Increased Levels of Antibodies to IFN-γ in Human and Experimental African Trypanosomiasis |
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| Authors: | C. BONFANTI,A. CARUSO,M. BAKHIET,T. OLSSON,A. TURANO,K. KRISTENSSONP&dagger |
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| Affiliation: | Institute of Microbiology, University of Brescia, Italy;Department of Neurology, Huddinge Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden and;Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | In African trypanosomiasis the occurrence of antibodies to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was studied in both humans and experimental rats. Sera from patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense showed increased levels of antibodies to IFN-γ as compared with controls from the same regions in Africa. In Sprague-Dawley rats infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei an early appearance of IFN-γ-producing spleen cells was observed, followed by an increase in levels of antibodies against IFN-γ in the sera. Previously, IFN-γ has been found to play a crucial role in trypanosome infections in rats by promoting proliferation of Trypanosoma brucei brucei . The appearance of antibodies to IFN-γ in humans, as in rats, indicates that this cytokine is produced also in the human infection. Its parasitic growthstimulating and pathophysiological effects on the organism may be reduced by the antibodies. |
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