Implication of Genetic Make-Up on Immunopathological Responses in Murine Schistosomiasis mansoni.

¹Manal Kamel, ²Tarek Abou Shousha, ¹Doaa Maghawry, ³Ragia Charmy and ¹Hanaa Hassanein.

From ¹Immunology and ²Pathology Departments, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Imbaba and ³Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

This work was designed to assess the effect of natural infection with S. mansoni cercariae or sensitization to soluble egg antigen (SEA) prior to infection on two strains of mice with different genetic make up (C57BL/6 and BALB/c). The hepatic pathological and functional changes were evaluated. Splenic cytokine profiles and serum anti-SEA IgG were measured. In response to infection, the granuloma diameter was larger, the eosinophil counts were higher, serum anti SEA-IgG was greater, serum splenic cytokines (IL-2, IFN-g, IL-4 and IL-10) were higher in C57BL/6 than BALB/c. In response to SEA-sensitization, greater reduction in granuloma diameter, higher percentage of degenerated ova, normalization of liver function and elevation of anti-SEA IgG were more obvious in C57BL/6 than BALB/c mice. The reduction of IL-4 relative to the parallel infected group was remarkable in C57BL/6 compared to BALB/c. Other cytokines levels were comparable in both mice strains. It is evident that the immuno-pathological responses in schistosomiasis are different according to the genetic make up of the host.