CD2 deficiency partially prevents small bowel inflammation and improves parasite control in murine Toxoplasma gondii infection

Figure 1 Prolonged survival of CD2^-/- mice (n = 8) vs WT mice (n = 7) after infection (p. o.) with 100 cysts of T. gondii (strain ME49) (P = 0.001).

Figure 2 CD2 deficiency improves ileal Th1 immunopathy after Toxoplasma gondii infection with less necrosis compared to WT mice (P = 0. 002). The histology of the ileum is shown at 7 d after infection. While CD2^-/- mice show a nearly normal histological appearance of the ileum (A), the ileum of WT mice (B) show disintegration of epithelial layer, cellular shedding into the lumen and massive crypt destruction. The box blot on the (C) summarizes the examination of the ilea of 8 CD2^-/- and 8 WT mice giving the median, upper and lower quartile, maximum and minimum.

Figure 3 CD2 deficiency reduces parasite load in Toxoplasma gondii infection. Staining of pseudcysts in the ileum of T. gondii infected CD2^-/- (A) and WT mice (B). One week after infection CD2^-/- mice show significantly less pseudocysts. (C) Box blot analysis of pseudocysts in the ileum of CD2^-/- (n = 5) and WT mice (n = 6), (P = 0.006). ¹15 and o10 depict counted parasite number outside the box.

Figure 4 Decreased intestinal IFN-γ production in CD2^-/- mice upon Toxoplasma gondii infection. Production of IFN-γ by lymphocytes and concentration in sera obtained from CD2^-/- or WT mice infected with the ME49 strain of T. gondii. Sera (A) and supernatants of stimulated mLN lymphocytes (B) of CD2^-/- mice contain significantly less IFN-γ than appropriate probes of WT mice (P = 0.009, P = 0.039). Supernatants of stimulated splenocytes (C) of CD2^-/- mice produce significantly more IFN-γ than appropriate cells of WT mice (P = 0.021).

Figure 5 Decreased intestinal IL-6 production in CD2^-/- mice upon T. gondii infection. The mLN lymphocytes were stimulated with CD3/CD28 (A) or TLA (B) for 48 h. Stimulated mLN lymphocytes of CD2^-/- mice produce significantly less IL-6 vs WT mice (P = 0.011, P < 0.05). o11 depicts a measured IL-6 concentration outside the box.