Human infection with Ascaris lumbricoides is associated with suppression of the interleukin-2 response to recombinant cholera toxin B subunit following vaccination with the live oral cholera vaccine CVD 103-HgR.
To investigate the potential immunomodulatory effects of concurrent ascariasis on the cytokine response to a live oral vaccine, we measured cytokine responses to cholera toxin B subunit (CT-B) following vaccination with the live oral cholera vaccine CVD 103-HgR in Ascaris lumbricoides-infected subjects randomized in a double-blind study to receive two doses of either albendazole or placebo prior to vaccination and in a group of healthy U.S. controls. Postvaccination cytokine responses to CT-B were characterized by transient increases in the production of interleukin-2 (IL-2; P = 0.02) and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma; P = 0.001) in the three study groups combined; however, postvaccination increases in IFN-gamma were significant only in the albendazole-treated A. lumbricoides infection group (P = 0.008). Postvaccination levels of IL-2 were significantly greater in the albendazole-treated group compared with the placebo group (P = 0.03). No changes in levels of Th1 and Th2 cytokines in response to control ascaris antigens were observed over the same period. These findings indicate that vaccination with CVD 103-HgR is associated with a Th1 cytokine response (IL-2 and IFN-gamma) to CT-B, that infection with A. lumbricoides diminishes the magnitude of this response, and that albendazole treatment prior to vaccination was able to partially reverse the deficit in IL-2. The potential modulation of the immune response to oral vaccines by geohelminth parasites has important implications for the design of vaccination campaigns in geohelminth-endemic areas.
Cooper
P J
PJ
Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. pc102d@hotmail.com
Chico
M
M
Sandoval
C
C
Espinel
I
I
Guevara
A
A
Levine
M M
MM
Griffin
G E
GE
Nutman
T B
TB
D000328:Adult; D015766:Albendazole / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000947:Antigens, Helminth / Q000276:immunology; D001196:Ascariasis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D017164:Ascaris lumbricoides / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D002771:Cholera / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000276:immunology*; D022121:Cholera Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood*; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D014611:Vaccination
D000871:Anthelmintics; D000947:Antigens, Helminth; D022121:Cholera Vaccines; D007376:Interleukin-2; C414990:cholera vaccine CVD 103-HgR; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D002772:Cholera Toxin; D015766:Albendazole