Late acquisition of hyporesponsiveness to lipopolysaccharide by Mycobacterium avium-infected human macrophages in producing tumor necrosis factor-alpha but not interleukin-1 beta and -6

To investigate whether infection with Mycobacterium avium modifies the cytokine response of human macrophages (Mphi) to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the release of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha was determined in infected and uninfected Mphi, unstimulated or stimulated with LPS. In unstimulated Mphi, the release of IL-1 beta and IL-6 increased with the progress of infection while that of TNF-alpha progressively decreased. When Mphi were stimulated with LPS, IL-1 beta and IL-6 levels were always higher in infected than in uninfected cells, but levels of TNF-alpha significantly decreased in infected Mphi. A similar trend was obtained for TNF-alpha mRNA expression. Altogether, these results indicate that infected Mphi react to LPS stimulus with enhanced levels of IL-1 beta and IL-6 but are unable to restore the production of TNF-alpha impaired by the growth of the intracellular mycobacteria.