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

Silveira, Alda M.S; Gazzinelli, Giovanni; Alves-Oliveira, Lúcia F; Bethony, Jeffrey; Gazzinelli, Andrea; Carvalho-Queiroz, Claudia; Alvarez, Maria Carolina B; Lima-Silva, Francisco C; Prata, Aluizio; LoVerde, Philip T; Correa-Oliveira, Rodrigo

doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2003.11.009

« Previous Next »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
- Laboratório de Imunologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, Brazil
Giovanni Gazzinelli
- 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
- Laboratório de Imunologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde. Universidade Vale do Rio Doce, Governador Valadares, Brazil
Jeffrey Bethony
- Department of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
Andrea Gazzinelli
- Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Claudia Carvalho-Queiroz
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA
Maria Carolina B Alvarez
- Santa Casa de Misericódia, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Francisco C Lima-Silva
- Santa Casa de Misericódia, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Aluizio Prata
- Medicina Tropical, Faculdade de Medicina do Triângulo Mineiro, Uberaba, MG, Brazil
Philip T LoVerde
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA
Rodrigo Correa-Oliveira
- Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Augusto de Lima 1715, 30190-002 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
- Corresponding 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.