Incidence of Apoptosis in the Lymphoid Organs of Normal or Malaria Infected Mice is Decreased in CD18 and Urokinase - Receptor (UPAR, CD87) Deficient Mice

Incidence of apoptosis was investigated in the spleen and lymph nodes of +/+, CD18 -/- and urokinase receptor (uPAR, CD87) -/- mice, untreated or Plasmodium Berghei Anka (PbA) infected. In non infected mice, incidence of apoptosis was lower in the lymph nodes of CD18 -/- and uPAR -/- than in +/+ mice, as seen by FACS analysis to count the number of hypodiploid and Annexin-V binding cells. Infection of mice with PbA resulted in a marked increase in the size of spleen and lymph nodes 7-8 days after infection, which was slightly higher in uPAR -/- and CD 18 -/- than in +/+ mice. PbA infection increased about 7 fold the incidence of apoptosis in the lymphoid organs of +/+, especially in the white pulp and germinal centers of the spleen and lymph nodes, while in contrast it was unchanged in PbA infected CD 18 -/- or uPAR -/- mice. Serum IgG levels, and number of circulating leukocytes were significantly higher in both uPAR and CD18 -/- than in +/+ mice. These results indicate that the CD18 and uPAR surface molecules, which are known to be associated in the cell membrane, have an important influence upon the incidence of cell survival in both normal or stimulated lymphoid organs.