Weisman Ziva, Kalinkovich Alexander, Stein Miguel, Greenberg Zalman, Borkow Gad, Adlerstein David, Mahdi Jemal Ali, Bentwich Zvi
Kaplan Medical Center, Ben-Ari Institute of Clinical Immunology and AIDS Center, Rehovot, Israel.
Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Pathog Immun. 2017 Jul 10;2(2):293-307. doi: 10.20411/pai.v2i2.205. eCollection 2017.
Helminth infection has a profound effect on the immune system. However, the precise nature of the immune changes that are elicited by helminth infection have not been sufficiently characterized. Furthermore, the reversibility of these changes after treatment has not been documented sufficiently. We studied the immune profiles of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel at baseline, that is on arrival and at one-year follow-up and compared individuals who received antihelminth treatment during the study period with those who missed the treatment.
A longitudinal follow up study involving different groups of subjects was conducted. Baseline data was recorded from the newly arrived Ethiopian immigrants for a series of peripheral blood tests, including: IgE and Eosinophil levels, T-cell populations, T-cell receptor phenotypes, and cytokine measurement. These tests were all repeated after a 1-year interval. Results were compared between the newly arrived Ethiopian immigrants (NEW-Eth-Il), long term Ethiopian immigrants (LT-Eth-Il), and non Ethiopian Israeli controls (NON-Imm-Il).
Of the 184 individuals, 111 were NEW-Eth-Il, who had a high prevalence of helminth infection, the immunological changes were elevated IgE levels and eosinophil counts, decreased CD4/CD8 ratio, increased proportion of HLA-DR+CD3+, HLA-DR+CD4+ and HLA-DR+CD8+ cells, decreased proportion of CD45RA+CD4+ (naive) and CD28+CD8+ cells, increased proportion of CD45RO+CD4+ (memory) cells, and increased secretion of IL-4 and IL-5 (Th2 type cytokines). In the 42 LT-Eth-Il participants, who all had negative tests for helminth infection, we did not observe these immune changes and their immune profile did not differ markedly from that of the NON-Imm-Il controls. The follow-up immune profiles of 33 NEW-Eth-Il who received succesful antihelminth treatment, showed a significant normalization in the above-mentioned variables that was not observed in the 19 NEW-Eth-Il who missed and did not receive the antihelminth treatment.
These findings demonstrate that helminth infection is associated with profound immune changes that are normalized within a short time after helminth eradication. They also strengthen the hypothesis that effective antihelminth interventions, in areas endemic for intestinal helminths, may have an impact on AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics.
蠕虫感染对免疫系统有深远影响。然而，蠕虫感染引发的免疫变化的确切性质尚未得到充分描述。此外，治疗后这些变化的可逆性也未得到充分记录。我们研究了埃塞俄比亚移民到以色列时（即抵达时）以及随访一年时的免疫状况，并比较了在研究期间接受抗蠕虫治疗的个体与未接受治疗的个体。
进行了一项涉及不同受试者组的纵向随访研究。记录了新抵达的埃塞俄比亚移民的一系列外周血检测基线数据，包括：免疫球蛋白E（IgE）和嗜酸性粒细胞水平、T细胞群体、T细胞受体表型以及细胞因子检测。这些检测在间隔一年后全部重复进行。对新抵达的埃塞俄比亚移民（NEW-Eth-Il）、长期埃塞俄比亚移民（LT-Eth-Il）和非埃塞俄比亚以色列对照（NON-Imm-Il）的结果进行了比较。
在184名个体中，111名是NEW-Eth-Il，他们蠕虫感染率很高，免疫变化包括IgE水平和嗜酸性粒细胞计数升高、CD4/CD8比值降低、HLA-DR+CD3+、HLA-DR+CD4+和HLA-DR+CD8+细胞比例增加、CD-45RA+CD4+（初始）和CD28+CD8+细胞比例降低、CD45RO+CD4+（记忆）细胞比例增加以及白细胞介素-4（IL-4）和白细胞介素-5（IL-5）（Th2型细胞因子）分泌增加。在42名LT-Eth-Il参与者中，他们的蠕虫感染检测均为阴性，我们未观察到这些免疫变化，并且他们的免疫状况与NON-Imm-Il对照无明显差异。33名接受成功抗蠕虫治疗的NEW-Eth-Il的随访免疫状况显示，上述变量有显著恢复正常的情况，而在19名未接受抗蠕虫治疗的NEW-Eth-Il中未观察到这种情况。
这些发现表明，蠕虫感染与深刻的免疫变化相关，蠕虫根除后短时间内这些变化会恢复正常。它们还强化了这样一种假设，即在肠道蠕虫流行地区，有效的抗蠕虫干预措施可能对艾滋病和结核病疫情产生影响。
