Driciru Emmanuella, Koopman Jan Pieter R, Steenbergen Sanne, Sonnet Friederike, Stam Koen A, Bes-Roeleveld Laura de, Iliopoulou Eva, Janse Jacqueline J, Sijtsma Jeroen, Nambuya Irene, Hilt Stan T, König Marion, Kruize Yvonne, Casacuberta-Partal Miriam, Egesa Moses, van Dam Govert J, Corstjens Paul L A M, van Lieshout Lisette, Mpairwe Harriet, MacDonald Andrew S, Yazdanbakhsh Maria, Elliott Alison M, Roestenberg Meta, Houlder Emma L
Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
Schistosomiasis Focus Area, Vaccine Research Theme, Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 24;16(1):6827. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62144-8.
In Schistosoma-endemic regions a lack of natural sterilizing immunity means individuals are repeatedly infected, treated and reinfected. Due to difficulties in tracking natural infection, kinetics of host immune response during these reinfections have not been elucidated. Here, we use repeated (3x) controlled-human-Schistosoma mansoni infection (CHI) to study how antigen-specific T cells develop during reinfection (NCT05085470 study). We compared these responses to naturally infected endemic Ugandan individuals (HALLMARK study). A mixed Th1/Th2/regulatory CD4 T cell response develops in repeated CHI. Adult-worm-specific responses after repeated CHI were similar to endemic-natural infection. However, endemic participants showed differential responses to egg- and cercariae-antigens. Repeated CHI with sequential exposure to cercariae of different sexes (male-female-male) revealed an elevated CD4 T cell cytokine response to adult-worm and egg-antigens. Our findings demonstrate that single-sex schistosome infection elicits adult-worm-specific T cell cytokine responses that reflect endemic-natural infection. This study advances our understanding of the immunology of schistosome (re)infection in the human host.
在血吸虫病流行地区,缺乏天然的杀菌免疫力意味着个体反复感染、接受治疗并再次感染。由于追踪自然感染存在困难,这些再次感染期间宿主免疫反应的动力学尚未阐明。在此,我们利用重复(3次)的曼氏血吸虫人体可控感染(CHI)来研究再次感染期间抗原特异性T细胞是如何发育的(NCT05085470研究)。我们将这些反应与自然感染的乌干达流行地区个体(HALLMARK研究)进行了比较。在重复的CHI中会产生混合的Th1/Th2/调节性CD4 T细胞反应。重复CHI后的成虫特异性反应与流行地区的自然感染相似。然而,流行地区的参与者对虫卵和尾蚴抗原表现出不同的反应。依次接触不同性别的尾蚴(雄-雌-雄)进行重复CHI,结果显示对成虫和虫卵抗原的CD4 T细胞细胞因子反应增强。我们的研究结果表明,单性血吸虫感染会引发成虫特异性T细胞细胞因子反应,这反映了流行地区的自然感染情况。这项研究推进了我们对人体宿主中血吸虫(再)感染免疫学的理解。