Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 98, Issue 9 , Pages 514-519, September 2004

Human schistosomiasis mansoni: intensity of infection differentially affects the production of interleukin-10, interferon-γ and interleukin-13 by soluble egg antigen or adult worm antigen stimulated cultures

  • Alda M.S Silveira

      Affiliations

    • Laboratório de Imunologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, Brazil
  • ,
  • Giovanni Gazzinelli

      Affiliations

    • Santa Casa de Misericódia, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
    • Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Augusto de Lima 1715, 30190-002 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
  • ,
  • Lúcia F Alves-Oliveira

      Affiliations

    • Laboratório de Imunologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, Brazil
  • ,
  • Jeffrey Bethony

      Affiliations

    • Department of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
  • ,
  • Andrea Gazzinelli

      Affiliations

    • Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
  • ,
  • Claudia Carvalho-Queiroz

      Affiliations

    • Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA
  • ,
  • Maria Carolina B Alvarez

      Affiliations

    • Santa Casa de Misericódia, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
  • ,
  • Francisco C Lima-Silva

      Affiliations

    • Santa Casa de Misericódia, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
  • ,
  • Aluizio Prata

      Affiliations

    • Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brazil
  • ,
  • Philip T LoVerde

      Affiliations

    • Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA
  • ,
  • Rodrigo Correa-Oliveira

      Affiliations

    • Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Augusto de Lima 1715, 30190-002 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +55-31-3295-3566; fax: +55-31-3295-3115.

Received 1 July 2003; received in revised form 10 November 2003; accepted 20 November 2003.

Abstract 

The effect of the intensity of infection (eggs per gram faeces, epg) on the production of inteferon-γ (INF-γ), interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-13 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from individuals living in a Schistosoma mansoni-endemic area was evaluated. In vitro stimulation of PBMCs with soluble egg antigen (SEA) resulted in significantly higher secretion levels of IFN-γ in egg-negative individuals compared with those with an intensity of infection of more than 100epg. In contrast, the egg-positive group produced significantly higher amounts of IL-10. Levels of IL-13 did not differ significantly between egg-positive and egg-negative groups. These findings suggest that IL-10 is an important cytokine in the control of the T helper cell (Th) type 1 responses during human S. mansoni infection, shifting the immune response from Th0 in egg-negative individuals from an endemic area to a Th2 polarization in chronic infected individuals.

Keywords:  Schistosomiasis, Schistosoma mansoni, Interferon-γ, Interleukin-10, Interleukin-13, Brazil

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PII: S0035-9203(04)00081-1

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2003.11.009

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume 98, Issue 9 , Pages 514-519, September 2004