The correlations between Th1 and Th2 cytokines in human alveolar echinococcosis

Abstract

Background: Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a cosmopolitan zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Echinococcus multilocularis larval tapeworm infections in humans that severely impairs the health of affected patients. Methods: The expression levels of 20 cytokines associated with AE infection were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the correlations between these cytokines were analysed in the R programming language. Results: Serum cytokine levels differed among individuals in both the AE patient and healthy control groups. Related studies have shown that different cytokines are associated with AE. Therefore, we investigated the correlations among the cytokines; these correlations were simple in the healthy control group butcomplex in the AE patient group. Th2 cytokines, such as interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, had high betweenness centrality in AE patients, whereas Th1 cytokines, such as growth-regulated oncogene (GRO)-α, eotaxin and IL-5, had high betweenness centrality in the healthy control group. Conclusions: The altered correlations between Th1 and Th2 cytokines may be closely associated with AE progression.

Hepatic Alveolar Echinococcosis

“…50,51 At the chronic stage of infection, the parasite-driven expansion of CD4 þ /CD25 þ T reg cells plays a critical role in human AE by blunting immune responses to specific antigens, or by suppressing the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, especially through interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-β. [50][51][52][53][54] In more recent investigations on immunomodulation in AE, the role of fibrinogen-like protein 2 as another key parameter in the T regdependent downregulation of periparasitic immunity has been demonstrated in an animal model. [50][51][52][53][54] Immunomodulation of host immunity toward anergy seems to be triggered by parasite metabolites.…”

“…[50][51][52][53][54] In more recent investigations on immunomodulation in AE, the role of fibrinogen-like protein 2 as another key parameter in the T regdependent downregulation of periparasitic immunity has been demonstrated in an animal model. [50][51][52][53][54] Immunomodulation of host immunity toward anergy seems to be triggered by parasite metabolites. 5,52 In experimental murine models of HAE, a genetic variability of susceptibility to infection has been well documented.…”