Abstract
BackgroundHumoral and cellular immune responses play protective roles against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. However, hookworm infection decreases the immune response to hookworm and bystander antigens. Currently, immune responses to co-infection of MTB and hookworm are still unknown, although co-infection has been one of the public health problems in co-endemic areas of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and hookworm disease. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate B and T cell immune responses to the co-infection.MethodsSeventeen PTB cases co-infected with hookworm, 26 PTB cases, 15 patients with hookworm infection, and 24 healthy controls without PTB or hookworm infection were enrolled in the study. Expressions of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD10, CD19, CD20, CD21, CD25, CD27, CD38, FoxP3, and PD-1 were assessed on B and T cell subsets using multicolor flow cytometry.ResultsFor the B cell (CD19+) subsets, naïve B cells (CD10−CD27−CD21+CD20+), plasma cells (CD10−CD27+CD21−CD20−), and tissue-like memory B cells (CD10−CD27−CD21−CD20+) had higher proportions, whilst resting memory B cells (CD10−CD27+CD21+CD20+) had lower proportions in the group co-infected with MTB and hookworm as compared to other groups. Frequencies of activated memory B cells (CD10−CD27+CD21−CD20+) did not differ among the four groups. For the T cell (CD3+) subsets, frequencies of regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) and exhausted CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (CD4+PD-1+ and CD8+PD-1+) were higher, and frequencies of activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (CD4+CD38+ and CD8+CD38+) were lower in the co-infected group as compared to the other groups.ConclusionThe change patterns of the cell profile of circulating lymphocytes were indentified in human co-infection of MTB and hookworm, which might indicate that the humoral and cellular immune responses are more suppressed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-015-0046-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Humoral and cellular immune responses play protective roles against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection
Findings of this study showed that coinfection of MTB and hookworm increased proportions of tissue-like memory B cells in contrast with MTB infection, which demonstrated that activation of memory B cells and the humoral response against pathogens might be lower in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases when they are co-infected with hookworm
We found that co-infection of MTB and hookworm reduced frequencies of resting memory B cells compared to hookworm infection, which was further proof that the humoral response is more suppressed in patients with hookworm when they are co-infected with MTB
Summary
Humoral and cellular immune responses play protective roles against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. Immune responses to co-infection of MTB and hookworm are still unknown, co-infection has been one of the public health problems in co-endemic areas of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and hookworm disease. Tuberculosis (TB) and hookworm infection are among the most important public health problems worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that hookworm infection afflicted an estimated 740 million people in the developing nations of the tropics in 2003, and the largest numbers of cases occurred in impoverished rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and China [2]. It is essential to profile the human co-infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and hookworm
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