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Systemic cytokine response in humans with chiclero’s ulcers

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Abstract

In this work, we report the existence of enhanced concentrations of IL-2 (Th1 cytokine), TNF-α (mainly a Th1 cytokine), IL-12p40, a strong delayed type hypersensitivity response, and the absence of a serum-specific antibody response (IgG or IgE) in patients with active chiclero’s ulcers. There was a low serum concentration of IL-6 (a Th2 cytokine) that was further reduced once patients healed following antimonial therapy (i.e., 4 months after treatment started). There was an absence of serum IL-4 (a Th2 cytokine) in patients before and after healing. The serum content of nitric oxide, transforming growth factor-β1, and IL-12p70 in patients with progressive chiclero’s ulcers was not different from that of controls. Patients had an alteration in blood-cell counts and showed a poor T cell proliferation after in vitro stimulation with Leishmania mexicana gp63. We concluded that patients with progressive chiclero’s ulcers develop a Th1 type of response at this stage of the disease which correlates with increases in circulating eosinophils and B cells and a reduction of circulating CD8+ T lymphocytes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Otto Ortega and Dr. Manuel Chan from Programa Corrosión en el Golfo de México and Dr. Narcizo Acuña from Dirección de Estudios de Postgrado e Investigación, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche for the laboratory space provided and for valuable assistance that made part of this work possible. Our gratitude to Departamento de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Vector, Secretaría de Salud, Campeche, for logistic and medical services provided to the patients included in this work. Our thanks go to the staff of Laboratorio de Investigaciones Inmunológicas and Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas in Mexico city for their kind assistance in performing flow cytometry and proliferation assays. This work was financially supported by Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Secretaría de Salud del Estado de Campeche. C.M. Lezama-Davila is in receipt of a fellowship from Fundación Pablo Garcia to perform research work as a Scholar Visitor in Dr. Abhay Satoskar’s laboratory at the Microbiology Department, Ohio State University. Finally, the authors want to thank Kimberly Roth for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones en Enfermedades Tropicales, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Campeche, México

    C. M. Lezama-Davila & A. P. Isaac-Marquez

  2. Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, 484 12th West Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    C. M. Lezama-Davila

Authors
  1. C. M. Lezama-Davila
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  2. A. P. Isaac-Marquez
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Correspondence to C. M. Lezama-Davila.

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Lezama-Davila, C.M., Isaac-Marquez, A.P. Systemic cytokine response in humans with chiclero’s ulcers. Parasitol Res 99, 546–553 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0203-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-006-0203-2

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