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Cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation in patients with Nocardia brasiliensis actinomycetoma

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Abstract

IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-4, IL10 and IL-12 concentrations in the supernatant of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures and the in vitro proliferation of PBMC were studied in 25 patients with actinomycetoma caused by Nocardia brasiliensisand in 10 healthy controls from endemic zones. Cell cultures were stimulated by a N. brasiliensiscrude cytoplasmic antigen (NB) and five semi-purified protein fractions (NB2, NB4, NB6, NB8, and NB10) separated by isoelectric. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and purified protein derivative (PPD) of Mycobacterium tuberculosiswere used as control antigens. Skin tests were performed by injecting 0.1 ml of candidin and PPD intradermally (ID). Patients showed a poor response to tuberculin, while their response to candidin was more than two fold greater than that observed in the controls. Cell proliferation showed no statistically significant differences in either group. IFN-γ production was higher in the healthy controls than in the patients, whereas TNF-α secretion was slightly higher in the patients’ cultures. IL-4 was detected in the patients’ cultures but not in the controls. IL-10 and IL-12 were present at low concentrations in both groups. These results suggest that patients with actinomycetoma show normal antigen recognition, but with low IFN-γ production, and higher concentrations of IL-4, IL-10 and TNF-α in the patients’ PBMC cultures, indicating that they probably have a Th2 type of immune response.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Investigación Médica en Dermatología y Micología, Hospital de Especialidades, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS, CP 06703, D.F., México

    Luis J. Méndez-Tovar & Rafael Mondragón-González

  2. Department of Dermatology, Middlesex Hospital, London, United Kingdom

    Francisco Vega-López

  3. Immunology Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom

    Hazel M. Dockrell

  4. Department of Dermatology, Guy’s Hospital, London, United Kingdom

    Roderick Hay

  5. Laboratorio de Micología Médica, Facultad de Medicina, UNAM, México

    Rubén López-Martínez, Patricia Manzano-Gayosso & Francisca Hernández-Hernández

  6. Centro Dermatológico “Ladislao de la Pascua”, SS, México

    Carmen Padilla-Desgarennes

  7. Laboratorio de Micología Médica, Servicio de Dermatología, Hospital General de México, SS, México

    Alexandro Bonifaz

Authors
  1. Luis J. Méndez-Tovar
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  2. Rafael Mondragón-González
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  3. Francisco Vega-López
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  4. Hazel M. Dockrell
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  5. Roderick Hay
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  6. Rubén López-Martínez
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  7. Patricia Manzano-Gayosso
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  8. Francisca Hernández-Hernández
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  9. Carmen Padilla-Desgarennes
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  10. Alexandro Bonifaz
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Correspondence to Luis J. Méndez-Tovar.

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Méndez-Tovar, L.J., Mondragón-González, R., Vega-López, F. et al. Cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation in patients with Nocardia brasiliensis actinomycetoma. Mycopathologia 158, 407–414 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-004-3126-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-004-3126-4

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