Immunoepidemiology of Wuchereria bancrofti Infection:
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Date
2007Author
Jaoko, Walter
Michael, Edwin
Meyrowitsch, Dan W.
Estambale, Benson
Malecela, Mwele N.
Simonsen, Paul E.
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We compared the age profiles of infection and specific antibody intensities in two communities with different
transmission levels in East Africa to examine the contribution of humoral responses to human immunity to the
vector-borne helminth Wuchereria bancrofti. The worm intensities were higher and exhibited a nonlinear age
pattern in a high-transmission community, Masaika, in contrast to the low but linearly increasing age infection
profile observed for a low-transmission community, Kingwede. The mean levels of specific immunoglobulin G1
(IgG1), IgG2, IgG4, and IgE were also higher in Masaika, but intriguingly, the IgG3 response was higher in
Kingwede. The age-antibody patterns differed in the two communities but in a manner apparently contrary to
a role in acquired immunity when the data were assessed using simple correlation methods. By contrast,
multivariate analyses showed that the antibody response to infection may be classified into three types and that
two of these types, a IgG3-type response and a response measuring a trade-off in host production of IgG4 and
IgG3 versus production of IgG1, IgG2, and IgE, had a negative effect on Wuchereria circulating antigen levels
in a manner that supported a role for these responses in the generation of acquired immunity to infection.
Mathematical modeling supported the conclusions drawn from empirical data analyses that variations in both
transmission and worm intensity can explain community differences in the age profiles and impacts of these
antibody response types. This study showed that parasite-specific antibody responses may be associated with
the generation of acquired immunity to human filarial infection but in a form which is dependent on worm
transmission intensity and interactions between immune components.
Citation
INFECTION AND IMMUNITYCollections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10377]