Protection of mice against mycobacterial infection by lymphoid cell vaccination.

Intracellular parasites may thrive by inducing the host's immune system to suppress the effector immune response that otherwise limits multiplication. Hosts are traditionally immunized with the parasite antigens that induce effector immunity. Alternatively, one might vaccinate the host with the host lymphoid cells involved in suppression. Multiplication of Mycobacterium marinum was prevented by vaccinating mice with cells prepared from the popliteal lymph nodes of mice in which the organisms were multiplying logarithmically, that were inactivated by fixation with glutaraldehyde. Cells obtained later during infection, when the donor mice manifest immunity, did not protect against infection. Thus, it may be possible to influence the course of a microbial infection by immunizing the host not only with components of the organisms, but also with the host components that are exploited by the organism.