Abstract
Taenia solium causes two diseases in humans, cysticercosis and taeniosis. Tapeworm carriers are the main risk factor for neurocysticercosis. Limited information is available about the immune response elicited by the adult parasite, particularly the induction of Th2 responses, frequently associated to helminth infections. Calreticulin is a ubiquitous, multifunctional protein involved in cellular calcium homeostasis, which has been suggested to play a role in the regulation of immune responses. In this work, we assessed the effect of recombinant T. solium calreticulin (rTsCRT) on the cytokine, humoral and cellular responses upon experimental infection in Syrian Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). Animals were infected with T. solium cysticerci and euthanized at different times after infection. Specific serum antibodies, proliferative responses in mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen cells, as well as cytokines messenger RNA (mRNA) were analyzed. The results showed that one third of the infected animals elicited anti-rTsCRT IgG antibodies. Interestingly, mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells from either infected or non-infected animals did not proliferate upon in vitro stimulation with rTsCRT. Additionally, stimulation with a tapeworm crude extract resulted in increased expression of IL-4 and IL-5 mRNA. Upon stimulation, rTsCRT increased the expression levels of IL-10 in spleen and MLN cells from uninfected and infected hamsters. The results showed that rTsCRT favors a Th2-biased immune response characterized by the induction of IL-10 in mucosal and systemic lymphoid organs. Here we provide the first data on the cytokine, antibody and cellular responses to rTsCRT upon in vitro stimulation during taeniasis.
Highlights
Taenia solium is responsible for two diseases in humans, i.e. taeniosis and neurocysticercosis, which are caused by the adult tapeworm and the larval stage, respectively
The identification of TsCRT in Excretion and secretion (E/S) products was performed in supernatants of in vitro cultured tapeworms recovered from immunosuppressed hamsters and analyzed by western blot using specific anti-recombinant T. solium calreticulin (rTsCRT) polyclonal antibodies
Among the proteins present in the T. solium E/S products separated by SDS-PAGE, a band of ~50 kDa reacted with the anti-rTsCRT serum (Fig. 1)
Summary
Taenia solium is responsible for two diseases in humans, i.e. taeniosis and neurocysticercosis, which are caused by the adult tapeworm and the larval stage (cysticercus), respectively. Tapeworms lodge in the small intestine of human beings after ingestion of live cysticerci in contaminated, undercooked pork meat; develop into adult tapeworms and expel gravid proglottids full of eggs in feces. Accidental intake of eggs by humans results in the development of neurocysticercosis, due to the establishment of cysticerci in the central nervous system [1]. Neurocysticercosis is a public health problem in many developing countries [2]. Taeniosis is usually asymptomatic but epidemiological studies have shown that tapeworm carriers are the main risk factor for developing neurocysticercosis [3]. Human beings are the only definitive hosts for T. solium. The use of experimental models, such as the Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), is necessary to study the mechanisms involved in the immune response elicited by the tapeworm [4]
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