Abstract
An increased number of regulatory T (Treg) cells has been reported in patients with HTLV-1 and Strongyloides stercoralis co-infection, suggesting the contribution of these cells to worm survival. As Strongyloides infections have been found to be highly prevalent in chronic alcoholics, we investigated the effect of abusive ethanol ingestion on the induction of Treg cells in alcoholic patients with Strongyloides infection. Treg cells were assessed by flow cytometry in the peripheral blood of 12 healthy non-alcoholic (control) and 14 alcoholic patients (alcoholic) without Strongyloides infection and five non-alcoholics (controlSs) and five chronic alcoholics (alcoholSs) with Strongyloides infection. The results showed significantly higher frequencies of Treg cells in the alcoholic, controlSs and alcoholSs group patients than in the control group patients. However, the frequencies of Treg cells did not differ between the alcoholSs and controlSs groups. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that ethanol consumption induced an increase in the number of circulating Treg cells in chronic alcoholics in this study but was unable to potentiate the induction of these cells in alcoholics with Strongyloides infection.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Prof. Rodrigo Ribeiro Rodrigues (Núcleo de Doenças Infecciosas, UFES) for the excellent technical support.
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All patients signed an informed consent form, and this study was approved by the ethics committee of CCS-UFES (protocol number 03586812.1.0000.5071).
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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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Ribeiro, S.R., Covre, L.P., Stringari, L.L. et al. Peripheral blood CD4+/CD25+ regulatory T cells in alcoholic patients with Strongyloides stercoralis infection. Parasitol Res 116, 1071–1074 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5355-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5355-0