Sá-Nunes Anderson, Medeiros Alexandra I, Nicolete Roberto, Frantz Fabiani G, Panunto-Castelo Ademilson, Silva Célio L, Faccioli Lúcia H
Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. do Café s/n(o), Ribeirão Preto, SP 14040-903, Brazil.
Microbes Infect. 2005 Apr;7(4):584-92. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2004.12.017. Epub 2005 Mar 14.
Histoplasma capsulatum is a dimorphic pathogenic fungus that causes a wide spectrum of disease when mycelial fragments are inhaled. Resistance to H. capsulatum is dependent on cellular immunity mediated by T cells and macrophages. Here we standardized the production of extracts containing cell-free antigens (CFAgs) and observed their efficacy in evaluating cellular immunity during murine histoplasmosis. CFAgs induced a more potent delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response in H. capsulatum-infected mice than did histoplasmin-a classical antigen. This DTH response to CFAgs is able to determine the immune status of infected mice and to predict their death. Moreover, CFAgs stimulated spleen cells from immune mice to produce higher amounts of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in vitro. Finally, immunization with CFAgs protected against a lethal inoculum of H. capsulatum. These results demonstrate that CFAgs may be useful for the evaluation of cellular immune response and as a potential source for the development of a vaccine against histoplasmosis.
荚膜组织胞浆菌是一种双相致病性真菌，当吸入菌丝体片段时会引发多种疾病。对荚膜组织胞浆菌的抵抗力取决于由T细胞和巨噬细胞介导的细胞免疫。在此，我们对含有无细胞抗原（CFAgs）的提取物的生产进行了标准化，并观察了它们在评估小鼠组织胞浆菌病期间细胞免疫方面的功效。与传统抗原组织胞浆菌素相比，CFAgs在荚膜组织胞浆菌感染的小鼠中诱导了更强的迟发型超敏反应（DTH）。这种对CFAgs的DTH反应能够确定感染小鼠的免疫状态并预测其死亡。此外，CFAgs在体外刺激免疫小鼠的脾细胞产生更高量的γ干扰素（IFN-γ）。最后，用CFAgs免疫可保护小鼠免受荚膜组织胞浆菌致死性接种的侵害。这些结果表明，CFAgs可能有助于评估细胞免疫反应，并作为开发抗组织胞浆菌病疫苗的潜在来源。
