Susceptibility differences of inbred strains of mice to blastomycosis

The susceptibility of inbred strains of mice to pulmonary blastomycosis was studied to derive information relevant to host resistance and genetic background. Initial studies with eight strains with various H-2 backgrounds revealed the C3H/HeJ strain to be highly susceptible and DBA/1J mice to be resistant. These observations were confirmed with various challenge inocula. These differences were not dependent on the size of the challenge, the strain of Blastomyces dermatitidis, host age, or ability of the challenge to penetrate to the lower airways. Differences between the susceptible and resistant strains in lymphocyte proliferation in vitro and delayed-type hypersensitivity in vivo after nonlethal subcutaneous infection were not demonstrated; the susceptible strain made a significantly greater antibody response to blastomyces antigens as determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The resistance of the C3H/HeN strain of mice, which differs from the C3H/HeJ in sensitivity to lipopolysaccharide and lacks the macrophage cytotoxicity defect of the latter, suggests that the susceptibility of C3H/HeJ mice is not related to their C3H background or the H-2 locus. As the A/HeJ strain, which also has a macrophage cytotoxicity defect, was found in this study to be the second most susceptible strain, this also suggests macrophages as the subject for further study with respect to the mechanism of genetic resistance to this infection.