Nutritional effects on host response to lung infections with mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa in mice.

In cystic fibrosis, a recessive genetic disease caused by defects in the cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR), the main cause of death is lung infection and inflammation. Nutritional deficits have been proposed to contribute to the excessive host inflammatory response in both humans and Cftr-knockout mice. Cftr-knockout mice and gut-corrected Cftr-knockout mice expressing human CFTR primarily in the gut were challenged with Pseudomonas aeruginosa-laden agarose beads; they responded similarly with respect to bronchoalveolar lavage cell counts and levels of the acute-phase cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and IL-6.