title: The effect of three-monthly albendazole treatment on Th2 responses: Differential effects on IgE and IL-5.
abstract: Helminth parasites induce a strong Th2 response, characterized by high levels of IgE and elevated signature cytokines such as IL-5. As many global deworming programmes are underway, there is concern that this might lead to emergence of Th1-mediated pathologies when the counterbalancing helminth-induced Th2 response is absent. Therefore, we assessed the effect of deworming on Th2-mediated responses in a household-clustered randomized controlled trial in Indonesia. Total plasma IgE and whole-blood IL-5 responses to mitogen phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) were measured in 1494 and 682 subjects, respectively, at baseline, 9 and 21 months after three-monthly single-dose treatment with albendazole or placebo. Anthelmintic treatment did not result in complete removal of helminth infections in the community. However, treatment significantly decreased IgE levels in albendazole- compared to placebo-treated subjects. IL-5 responses to PHA were not significantly affected by anthelmintic treatment and tended to increase in albendazole-treated subjects, indicating that intensive treatment of helminth parasites has different outcomes on B-cell (IgE levels) and T-cell (IL-5) responses. The data shows that 2 years of deworming can have differential effects on responses typified as Th2-mediated, which needs to be taken into account when examining the impact of helminths on noncommunicable diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: K
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1851-1346
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: de Ruiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Tahapary
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wammes
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
authors.forename: A E
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6482-424X
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Wiria
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van Lieshout
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.|Department of Internal Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J W A
authors.initials: JWA
authors.lastname: Smit
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Statistics and Bioinformatics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.|Department of Statistics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Houwing-Duistermaat
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sartono
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Supali
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yazdanbakhsh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015766:Albendazole / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D006376:Helminths / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D015848:Interleukin-5 / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000276:immunology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D015848:Interleukin-5; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D015766:Albendazole
keywords: IL-5; IgE; Indonesia; Th2; albendazole; helminths