Yokota T, Tachibana N, Shishime E, Okayama A, Tsuda K
Kansenshogaku Zasshi. 1989 Oct;63(10):1149-59. doi: 10.11150/kansenshogakuzasshi1970.63.1149.
The immune response in human tsutsugamushi disease (scrub typhus) was studied. Anti-rickettsial activity of sera, peripheral mononuclear cells and their culture supernatants from patients on in vitro growth of Rickettsia tsutsugamushi proliferating in normal human peripheral macrophages was examined. The results obtained were as follows. 1) Sera from patients at the early convalescent stage, which exhibited high antibody titers against R. tsutsugamushi, effectively inhibited their growth in macrophages. 2) Sera from patients after a long period from the onset showed low antibody titers and did not inhibit rickettsial growth. 3) Mononuclear cells and T cell enriched fractions suppressed rickettsial growth when they were obtained from the patients at the early convalescent stage and even after as long as 3.5 years from the onset. 4) The culture supernatants of the T cell-enriched fractions which were collected from the patients mentioned above, exhibited a similar antirickettsial activity. These findings indicate that sensitized T lymphocytes and macrophages might play a fundamental role in immunological defense mechanism in tsutsugamushi disease. And the results obtained in our experiments are compatible with those previously reported in experimental scrub typhus in laboratory animals such as mice and monkeys.
对人类恙虫病（丛林斑疹伤寒）的免疫反应进行了研究。检测了恙虫病患者血清、外周血单个核细胞及其培养上清液对恙虫病立克次体在正常人外周巨噬细胞中体外生长的抗立克次体活性。结果如下：1）处于恢复期早期的患者血清，其针对恙虫病立克次体的抗体滴度较高，能有效抑制其在巨噬细胞中的生长。2）发病后长期患者的血清抗体滴度较低，不能抑制立克次体生长。3）从恢复期早期患者甚至发病后长达3.5年的患者中获取的单个核细胞和富含T细胞的组分可抑制立克次体生长。4）从上述患者收集的富含T细胞组分的培养上清液表现出类似的抗立克次体活性。这些发现表明，致敏T淋巴细胞和巨噬细胞可能在恙虫病的免疫防御机制中起重要作用。并且我们实验中获得的结果与先前在小鼠和猴子等实验动物的实验性丛林斑疹伤寒中报道的结果一致。
