. neoformans-injected mice were specifically sensitized to CneF antigen.

Animals↗

Response of congenitally athymic (nude) and phenotypically normal mice to Cryptococcus neoformans infection.

A Cryptococcus neoformans infection in congenitally athymic (nude) mice and phenotypically normal heterozygote BALB/c mice was used to determine how T lymphocyte-deficient mice compared with normal mice in restricting proliferation of C. neoformans and to determine whether a correlation exists between delayed-type hypersensitivity and resistance to C. neoformans. Although nude mice displayed the ability to maintain cryptococcal population levels lower than did the phenotypically normal animals during the first 14 days of infection, the resistance was not sufficient to control the infection during the remainder of the 35-day experimental period. Heterozygote mice began to demonstrate positive delayed-type hypersensitivity responses by day 14 postinfection; however, nude mice were unable to mount delayed-type hypersensitivity responses. The appearance of the delayed-type hypersensitivity response in the heterozygote mice was concomitant with the reduced rate of proliferation of C. neoformans observed in those animals from days 14 to 35. Because anticryptococcal antibody titers and cryptococcal antigen levels were equivalent in both groups of mice, T-lymphocyte function was considered to be responsible for the resistance observed in the heterozygote mice. The mechanism by which cryptococcal populations were reduced was not addressed; however, the mouse model system used in these studies would be an ideal tool for studying those mechanisms. Nude mice were able to produce antibodies against cryptococcal cells, indicating that at least one component of C. neoformans is a T-independent antigen. The antibody response was predominantly immunoglobulin M in nude and heterozygote mice. Cryptococcal antigen levels were extremely high in both groups of animals and appeared to increase as C. neoformans cell numbers increased.

Animals↗

Cryptococcal culture filtrate antigen for detection of delayed-type hypersensitivity in cryptococcosis.

Previous studies on a cryptococcal culture filtrate (CneF) antigen have shown that the antigen is useful in detecting delayed-type hypersensitivity and that it is specific for Cryptococcus. This study further defined one more parameter of specificity, showing that the CneF antigen does not elicit delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in Cryptococcus albidus-sensitized guinea pigs. When the crude CneF antigen was subjected to ultrafiltration fractionation, the skin test active components were found to be in the 50,000 or greater molecular weight range fraction. The concentrated retentates of the XM50 ultrafiltration membrane were more sensitive antigens than the crude CneF antigens. Further fractionation of the XM50 retentate using 3% acrylamide gel electrophoresis separated the antigen into two bands. One band, the P fraction, migrated only a short distance into the gel; the fraction was carbohydrate-like and did not elicit significant skin test responses in sensitized guinea pigs. The other band, G fraction, appeared with the tracking dye, was glycoprotein-like, and elicited significantly positive skin tests in sensitized guinea pigs. G fractions prepared using three different serotypes of Cryptococcus neoformans elicited similar size indurations when used in skin testing guinea pigs sensitized with either the homologous serotype isolated of C. neoformans or the heterologous serotype isolate.

Animals↗

Capsule size of Cryptococcus neoformans: control and relationship to virulence.

Capsule size of five isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans was controlled by cultivation in media containing varying amounts of sugar. High concentrations of sugar (e.g., 16%) suppressed encapsulation whereas low concentrations (e.g., 1%) allowed maximal encapsulation. Suppression of capsule size was attributed at least in part to the increased osmolarity of the medium because a medium with low sugar concentration but having high osmolarity (by virtue of added sodium chloride) also produced cells having small capsules. The extent of control was more marked with certain of the isolates than with others. Mice were intravenously inoculated with cells of a single isolate cultivated so as to have either small or large capsules, and virulence was measured by comparing death rates. Results indicate that virulence after such an inoculation is a constant characteristic of an isolate and is not affected by size of the capsule of the cells in the inoculum.

Cryptococcus↗

Skin testing of guinea pigs and footpad testing of mice with a new antigen for detecting delayed hypersensitivity to Cryptococcus neoformans.

This study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of a cryptococcal culture filtrate antigen, cryptococcin C184, for detecting delayed hypersensitivity in Cryptococcus neoformans-injected animals. The antigen was tested on guinea pigs which had received saline or C. neoformans and on animals sensitized to Histoplasma capsulatum, Blastomyces dermatitidis, Candida albicans, or Sporothrix schenckii. A delayed-type hypersensitivity response was elicited by cryptococcin C184 in C. neoformans-injected guinea pigs, whereas no indurations or erythemas were seen at 48 h after skin testing of saline controls or heterologously sensitized guinea pigs. Besides being specific for Cryptococcus, the antigen showed a high degree of sensitivity and was reproducible. Footpad tests were conducted with the antigen on mice which had previously received either 10(5) viable C. neoformans cells or saline. Delayed hypersensitivity was indicated in the C. neoformans-injected mice by the increase in thickness of antigen-injected footpads when compared with the saline-injected footpads. In control mice, antigen- and saline-injected footpads were comparable in thickness 24 h after injection. Mice sensitized to B. dermatitidis were footpad tested with C184, and no cross-reactivity was demonstrated.

Agglutination Tests↗

Immunological unresponsiveness induced by cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide assayed by the hemolytic plaque technique.

Numerous studies have suggested that cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide could induce an immunological paralysis. To investigate this possibility, mice were given various concentrations of purified cryptococcal polysaccharide and then 14 days later were challenge-immunized with the same material in Freund's incomplete adjuvant. Anticryptococcal agglutinin titers were determined at various periods after polysaccharide treatment and after challenge immunization. At the same periods the hemolytic plaque technique was used to determine the number of spleen cells capable of producing antibody against cryptococcal polysaccharide. The data indicated that there was a transitory immune response which preceded tolerance induction. In animals given the largest doses of polysaccharide, "in vivo" neutralization was responsible for low serum agglutinin titers during the transitory response. The capsular polysaccharide was considered to have induced immunological unresponsiveness at the highest concentration, because challenge immunization did not stimulate an increase in the number of plaque-forming cells (PFC). A sixfold increase in numbers of PFC was found in animals injected initially with the lowest concentration of polysaccharide. These results support the idea that tolerance was due to terminal differentiation without proliferation of the immunocompetent cells. The central failure of the immune mechanism which was apparent in the paralyzed mice was temporary under the conditions of this experiment.

Agglutination Tests↗

Immunity to fungi.

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