title: Cytokines and visceral leishmaniasis: a comparison of plasma cytokine profiles between the clinical forms of visceral leishmaniasis.
abstract: It is not well established whether cytokine production differs in response to different clinical forms of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In this work, we performed a cross-sectional study to investigate the plasma levels of cytokines [interferon (IFN)-γ, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-10 and IL-12] involved in the pathogenesis of VL in 80 subjects from VL endemic areas, including subjects with active VL, subjects with asymptomatic infection, subjects with cured VL and uninfected controls. The patients were recruited by sampling from a referral hospital and by random selection from a population-based cohort study. The results showed significant differences in the plasma concentration of all cytokines between the groups (p < 0.05). Patients with the active disease had higher plasma levels of IL-10, IL-4, INF-γ and TNF-α relative to the other groups and they produced more IL-12 than asymptomatic and cured subjects. Only the IL-2 concentration was higher in the asymptomatic and cured subjects relative to the patients with active disease (p < 0.05). Our results suggest that these cytokines can be used as markers in epidemiological studies conducted in endemic areas to distinguish between different clinical forms of VL. However, their usefulness should be confirmed in investigations conducted in other endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Saúde Pública, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brasil. alinnesa@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Alinne Silva Andrade
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Graciomar Conceição
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Dorlene Maria Cardoso de
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Aquino
authors.forename: Vitor Rosa Ramos de
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.forename: Aldina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barral
authors.forename: Manoel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barral-Netto
authors.forename: Arlene de Jesus Mendes
authors.initials: Ade J
authors.lastname: Caldas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D007378:Interleukins / Q000097:blood*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D007378:Interleukins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma