Rôle de l'interféron et du thymus dans la pathogenèse de l'infection rabique chez la souris

Abstract Street rabies virus inoculated mice which were pretreated with anti-interferon globulins one hour before showed an increased sensitivity to the infection. This phenomenon was highly enhanced when anti-interferon globulins was used in Nude athymic mice infected with street rabies virus. Mortality occurred later in Nude mice, and these mice showed an unusual symptomatic pattern particularly with lack of paralysis. Virus titres were shown to reach higher levels in Nude mice than in controls, and infectious virus particles could be detected in the salivary glands of these mice. Fluorescence studies showed that, in Nude mice, accumulation of specific rabies antigen was much more important than in controls, whether they were or not treated by anti-interferon globulins. These observations were confirmed by electron microscopy studies. Thus it appears that street rabies-induced interferon do have a protective role in the mouse model. The evolution of rabies disease depends on the various immune parameters among which cell-mediated immunity contributes in the dual action of neutralizing the virus and promoting an immunopathological process.