title: Cellular responses to culture-derived soluble exoantigens of Trypanosoma lewisi.
abstract: Soluble exoantigens of Trypanosoma lewisi were obtained from short-culture systems of dividing epimastigotes and non-dividing trypomastigotes incubated in phosphate-buffered saline glucose solution (PBSG) for 3 h at 37 degrees C. Suppression of normal rat-spleen cell responses to mitogen concanavalin A (Con A) occurred at high exoantigens concentrations. The epimastigote-derived exoantigens were more suppressive than the trypomastigote-derived exoantigens. The suppression of Con A stimulation was ablated by the addition of exogenous interleukin-2 (IL-2) or washing of spleen cells that had been incubated with suppressing concentrations of the epimastigote exoantigens for 24 h prior to Con A stimulation. These results strongly suggest that exoantigens of T. lewisi play an important immunoregulatory role during the course of infection and that they achieve this by inhibiting the production of IL-2 by T-helper cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, PQ, Canada.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ndarathi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D014350:Trypanosoma lewisi / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D007376:Interleukin-2