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To assess the role of interleukin-1 (IL-1) in cutaneous leishmaniasis, Leishmania major-infected mice were treated with an anti-IL-1 receptor monoclonal antibody, LA-15.6. MoAb LA-15.6 prevents binding of IL-1 to both the T cell and B cell/macrophage forms of the IL-1 receptor. We found that treating with LA 15.6 inhibited the development of cutaneous lesions of L. major in both genetically-susceptible and resistant mice. Interestingly, this treatment had little or no effect on parasite numbers in the lesions or on the cytokines (interferon-gamma, interleukin-4) that the animals produced in response to infection with the parasite. These results suggest that although IL-1 plays a detrimental role in cutaneous leishmaniasis, it does not mediate this effect by altering the parasite-specific T cell response.

Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that the infectivity of the protozoan parasite Leishmania major was enhanced in mice if the infecting inoculum contained salivary gland lysates from the sand fly vector Lutzomyia longipalpis. The present study was designed to address the hypothesis that sand fly salivary gland material may function by inhibiting the host immune response. Results indicated that sand fly saliva inhibited the ability of macrophages to present leishmanial antigens to parasite-specific T cells.