Spontaneous murine thymocyte comitogenic activity consistent with interleukin-1 in cattle naturally infected with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis

The production of comitogenic activity consistent with interleukin-1 (IL-1) activity by blood monocytes from cattle with naturally acquired paratuberculosis was examined by murine thymocyte proliferation. In addition, IL-1-like activity in response to homologous and heterologous antigens was determined. Activity was determined in nine cattle naturally infected with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and six non-infected cattle. Comitogenic properties were measured in response to M. paratuberculosis antigen (johnin), bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a positive control, and culture media as a negative control. Monocytes from infected cattle spontaneously released high levels of IL-1-like activity in the absence of stimuli and significantly (P less than 0.05) increased activity in response to LPS. With johnin, M. bovis PPD and KLH stimulation, comitogenic activity was similar to spontaneous levels. Non-infected cattle had significantly (P less than 0.05) increased comitogenic activity when blood monocytes were stimulated with KLH, M. bovis PPD, johnin, and lipopolysaccharide when compared with non-stimulated cells in that group. Johnin produced the greatest response in non-infected animals. The data suggest that blood monocytes in infected cattle are non-specifically activated with respect to IL-1 production. Alternatively, a defective regulatory mechanism for IL-1 may be operative in infected cattle. In addition, the previous observation that mycobacterial antigens are potent inducers of IL-1 was also verified.