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IMMUNE RESPONSES TO LEGIONELLA PNEUMOPHILA IN ATHYMIC NUDE RATS
Author(s) -
ROLSTAD BENT
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica series c: immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0108-0202
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1984.tb00081.x
Subject(s) - legionella pneumophila , immune system , legionnaires' disease , antibody , virulence , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , lethal dose , biology , medicine , virology , bacteria , toxicology , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Athymic nude rats (rnu) were immunized intraperitoneally with the attenuated Phil I strain (serogroup 1) of Legionella pneumophila. These rats developed a humoral immune response, including the IgG class, that was of comparable magnitude to that seen in their non‐nude littermates. When the rats were challenged ip with a dose of the virulent strain LD‐8 (also serogroup 1) that proved to be lethal in non‐immune rnu‐rats, none of them developed any signs of disease, but survived well for the observation period of 2 weeks. However, it was impossible by adoptive transfer of lymphocytes from immunized inbred PVG donors to protect non‐immune syngeneic rats from the lethality of the LD‐8. These results together with previous data (16) indicate that specific antibodies, present in the animal at the time of infection, protect effectively against a lethal dose of L. pneumophila in this experimental system.