Immunopathology of human schistosomiasis mansoni: II. NK activity and stimulation by specific antigen

Sixteen S. mansoni infected and untreated patients (5 with recent infection and 11 with chronic disease) were evaluated for their in vitro natural killer (NK) activity against the NK sensitive target K562 cell line. NK levels in 9 out of 11 patients (82%) with chronic disease were significantly lowe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
Main Authors: L. K. Benarroch, O. Noya, B. Noya, N. E. Bianco, I. Blanca
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 1988
Subjects:
Natural Killer cells (NK)
S. mansoni
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
RC955-962
Infectious and parasitic diseases
RC109-216
Arctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46651988000600002
https://doaj.org/article/0a06dd17174147dca29fab52b45c70e2
Description
Summary:Sixteen S. mansoni infected and untreated patients (5 with recent infection and 11 with chronic disease) were evaluated for their in vitro natural killer (NK) activity against the NK sensitive target K562 cell line. NK levels in 9 out of 11 patients (82%) with chronic disease were significantly lower (mean = 15 ± 6%),compared with patients recently infected (mean = 41 ± 9% p < 0.001) and with the control group (mean = 38 ± 13% p < 0.001). However, both patients and controls NK activity was stimulated by soluble adult worm antigens (SAWA), indicating that NK function even in the chronic stage of the infection is able to respond to the parasite antigens. These results suggest the possibility of NK cell participation as effector mechanism against S. mansoni.

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