Function and expression of a human idiotypic network in Schistosomiasis japonica

Expression, characterization and therapeutic efficacy of chimeric Fab of anti-idiotypic antibody NP30 against Schistosoma japonicum

The murine monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibody NP30 is a promising therapeutic antibody against Schistosoma japonicum. However, the immunogenicity of murine NP30 limits its further study and application in humans. Here the chimeric Fab of NP30 (chFab-NP30) comprising the variable regions of murine NP30 and constant regions of human antibody was assembled. chFab-NP30 was expressed and purified as a soluble and functional protein. Administration of chFab-NP30 in vivo increased the survival rate, reduced egg burdens and ameliorated organ pathology of mice with acute schistosomiasis. Our study indicated that chFab-NP30 is a promising candidate to be used as a specific and efficient recombinant antibody against acute schistosomiasis japonica. Further studies on function mechanism of chFab-NP30 needs to be carried out in the future.

Parasites and immune responses: memory illusion?

Immunological memory responses to intracellular protozoa and extracellular helminths govern host resistance and susceptibility to reinfection. Humans and livestock living in parasitic disease endemic regions face continuous exposure from a very early age that often leads to asymptomatic chronic infection over their entire lifespan. Fundamental immunological studies suggest that the generation of T-cell memory is driven by tightly coordinated innate and adaptive cellular immune responses rapidly triggered following initial host infection. A key distinguishing feature of immune memory maintenance between the majority of parasitic diseases and most bacterial or viral diseases is long-term antigen persistence. Consequently, functional parasite immune memory is in a continuous, dynamic flux between activation and deactivation producing functional parasite killing or functional memory cell death. In this sense, T-cell immune memory can be regarded as "memory illusion." Furthermore, due to the finite capacity of memory lymphocytes to proliferate, continuous parasite antigen stimulation may exceed a threshold level at some point in the chronically infected host. This may result in suboptimal effector immune memory leading to host susceptibility to reinfection, or immune dysregulation yielding disease reactivation or immune pathology. The goal of this review is to highlight, through numerous examples, what is currently known about T-cell immune memory to parasites and to provide compelling hypotheses on the survival and maintenance of parasite "memory illusion." These novel concepts are discussed in the context of rationale parasite vaccine design strategies.

Idiotypes expressed early in experimental Schistosoma mansoni infections predict clinical outcomes of chronic disease

In murine Schistosoma mansoni infections, schistosome-specific cross-reactive idiotypes (CRI) are present in the sera of mice with moderate splenomegaly syndrome (MSS) at 20 wk after infection. In contrast, sera from animals that have the more severe hypersplenomegaly syndrome (HSS) at 20 wk of infection do not express these CRI in their sera. To examine when these regulatory CRI first appear in mice that eventually develop MSS, sera from infected animals were monitored for CRI from 1.5 to 20 wk of infection. In mice that eventually developed MSS, CRI were detected by 5 to 6 wk after infection, plateaued by 8 to 10 wk, and persisted through 20 wk of infection. Animals that developed HSS pathology or that died before 20 wk of infection never expressed CRI. Moreover, CRI levels present in the sera of mice at 6 wk of infection were inversely correlated with splenomegaly and hepatic fibrosis, but not with parasitologic measures, at 20 wk after infection. These results suggest that critical events occur very early in some schistosome infections that induce the production of regulatory idiotypes and that the presence or absence of these idiotypes predicts, and possibly determines, subsequent morbidity.

Anti-idiotypic antibodies in patients with different clinical forms of paracoccidioidomycosis

Paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) is the most prevalent systemic mycosis in Latin America. Patients with PCM show a wide spectrum of clinical and pathological manifestations depending on both host and pathogen factors. Two clinical forms of the disease are recognized: the acute or juvenile form and the chronic or adult form. The major antigenic component of the parasite is a glycoprotein of 43 kDa (gp43). All patient sera present antibodies against gp43 (anti-gp43) and, as demonstrated before by our group, spontaneous anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies (Ab2) can be detected in patient sera with high titers of anti-gp43. Since it has been postulated that anti-Id antibodies may have a modulating function, we decided to purify and characterize anti-Id antibodies in this system. The possible correlation of Ab2 titers with different clinical forms of disease was also verified. Results showed that purified human anti-Id antibodies (human Ab2) recognized specifically the idiotype of some murine monoclonal anti-gp43 (17c and 3e) but not others (40.d7, 27a, and 8a). Spontaneous anti-Id antibodies were found in all clinical forms of disease. The majority of patients (88%, n = 8) with the acute form of PCM had high titers of Ab2. However, among patients with the multifocal chronic form of the disease, only 29% (n = 14) had high titers of Ab2; 70% (n = 10) of patients with the unifocal chronic form had low titers of Ab2. A correlation between Ab2 titers and anti-gp43 titers was observed before and during antimycotic treatment. Our results suggest that titers of anti-Id antibodies correlate with the severity of PCM in humans.