Preliminary study on sex-related inflammatory reactions in mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of the sex of both the parasite and the host to the inflammatory response induced in unisexual infections of Schistosoma mansoni in mice. Organ weight, cell count and the delayed type hypersensitivity reaction were used as tools in this comparative study. The inflammatory reactions differed as a function of the sex of both the host and the parasite. Female mice showed a stronger inflammatory reaction to schistosome infection than males, while male schistosomes induced a stronger inflammatory response compared to females. The host-related differences in the inflammatory reaction may reflect differences in the factors affecting the immune defence of male and female mice. The differences in the inflammatory response induced by the parasite are discussed in terms of the quantity and quality of antigens among male and female worms.

Influence of pattern of exposure, parasite genetic diversity and sex on the degree of protection against reinfection with Schistosoma mansoni

“…Some of the results obtained in the literature also showed that protection by male parasite is higher than by female parasite: In the synthesis of Dean (1983), Table V, on the 18 results showing a reduction of more than 20%, 12 were obtained from male primo-infections and only 6 from female ones; in the synthesis of Moné and Boissier (2004), Table II, on the 17 results showing a reduction of more than 20%, 12 were obtained from male primo-infections and only 5 from female ones. The difference between male and female protectivities could originate from the higher inflammatory reaction induced by males compared to females in unisexual infections (Boissier et al 2003). The significant increase in the organ weights between mass and trickle infections that we observed only in male infections seems to confirm this and could be linked to a difference in the quantity and/or the quality between the male and female parasite antigens.…”

“…The significant increase in the organ weights between mass and trickle infections that we observed only in male infections seems to confirm this and could be linked to a difference in the quantity and/or the quality between the male and female parasite antigens. This antigenic difference between both sexes could be at the origin of the different protective effects between male and female schistosomes (Boissier et al 2003).…”

“…Certainly, the fact that a mass unisexual infection is unable to induce a convincing protective effect (see Moné and Boissier 2004 for review) did not stimulate such experiments. However, it has been shown that trickle infections stimulated greater resistance than single infection (Farah et al 1997) and, more recently, that unisexual male schistosome infection induced a stronger inflammatory response compared to female (Boissier et al 2003). These last authors proposed that the fact that the male schistosome induces a stronger immunological reaction of the host could lead to a better protective effect compared to female.…”

Sex influences immune responses to viruses, and efficacy of prophylaxis and treatments for viral diseases

“…There are differences between the sexes in the induction of genes associated with toll-like receptor (TLR) pathways and antiviral type I interferon (IFN) responses [1,5,6]; cells from females can show a 10-fold greater level of expression than cells from males [6]. Studies of both humans and rodents illustrate that the number and activity of innate immune cells, including monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs) as well as inflammatory immune responses in general are higher in females than males [7–9]. …”

A Genome Wide Comparison to Identify Markers to Differentiate the Sex of Larval Stages of Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma bovis and their Respective Hybrids

“…Thereafter, these markers were tested on male and female of the three strains (Table 1). Detailed methods employed for molluscan and rodent infections were described previously [20,21]. …”