Murine chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis: induction by human uveitis mycoplasma-like organisms

Mycoplasma-like organisms (MLO) are non-cultivated intracellular cell wall deficient pathogenic bacteria with a distinctive ultrastructural appearance. Diagnosis of MLO disease rests on finding the organisms in parasitized cells using a transmission electron microscope. MLO are a well studied cause of transmissible chronic plant vascular disease responsive to antibiotics. MLO have recently been found to cause human chronic progressive ophthalmic disease including uveitis. In human uveitis MLO are readily found within parasitized intraocular fluid leucocytes. Inoculation of human uveitis MLO into mouse eyelids produced a high incidence of chronic progressive ophthalmic disease including uveitis. MLO also disseminated to produce randomly distributed lethal systemic inflammatory disease. MLO parasitized leucocytes and microvascular alterations were found in the disease sites by electron microscopy. This report describes the chronic progressive tubulointerstitial nephritis in 12 of 100 human uveitis MLO eyelid inoculated mice versus 0 in 200 control mice (p < 0.0001). MLO parasitized leucocytes accompanied by tubular and microvascular alterations were found by electron microscopy in all 12 inflamed kidneys versus 0 of 4 control kidneys. Pathobiology of the MLO-induced murine nephritis, resemblance of this nephritis to human idiopathic chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis, bacterial molecular biology, and antibiotic therapy of MLO disease are discussed.