[Study of beta-defensin-2 gene expression in the pulmonary tissue of the older rat stimulated by pneumococcal vaccine polyvalent].

Objective: To investigate the effect of pneumococcal vaccine polyvalent (pneumovax23) on defensin-2 gene expression in older rats.
Methods: Twenty older male Wistar rats (18-22 months) weighing (600 +/- 50) g were randomly allocated into two groups. The rats of experimental group were intraperitoneally injected with pneumovax23 0.2 ml/kg; the rats of control group were intraperitoneally injected with equivalent normal saline. Semiquantitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to detect beta-defensin-2 mRNA expression; beta-actin was used as the internal standard.
Results: The expression of beta-defensin-2 gene increased in the experimental group, as compared with that in the control group.
Conclusion: Pneumovax23 can upregulate the expression of rBD-2 gene in the lung tissue and enhance the body local immunity. These experimental data indicate that Pneumovax23 can be used to enhance beta-defensin-2 and hence protect the old rats from pneumococci.