Abstract

Doc number: 123

Abstract

Background: Benznidazole (Bz)-chemotherapy is recommended to prevent Chagas disease progression, despite its limited efficacy during chronic disease. However, the host mechanisms underlying these benefits still remain to be elucidated.

Methods: In this study, we have used short-term whole blood cultures to describe the cytokine profile of Bz-treated Indeterminate Chagas disease patients-(INDt) as compared to untreated patients-(IND).

Results: Our findings showed that IND presented increased levels of IL-10+ neutrophils, IL-12+ and IL-10+ monocytes and IFN-γ+ NK-cells. Moreover, IND showed slight increase of IL-4+ CD4+ T-cells and enhanced levels of IL-10+ CD8+ T-cells and B-cells. Additional analysis of cytokine Low and High producers also highlighted the presence of High cytokine producers within IND, including IL-10 from CD4+ T-cells and IFN-γ from CD8+ T-cells, as compared to NI. The Bz-treatment lead to an overall cytokine down-regulation in the innate and adaptive compartments, including low levels of IL-12+ and IL-10+ neutrophils and monocytes, IFN-γ+ NK-cells, IL-12+ , TNF-α+ , IFN-γ+ and IL-5+ CD4+ T-cells and IL-10+ B-cells, along with basal levels of cytokine-expressing CD8+ T-cells in INDt as compared to IND. The in vitro antigen stimulation shifted the cytokine profile toward a type 1-modulated profile, with increased levels of IL-12+ and IL-10+ monocytes, IFN-γ+ and IL-4+ NK-cells along with TNF-α+ and IFN-γ+ CD8+ T-cells. Analysis of Low and High cytokine producers, upon in vitro antigen stimulation, further confirm these data.

Conclusion: Together, our findings showed that the Bz treatment of Indeterminate Chagas' disease patients shifts the cytokine patterns of peripheral blood monocytes, NK-cells and CD8+ T-cells towards a long-lasting Type-1-modulated profile that could be important to the maintenance of a non-deleterious immunological microenvironment.

Details

Title
Blood leukocytes from benznidazole-treated indeterminate chagas disease patients display an overall type-1-modulated cytokine profile upon short-term in vitro stimulation with trypanosoma cruzi antigens
Author
Sathler-Avelar, Renato; Vitelli-Avelar, Danielle Marquete; Elói-Santos, Silvana Maria; Gontijo, Eliane Dias; Teixeira-Carvalho, Andréa; Martins-Filho, Olindo Assis
Pages
123
Publication year
2012
Publication date
2012
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
14712334
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1224030333
Copyright
© 2012 Sathler-Avelar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.