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Updated: Aug 13, 2026
A Mouse Model for Pathogen-induced Chronic Inflammation at Local and Systemic Sites
Published on: August 8, 2014
Antigen stimulation of TH2 cells augments acute bacterial sinusitis in mice
Xiaohong Yu1, Anne Sperling, Christopher Blair
1Department of Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Background:
Previously, we showed that an ongoing nasal allergic response augmented bacterial sinusitis in mice. In those experiments mice were sensitized to ovalbumin (OVA) by means of intraperitoneal injections of OVA-alum and then exposed to OVA intranasally before being infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Objective:
We sought to study the importance of TH2 cells and to eliminate potential alum effects.
Methods:
In this study we sensitized mice by adoptively transferring OVA-specific TH2- or TH1-skewed cells.
Results:
TH2 passive sensitization followed by intranasal OVA showed a robust local eosinophilic response (5-fold increase) compared with that seen in mice with only TH2 passive sensitization alone (P <.001). Mice with TH2 passive sensitization and intranasal OVA exposure followed by infection showed an increase in the number of recovered S pneumoniae (P <.05) and an increase in sinus inflammation compared with that seen in those with infection alone (P <.01). In contrast, mice passively sensitized with TH1 followed by intranasal OVA exposure and infection showed no significant increase in the recovery of S pneumoniae and sinus inflammation compared with those with infection alone.
Conclusions:
These data support the importance of antigen-stimulated TH2 cells in the augmented response to infection in allergic mice. Whether the increased infection is related to the direct effect of TH2 cells and their cytokines or subsequent recruitment of other cells, such as eosinophils, will be determined in further studies.
