Induction and suppression of cross-reactive antituberculosis immunity after Mycobacterium lepraemurium infection of mice.

Mice immunized with 10(8) live Mycobacterium lepraemurium in the footpad showed increased resistance to infection with BCG or M. tuberculosis R1Rv. This resistance could be transferred adoptively with lymphoid cells, signifying that the immunity was cross-reactive rather than nonspecific. Adoptive cross-reactive immunity to M. tuberculosis was also conferred by spleen cells from mice immunized with large doses of living or dead M. lepraemurium intravenously, a route of immunization that suppresses the induction of cell-mediated immunity to that organism. The presence of specific suppressor activity was sought in mice immunized intravenously with M. lepraemurium. It was found that mice preimmunized intravenously with living or dead M. lepraemurium and then infected with BCG did not confer levels of adoptive antituberculosis immunity as high as those conferred by mice immunized with BCG alone. Similarly, a mixture of BCG-sensitized and M. lepraemurium-sensitized cells did not convey as much immunity as BCG-sensitized cells alone, signifying suppression of the effector lymphocytes.