ACQUISITION AND LOSS OF ANTIGEN-SPECIFIC CELLULAR IMMUNE RESPONSIVENESS IN ACUTE AND CHRONIC SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN MAN

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 33  (1) , 38-47
Abstract
To characterize the development and evolution of cellular immune responsiveness in individuals infected with the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, 15 patients with acute, subacute and chronic schistosomiasis were studied. Lymphocytes from the 3 acutely infected patients responded vigorously to schistosome antigens in an in vitro blastogenic assay. Cells from 9 chronically infected individuals were essentially unreactive to these same antigens. Patients infected for an intermediate period of time (9 mo.) generated responses between those of acute and chronic patients. The diminished responsiveness of chronically infected individuals was specific for schistosome antigens and did not extend to humoral immune responses. Following treatment of the infection with niridazole, these patients temporarily regained responsiveness to schistosome antigens. Apparently during the course of this parasitic helminth infection there develops a progressive and specific modulation of antigen recognition and proliferation by lymphocytes to schistosome antigens, and such diminished immune reactivity may be important in maintaining the unique biological relationship which exists between a host and its parasites.