Alterations of interferon production in a mouse model of thermal injury

The effects of thermal injury on the response of interferon (IFN) production in vivo and in vitro after stimulation with eight representative inducers was investigated in a mouse model. The response of mice to immune IFN (IFN-γ) inducers, staphylococcal enterotoxin A, concanavalin A, and a specific antigen for BCG-sensitized lymphocytes (purified protein derivative) was impaired after a 30% total body surface area third-degree burn. Suppression of IFN-γ production was observed at day 2 and persisted until day 7 after burn. Decreased IFN-γ production correlated closely with the percentage of total body surface area burned. When virus type IFN (IFN-α/β) inducers, Newcastle disease virus, polyriboinosinic-polyribocytidylic acid, 10-carboxymethyl-9-acridanone, and E. coli endotoxin, were administered to mice, no change in IFN response was observed after thermal injury. Similar results were obtained when spleen cells obtained from thermally injured mice were stimulated with IFN-γ inducers in vitro. These studies suggest that although the capacity for IFN-α/β production remains intact in thermally injured mice, IFN-γ production may be selectively decreased in burned animals and in their spleen cells.