Mycobacterium tuberculosis in chemokine receptor 2-deficient mice: influence of dose on disease progression

Within a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced granuloma, lymphocytes and macrophages work together to control bacterial growth and limit the spread of infection. Chemokines and chemokine receptors are involved in cell migration and are logical candidates for a role in granuloma formation. In the present study we addressed the role of CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) in M. tuberculosis infection. In previous studies (W. Peters et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98:7958-7963, 2001), CCR2(-/-) mice were found to be highly susceptible to a moderate or high dose of H37Rv administered intravenously (i.v.). We have expanded those studies to demonstrate that the susceptibility of CCR2(-/-) mice is dose dependent. After low-dose aerosol or i.v. infection of CCR2(-/-) mice with M. tuberculosis, there was a substantial delay in cell migration to the lungs and delayed expression of gamma interferon and inducible nitric oxide synthase. The CCR2(-/-) mice had a severe and prolonged deficiency in the number of macrophages in the lungs and an early increase in the number of neutrophils. Despite these deficiencies in cell migration, the CCR2(-/-) mice did not have increased bacterial loads in the lungs compared to wild-type (C57BL/6) mice and successfully formed granulomas. This finding is in contrast to CCR2(-/-) mice infected with a high dose of M. tuberculosis administered i.v. These results indicate that with low-dose infection, a delay in immune response in the lungs does not necessarily have detrimental long-term effects on the progression of the disease. The fact that CCR2(-/-) mice survive with substantially fewer macrophages in the low-dose models implies that the immune response to low-dose M. tuberculosis infection in mice is more robust than necessary to control the infection. Finally, these data demonstrate that, in cases of infectious disease in knockout models, clear phenotypes may not be evident when one is solely evaluating bacterial numbers and survival. Functional assays may be necessary to reveal roles for components of the multifactorial immune system.