Regulation and role of IFN-gamma in the innate resistance to infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae

By using mice genomically lacking IFN-γR, IL-12, perforin, and recombination-activating gene-1 (RAG-1), we analyzed the regulation and importance of IFN-γ in the control of infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae. IL-12 participates in resistance of mice to C. pneumoniae, probably by regulating the protective levels of IFN-γ mRNA. In turn, IFN-γ is necessary for the increased IL-12p40 mRNA accumulation that occurs in lungs during infection with C. pneumoniae, suggesting a positive feedback regulation between these two cytokines. In experiments including RAG-1−/−/IFN-γR−/− mice we showed that IFN-γ produced by innate cells controls the bacterial load and is necessary for the increased accumulation of transcripts for enzymes controlling high output NO release (inducible NO synthase), superoxide production (gp-91 NADPH oxidase), and catalyzis of tryptophan (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)), mechanisms probably related to bacterial killing. Adaptive immune reponses diminish the levels of IFN-γ and IL-12 mRNA and thereby the levels of inducible NO synthase, IDO, and gp91 NADPH oxidase trancripts. By using RAG-1−/−/perforin−/− mice, we excluded the overt participation of NK cell cytotoxicity in the control of C. pneumoniae. However, NK cells and probably other innate immune cells release IFN-γ during the bacterial infection.