Giardiasis Alters Intestinal Fatty Acid Binding Protein (I-FABP) and Plasma Cytokines Levels in Children in Brazil

Abstract

Giardiasis is an intestinal infection caused by ingestion of water or food contaminated with cysts of Giardia lamblia. Susceptibility is higher in children and overall prevalence can reach up to 90% in low-income areas, although outbreaks are also reported in developed countries. Both parasite and immune-mediated epithelial damage has been observed in vitro and in animal models. However, whether enterocytes are directly damaged during infection is not entirely known. Our goal was to identify whether plasma levels of intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP), a marker of enterocyte damage, are related to the immune response in giardiasis. Blood plasma was collected from 31 children (19 Giardia-positive) from a public day care in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The levels of I-FABP were increased in Giardia-infected children compared to children without detectable infection. There was no difference in I-FABP levels in giardiasis caused by different genetic assemblages of Giardia. Levels of IL-8 were decreased, while there was a trend to elevated IL-17 in the Giardia-positive children. A positive correlation was observed between I-FABP and IL-17 levels as well as TNF, suggesting that epithelial damage can be related to cytokine production during giardiasis. These results help elucidate the relationship between the disruption of the intestinal mucosal barrier and immune responses to G. lamblia in children.

The effect of zinc-biofortified rice on zinc status of Bangladeshi preschool children: a randomized, double-masked, household-based, controlled trial

“…However, plasma I-FABP was not elevated in most children, suggesting enterocyte integrity was largely intact ( 62 ). Two studies in preschool children from Bangladesh and Brazil reported higher I-FABP values than in our study ( 63 , 64 ).…”

Multilocus Genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in Mostly Asymptomatic Indigenous People from the Tapirapé Tribe, Brazilian Amazon

“…MrBayes v3.1.2 was used to perform Bayesian analyses with four independent Markov chain runs for 1,000,000 metropolis-coupled MCMC generations, sampling a tree every 100th generation [ 64 ]. References [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 107 , 108 , 109 ] are cited in the supplementary materials . The first 25% of trees represented burn-in and the remaining trees were used to calculate Bayesian posterior probability.…”

Giardia spp. and the Gut Microbiota: Dangerous Liaisons

“…While the microbiome may modulate immune responses to Giardia , Giardia in turn may initiate and alter immune responses in ways that contribute to dysbiosis, either through direct effects on microbes or by altering the intestinal microenvironment. Giardia has been found to induce Th17 type immune responses, with elevated levels of IL-17 being observed both in mouse models of infection and in Brazilian children infected with Giardia ( Dreesen et al, 2014 ; Dann et al, 2015 ; Cascais-Figueiredo et al, 2019 ; Singer et al, 2019 ). IL-17A is an important mediator of anti-microbial responses and plays a role in the transport of IgA across the epithelium and into the intestinal lumen, where it creates an anti-microbial chemical barrier to protect the underlying epithelium ( Dann et al, 2015 ; Singer et al, 2019 ).…”