Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact

Submit a comment

Administration in vivo of recombinant interleukin 2 protects mice against septic death.
C Weyand, … , C G Fathman, P O'Hanley
C Weyand, … , C G Fathman, P O'Hanley
Published June 1, 1987
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 1987;79(6):1756-1763. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI113016.
View: Text | PDF
Research Article

Administration in vivo of recombinant interleukin 2 protects mice against septic death.

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Administration in vivo of recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL-2) to mice induces a polyclonal IgM response. When co-administered with a specific antigen, rIL-2 can enhance concentrations of murine IgM antibodies specific for the antigen by fivefold within 7 d of initial treatment. IgM antibodies that are induced after injection of rIL-2 include antibodies specific for J5, a cell wall core lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen that is shared by the different members of the Enterobactericeae family. We report here that mice pretreated with rIL-2 or immunized with J5 antigen 7 d before bacterial challenge were protected from septic death that is caused by intraperitoneal challenges with Escherichia coli. Optimal protection was provided by a combined J5 antigen and rIL-2 treatment. Acquisition of the rIL-2 and J5 antigen-induced protection against lethal bacterial infection coincided temporally with maximal serum IgM titers that also contained IgM antibodies specific for the J5 antigen. In passive immunization experiments, the affinity-purified IgM fraction in sera of rIL-2-treated animals was identified as necessary and sufficient for protection. The IgM-depleted serum had no protective effect. The nonspecific augmentation of host-defense mechanisms without the induction of endotoxin manifestations makes rIL-2 a potential candidate to any alternative LPS-containing vaccines for the prevention of bacterial infections by gram-negative organisms since the core LPS antigen is shared among gram-negative bacteria.

Authors

C Weyand, J Goronzy, C G Fathman, P O'Hanley

×

Guidelines

The Editorial Board will only consider comments that are deemed relevant and of interest to readers. The Journal will not post data that have not been subjected to peer review; or a comment that is essentially a reiteration of another comment.

  • Comments appear on the Journal’s website and are linked from the original article’s web page.
  • Authors are notified by email if their comments are posted.
  • The Journal reserves the right to edit comments for length and clarity.
  • No appeals will be considered.
  • Comments are not indexed in PubMed.

Specific requirements

  • Maximum length, 400 words
  • Entered as plain text or HTML
  • Author’s name and email address, to be posted with the comment
  • Declaration of all potential conflicts of interest (even if these are not ultimately posted); see the Journal’s conflict-of-interest policy
  • Comments may not include figures
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts