Abstract
Several parasites have evolved to survive in the human intestinal tract and over 1 billion people around the world, specifically in developing countries, are infected with enteric helminths. Trichuris trichiura is one of the world’s most common intestinal parasites that causes human parasitic infections. Trichuris muris, as an immunologically well-defined mouse model of T. trichiura, is extensively used to study different aspects of the innate and adaptive components of the immune system. Studies on T. muris model offer insights into understanding host immunity, since this parasite generates two distinct immune responses in resistant and susceptible strains of mouse. Apart from the immune cells, T. muris infection also influences various components of the intestinal tract, especially the gut microbiota, mucus layer, epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells. Here, we reviewed the different immune responses generated by innate and adaptive immune components during acute and chronic T. muris infections. Furthermore, we discussed the importance of studying T. muris model in understanding host–parasite interaction in the context of alteration in the host’s microbiota, intestinal barrier, inflammation, and host defense, and in parasite infection-mediated modulation of other immune and inflammatory diseases.
Highlights
Intestinal parasites are one of the most important parasites in terms of their widespread prevalence, and they have major socioeconomic impacts on both developing and developed countries by affecting human and animal well-being, productivity, and agriculture
The T. muris life cycle and immune response generated against T. muris infection are affected by various factors, including host genetic background, host strain, gender, dose of infection and T. muris worm strains
A wide range of innate immune cells responds to T. muris infection via presenting Ags to adaptive immune cells, participating in antibodydependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and by producing cytokines
Summary
Intestinal parasites are one of the most important parasites in terms of their widespread prevalence, and they have major socioeconomic impacts on both developing and developed countries by affecting human and animal well-being, productivity, and agriculture. The initial recruitment of DCs occurs several days before the production of adaptive immune responses [27,31,32] These findings suggest that DCs may have an important role in determining and generating effective immune responses against T. muris infection, in particular during the initial stages of infection. High dose infection in resistant mice, which promotes Th2 immunity, drives mast cell accumulation [42] and increases worm expulsion. A lack of vitamin A led to a significant increase in IL-13-producing ILC2s and T. muris resistance; nutritional stress can be beneficial in response to parasite infections through ILC2 development [54] This mechanistic finding using the T. muris model can partly explain why vitamin A supplementation had no protective effect on soil-transmitted helminthic re-infection [55,56]
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