Francisella tularensis-induced in vitro gamma interferon, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin 2 responses appear within 2 weeks of tularemia vaccination in human beings.

Cell-mediated immunity is essential for protection against the intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis, which causes tularemia. Positive in vitro T-cell responses in the form of lymphocyte proliferation and lymphokine interleukin 2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) secretion are found in memory immunity. Studies on the secretion of lymphokines with regard to the developing immunity to F. tularensis have not been published. Therefore, 14 subjects with no clinical history of tularemia were vaccinated with a live F. tularensis vaccine strain. The in vitro responses of five subjects (antigen-induced mononuclear cell and whole blood culture DNA synthesis and cytokine secretion) were measured twice a week throughout the period from 0 to 35 days after vaccination, and the peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations of nine subjects were determined between days 0 and 14. Positive reactions, i.e., responses exceeding those on day 0, were reached on day 10 with regard to the whole blood culture DNA synthesis response and IL-2 and IFN-gamma secretion and on day 14 with regard to the mononuclear cell DNA synthesis response and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) secretion. No measurable IL-4 was found in either the immune or nonimmune supernatants. Since the secretion of TNF-alpha was related to immunization, this points to the specificity of the phenomenon, even though the type of secreting cell is not yet known. If it is shown later that specific T cells produce it, the TNF-alpha response and the negative IL-4 finding may speak for the importance of the Th1-like pattern in immunity to F. tularensis.