Whereas selective activation of chemotactic factors can help the parasite to recruit M∅s and neutrophils that they can infect and/or utilize during the initial step of infection, treatment of susceptible BALB/c with recombinant IP-10 in the early course of L. major infection has been shown to increase NK cell cytotoxic activity in the draining lymph nodes and to drive a healing IFN-γ-mediated Th1 response [62]. This evidence concerns the gene IFNG and infection.