Single-sex infection with female Schistosoma mansoni cercariae mitigates hepatic fibrosis after secondary infection.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
; 11(5): e0005595, 2017 May.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28542175
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Infection with Schistosoma spp. affects more than 258 million people worldwide. Current treatment strategies are mainly based on the anthelmintic Praziquantel, which is effective against adult worms but neither prevents re-infection nor cures severe liver damage. The best long-term strategy to control schistosomiasis may be to develop an immunization. Therefore, we designed a two-step Schistosoma mansoni infection model to study the immune-stimulating effect of a primary infection with either male or female cercariae, measured on the basis of TH1/TH2-response, granuloma size and hepatic fibrosis after a secondary bisexual S. mansoni challenge. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLEFINDINGS:
As a first step, mice were infected with exclusively female, exclusively male, or a mixture of male and female S. mansoni cercariae. 11 weeks later they were secondarily infected with male and female S. mansoni cercariae. At week 19, infection burden, granuloma size, collagen deposition, serum cytokine profiles and the expression of inflammatory genes were analyzed. Mice initially infected with female S. mansoni cercariae displayed smaller hepatic granulomas, livers and spleens, less hepatic fibrosis and higher expression of Ctla4. In contrast, a prior infection with male or male and female S. mansoni did not mitigate disease progression after a bisexual challenge. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:
Our findings provide evidence that an immunization against S. mansoni is achievable by exploiting gender-specific differences between schistosomes.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
1_ASSA2030
/
3_ND
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Schistosoma mansoni
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Esquistossomose mansoni
/
Cirrose Hepática
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
PLoS Negl Trop Dis
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article