Macrophage cytotoxicity in lethal and non-lethal murine malaria and the effect of vaccination

We investigated the development of cell-mediated immunity in lethal and non-lethal malarial infections by assaying the cytotoxic activity of spleen cells for L929 tumour cells at different times after infection of mice with the lethal P. berghei, a lethal variant of Plasmodium yoelii and the non-lethal P. yoelii and P. chabaudi. In all cases the cytotoxicity increased to a peak during the first week and then diminished but the time of the peak varied with the infection; its activity was lowest with P. berghei. A second peak occurred in the non-lethal infections at the time of recovery. A protective vaccine accelerated and enhanced the early peak of cytotoxicity. The activity was mediated by adherent phagocytic cells, probably through the release of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) by macrophages since it was inhibited by antiserum against recombinant mouse TNF and did not destroy TNF-resistant L929 cells. Its induction was not dependent on T cells since it occurred in T cell-deficient mice infected with non-lethal P. yoelii. However, the accelerated increase associated with vaccination could be adoptively transferred by spleen lymphocytes from vaccinated mice.