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Lymphocyte-Macrophage Interaction during Control of Intracellular Parasitism
Functional changes in macrophages during the immune response have been under detailed investigation for over a decade; investigation which has revealed an amazing array of activities. The macrophage has been now shown to process antigen, help and activate lymphocytes, induce extracellular cytolysis of microbes and foreign cells, synthesize and release numerous biologic substances; conduct phagocytosis, killing and digestion of microbes; respond to lymphocyte products by changes in migration, chemotaxis, metabolism and microbicidal and static actions; it can be “activated,” “armed,” and “stimulated.”
In our laboratory we have designed experimental models to examine one of these macrophage responses in detail: the response induced by lymphocyte products to effect inhibition of intracellular microbe multiplication. We have focused on this issue more for clinical than experimental reasons—the fact is that important intracellular microbes persist in tissues of the infected person for his lifetime. This persistence has been well documented in tuberculosis, and is considered a part of the life cycle in toxoplasmosis.