T lymphocytes from granulocyte colony-stimulating factor(-/-) mice produce large quantities of interferon-γ in a chronic infection model

Abstract

Little is known about the role of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in the response to chronic bacterial infections. To address this we infected G-CSF knock out (G-CSF(-/-)) mice with Mycobacterium avium. Infection was not exacerbated in G-CSF(-/-) mice despite a deficiency in the total bone marrow cells, colony-forming haemopoietic cells, granulocytes and monocyte precursors in the bone marrow. Peritoneal cells from G-CSF(-/-) produced less nitric oxide (NO) upon culture in vitro with antigen than did wild-type (WT) cells. Unexpectedly, T cells from infected G-CSF(-/-) mice were able to produce significantly more interferon-γ (IFN-γ) than the wild type (WT) controls. T cells fro..