title: Anti-leishmanial IgE antibodies: a marker of active disease in visceral leishmaniasis.
abstract: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is characterized by a depression of the T helper cell type 1 immune response. Although mRNA expression for interleukin-4 (IL-4) is observed, evidence of the role of this cytokine in the pathogenesis of VL has been lacking. Since IL-4 is involved in IgE synthesis, we measured the total IgE and Leishmania antigen-specific IgE antibody levels in sera from patients with VL. Specific IgE antibodies detected by an ELISA technique after absorbing the sera with purified sheep IgG anti-human IgG were found in all 23 patients with VL and were not detected in subjects with subclinical Leishmania chagasi infection (n = 10), Chagas' disease (n = 10), atopic patients (n = 10), and healthy controls (n = 10). Levels of Leishmania-specific IgE (optical density values) before and after treatment were 0.100 +/- 0.03 (mean +/- SD) and 0.028 +/- 0.002, respectively (P < 0.05). These results indicate that a specific IgE response is useful in the diagnosis of active disease and to evaluate response to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Análises Clinicas e Toxicológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Atta
authors.lastname: D'Oliveira
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Atta
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D018314:Leishmania infantum / Q000276:immunology*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D007970:Leukopenia / Q000209:etiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007073:Immunoglobulin E