Lima, Luciane Mota, Santos, Silvane Braga, Oliveira, Ricardo Riccio, Cardoso, Luciana Santos, Oliveira, Sergio Costa, Goes, Alfredo Miranda, Loukas, Alex, Carvalho, Edgar M., and Araujo, Maria Ilma (2013) Schistosoma antigens downmodulate the in vitro inflammatory response in individuals infected with human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1. Neuroimmunomodulation, 20 (4). pp. 233-238.

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Abstract

Human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the causal agent of HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). While the immune response to HTLV-1 infection is polarized to the Th1-type, chronic helminth infections drive the Th2- and T regulatory-type, and are able to downregulate the inflammatory response in some autoimmune diseases. Objective: To evaluate whether Schistosoma spp. antigens alter the in vitro cytokine response in HTLV-1 infection. Methods: The recombinant Schistosoma antigens Sm29 and ShTSP2 (tetraspanin) and PIII, a fraction of the Schistosoma mansoni adult worm antigen were added to peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures of HTLV-1-infected individuals and the levels of interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-10 in the supernatants were measured using the ELISA sandwich technique. Results: Compared to the levels of cytokine in nonstimulated cultures, the levels of IFN-γ were reduced in 50, 47 and 50% of patients by the presence of Sm29, ShTsp2 and PIII, respectively. The downregulation of IFN-γ production in the presence of Sm29 antigen was observed mainly in subjects who had lower basal levels of this cytokine. The levels of IL-10, however, increased by the addition of the three antigens in the cultures in 74, 62 and 44% of individuals, respectively. In addition, there was a decrease in the ratio of IFN-γ/IL-10 levels in cultures stimulated with Sm29 and ShTSP2 when compared to nonstimulated ones. Conclusions: The Schistosoma spp. antigens used in this study were able to downmodulate IFN-γ production in vitro in HTLV-1 infection. This may be associated with the increased levels of IL-10 induced by the antigens.

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