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Updated: May 20, 2026

Experimental Infection with Listeria monocytogenes as a Model for Studying Host Interferon-γ Responses
Published on: November 16, 2016
Negative impact of IFN-γ on early host immune responses to retroviral infection
Amanda K Duley1, Mickaël J-Y Ploquin, Urszula Eksmond
1Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, MT 59840, USA.
Abstract:
The immune system is tasked with defending against a myriad of microbial infections, and its response to a given infectious microbe may be strongly influenced by coinfection with another microbe. It was shown that infection of mice with lactate dehydrogenase-elevating virus (LDV) impairs early adaptive immune responses to Friend virus (FV) coinfection. To investigate the mechanism of this impairment, we examined LDV-induced innate immune responses and found LDV-specific induction of IFN-α and IFN-γ. LDV-induced IFN-α had little effect on FV infection or immune responses, but unexpectedly, LDV-induced IFN-γ production dampened Th1 adaptive immune responses and enhanced FV infection. Two distinct effects were identified. First, LDV-induced IFN-γ signaling indirectly modulated FV-specific CD8+ T cell responses. Second, intrinsic IFN-γ signaling in B cells promoted polyclonal B cell activation and enhanced early FV infection, despite promotion of germinal center formation and neutralizing Ab production. Results from this model reveal that IFN-γ production can have detrimental effects on early adaptive immune responses and virus control.
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