Schistosomes are intravascular platyhelminth parasites that are exposed in the blood stream to host immunological effectors. Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) can act in vitro to kill the parasites, and this has been proposed as one important mechanism of antiworm immunity in vivo. In this study, we examined sections of adult Schistosoma mansoni in situ, within the vasculature of strains of mice that exhibit low (Balb/c) or high (CBA) pathology, and in the vasculature of infected chimpanzees, for evidence of cellular inflammation around the worms. In both mouse strains, we observe robust cellular inflammation around the parasite eggs in the intestines and liver tissue. However, we detect no overt cellular inflammation around the mature parasites in vivo. Likewise in the vasculature of infected chimpanzees, no immune cell accumulations are detected around adult schistosomes in situ. These data suggest that the parasites can promote a polar immune response that targets eggs (and assists the eggs to exit the host and continue the life cycle) but that does not effectively target the source of those eggs, namely, the adult worms.
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December 2006
Research Article|
December 01 2006
No Overt Cellular Inflammation Around Intravascular Schistosomes In Vivo
John H. Keating;
John H. Keating
aDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton, Massachusetts 01536
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R. Alan Wilson;
R. Alan Wilson
bUniversity of York, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 373, York YO10 5YW, U.K.
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Patrick J. Skelly
Patrick J. Skelly
c
†To whom correspondence should be addressed. patrick.skelly@tufts.edu
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J Parasitol (2006) 92 (6): 1365–1369.
Citation
John H. Keating, R. Alan Wilson, Patrick J. Skelly; No Overt Cellular Inflammation Around Intravascular Schistosomes In Vivo. J Parasitol 1 December 2006; 92 (6): 1365–1369. doi: https://doi.org/10.1645/GE-864R.1
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