Journal article
Characterising the mucosal and systemic immune responses to experimental human hookworm infection
S Gaze, HJ McSorley, J Daveson, D Jones, JM Bethony, LM Oliveira, R Speare, JS McCarthy, CR Engwerda, J Croese, A Loukas
Plos Pathogens | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2012
Open access
Abstract
The mucosal cytokine response of healthy humans to parasitic helminths has never been reported. We investigated the systemic and mucosal cytokine responses to hookworm infection in experimentally infected, previously hookworm naive individuals from non-endemic areas. We collected both peripheral blood and duodenal biopsies to assess the systemic immune response, as well as the response at the site of adult worm establishment. Our results show that experimental hookworm infection leads to a strong systemic and mucosal Th2 (IL-4, IL-5, IL-9 and IL-13) and regulatory (IL-10 and TGF-β) response, with some evidence of a Th1 (IFN-γ and IL-2) response. Despite upregulation after patency of both IL-..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This research was supported by grants from the Broad Foundation and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). AL is supported by a senior research fellowship from NHMRC. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.