Effect of metabolic inhibitors on the formation of antibody to sheep erythrocytes, on development of delayed hypersensitivity, and on the immune response to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice.

The effect of a number of metabolic inhibitors was determined on: (i) the production of cellular immunity to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice by vaccination with mycobacterial ribonucleic acid (RNA), (Ii) the production of cellular immunity to infection with M. tuberculosis in mice with viable H37Ra cells, (iii) the induction of antibody formation to sheep erythrocytes, and (iv) the induction of delayed hypersensitivity in mice to purified protein derivative. The pattern of inhibition produced by metabolic inhibitors on cellular immunity to infection with M. tuberculosis produced by mycobacterial RNA was entirely different from the pattern of inhibition produced by the same metabolic inhibitors on antibody formation to sheep erythrocytes. The effect of the metabolic inhibitors on the induction of delayed hypersensitivity to purified protein derivative did not correlate with the pattern of inhibition produced by the same compounds on antibody formation or on the development of immunity produced by mycobacterial RNA. Cellular immunity to infection produced in mice by viable H37Ra cells was not reduced by any of the metabolic inhibitors except actinomycin D. The possible reasons for the lack of activity of the metabolic inhibitors on the immune response to viable H37Ra cells and the lack of correlation with the pattern of inhibition found in mice vaccinated with mycobacterial RNA is discussed.