Helicobacter pylori colonizes the gastric mucosa of human and causes chronic gastritis. The previous studies have demonstrated that gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) but not tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) plays a critical role in pathogenesis of gastritis induced by H. pylori infection. In this study we investigated the induction of gastritis induced by H. felis infection in TNF-alpha-deficient mice, comparing with IFN-gamma-deficient mice. The scores of gastritis and epithelial changes of TNF-alpha-deficient mice and IFN-gamma-deficient mice were significantly lower than that of C57BL/6 mice. Moreover, the degrees of gastritis and epithelial changes of TNF-alpha-deficient mice were rather low compared with that of IFN-gamma-deficient mice. In spleen cell cultures stimulated with heat-killed H.fielis, IFN-gamma production by TNF-alpha-deficient mice and TNF-alpha production by IFN-gamma-deficient mice were significantly reduced compared with those in C57BL/6 mice. These results suggested that TNF-alpha is involved in pathogenesis of gastritis induced by H.fielis infection as IFN-gamma and that an interaction between TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma might be required in pathogenesis of gastritis induced by Helicobacter infection. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.