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T cells enhance production of IL-18 by monocytes in response to an intracellular pathogen

R Vankayalapati1, B Wizel, D L Lakey

  • 1Center for Pulmonary and Infectious Disease Control, University of Texas Health Center, 11937 US Highway 271, Tyler, TX 75708, USA.

Journal of Immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)
|May 22, 2001
PubMed

We studied the effect of T cells on IL-18 production by human monocytes in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Addition of activated T cells markedly enhanced IL-18 production by monocytes exposed to M. tuberculosis. This effect was mediated by a soluble factor and did not require cell-to-cell contact. The effect of activated T cells was mimicked by recombinant IFN-gamma and was abrogated by neutralizing Abs to IFN-gamma. IFN-gamma also enhanced the capacity of alveolar macrophages to produce IL-18 in response to M. tuberculosis, suggesting that this mechanism also operates in the lung during mycobacterial infection. IFN-gamma increased IL-18 production by increasing cleavage of pro-IL-18 to mature IL-18, as it enhanced caspase-1 activity but did not increase IL-18 mRNA expression. These findings suggest that activated T cells can contribute to the initial immune response by augmenting IL-18 production by monocytes in response to an intracellular pathogen.

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