Immune Responses during Human Schistosomiasis Mansoni.

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Abstract
T lymphocyte immunoregulatory subsets (T4+ and T8- cells) were analyzed in 8 cases of hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni, and compared to parallel analyses of 7 intestinal Schistosoma mansoni-infected patients and 4 uninfected control subjects. The mean T4+:T8+ ratio in hepatosplenic cases was markedly less than observed in other groups (0.94 vs. 1.86 vs. 2.22, respectively). Proliferative responses stimulated by a soluble adult worm extract correlated directly with the observed T:4T8 ratios. Normal levels of E rosette-positive and surface Ig-bearing lymphoid cells were observed in intestinal patients, while hepatosplenic patients demonstrated normal B lymphocyte proportions but highly erratic E rosette-positive percentages. In hepatosplenic patients the percentage of E rosette-positive cells often did not correlate with the proportion of T3+ cells.