Anuradha Rajamanickam, Munisankar Saravanan, Bhootra Yukti, Dolla Chandrakumar, Kumaran Paul, Nutman Thomas B, Babu Subash
National Institutes of Health-NIRT-International Center for Excellence in Research, Chennai, India.
National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 May 1;11(5):e0005569. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005569. eCollection 2017 May.
BACKGROUND / OBJECTIVES: Helminth infections are known to influence T cell responses in latent tuberculosis (LTBI). Whether helminth infections also modulate B cell responses in helminth-tuberculosis co-infection is not known.
We assessed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-antigen specific IgM and IgG levels, circulating levels of the B cell growth factors, BAFF and APRIL and the absolute numbers of the various B cell subsets in individuals with LTBI, LTBI with coincident Strongyloides stercoralis (Ss) infection (LTBI/Ss) and in those with Ss infection alone (Ss). We also measured the above-mentioned parameters in the LTBI-Ss group after anthelmintic therapy.
Our data reveal that LTBI-Ss exhibit significantly diminished levels of Mtb-specific IgM and IgG, BAFF and APRIL levels in comparison to those with LTBI. Similarly, those with LTBI-Ss had significantly diminished numbers of all B cell subsets (naïve, immature, classical memory, activated memory, atypical memory and plasma cells) compared to those with LTBI. There was a positive correlation between Mtb-antigen specific IgM and IgG levels and BAFF and APRIL levels that were in turn related to the numbers of activated memory B cells, atypical memory B cells and plasma cells. Finally, anthelmintic treatment resulted in significantly increased levels of Mtb-antigen specific IgM and IgG levels and the numbers of each of the B cell subsets.
Our data, therefore, reveal that Ss infection is associated with significant modulation of Mtb-specific antibody responses, the levels of B cell growth factors and the numbers of B cells (and their component subsets).
背景/目的：已知蠕虫感染会影响潜伏性结核（LTBI）中的T细胞反应。但蠕虫感染是否也会调节蠕虫-结核合并感染中的B细胞反应尚不清楚。
我们评估了LTBI患者、合并粪类圆线虫（Ss）感染的LTBI患者（LTBI/Ss）以及仅感染Ss的患者中结核分枝杆菌（Mtb）抗原特异性IgM和IgG水平、B细胞生长因子BAFF和APRIL的循环水平以及各种B细胞亚群的绝对数量。我们还在驱虫治疗后测量了LTBI-Ss组的上述参数。
我们的数据显示，与LTBI患者相比，LTBI-Ss患者的Mtb特异性IgM和IgG水平、BAFF和APRIL水平显著降低。同样，与LTBI患者相比，LTBI-Ss患者所有B细胞亚群（幼稚、未成熟、经典记忆、活化记忆、非典型记忆和浆细胞）的数量显著减少。Mtb抗原特异性IgM和IgG水平与BAFF和APRIL水平之间呈正相关，而这又与活化记忆B细胞、非典型记忆B细胞和浆细胞的数量相关。最后，驱虫治疗导致Mtb抗原特异性IgM和IgG水平以及每个B细胞亚群的数量显著增加。
因此，我们的数据表明，Ss感染与Mtb特异性抗体反应、B细胞生长因子水平以及B细胞（及其组成亚群）数量的显著调节有关。
