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Mycobacterium tuberculosis and helminth infections coincide geographically and are classically described as TH1 and TH2 pathologies. There is much interest in exploring how concurrent worm infections might alter immune responses to mycobacterial infection. To explore this issue, mice were infected with Toxocara canis and co-infected with M. tuberculosis. Mice infected with M. tuberculosis had high numbers of neutrophils and mononuclear cells within the alveolar spaces, with increased parenchymal interferon (IFN)-
levels. However, in Toxocara-infected mice we detected increased eosinophil numbers in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and increased parenchymal levels of interleukin (IL)-5. In co-infected mice the BALF demonstrated enhanced eosinophil influx with decreased neutrophil and mononuclear cell accumulation. However, co-infected mice had similar mycobacterial proliferation in their lungs accompanied by similar histopathological changes and similar cytokine/nitric oxide production compared with Mycobacterium-only–infected mice. Our results suggest that T. canis infection does not necessarily lead to increased susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis.
Received January 19, 2007. Accepted for publication May 22, 2007.
Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Carlos Artério Sorgi, Érica Vitaliano Garcia da Silva, Izaíra Tincani Brandão, Ana Paula Massom, and Elaine Medeiros Floriano for their technical assistance.
Financial support: This study was supported by grants from the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 00/09663-2 and 03/12887-8) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil.
* Address correspondence to Lúcia H. Faccioli, Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. do Café, s/n Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil 14.040-903. E-mail: faccioli{at}fcfrp.usp.br
Partial results were presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Washington, DC, December 11–15, 2005 (oral presentation during the scientific session Bacteriology III—Respiratory/Other).
Authors addresses: Fabiani G. Frantz, Walter M. Turato, Camila M. Peres, and Lúcia H. Faccioli, Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo—Av. do Café, s/n. Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil, 14.040-903, Telephone: +55-16-3602 4303, Fax: +55-16-3602 4725, E-mails: frantz{at}fcfrp.usp.br (F.G.F.), turato{at}rpm.fmrp.usp.br (W.M.T.), pcamila{at}usp.br (C.M.P.), and faccioli{at}fcfrp.usp.br (L.H.F.). Rogério S. Rosada, Arlete A.M. Coelho-Castelo, and Célio Lopes Silva, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Tuberculose—Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo—Av. dos Bandeirantes, 3900 Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil, 14.049-900, Telephone/Fax: +55-16-3602 3228, E-mails: rosada{at}cpt.fmrp.usp.br (R.S.R.), accastel{at}rpm.fmrp.usp.br (A.A.M.C-C.), and clsilva{at}cpt.fmrp.usp.br (C.L.S.). Simone G. Ramos, Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo—Av. dos Bandeirantes, 3900 Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil, 14.049-900, Telephone: +55-16-3602 3341, Fax: +55-16-3633 1068, E-mail: sgramos{at}fmrp.usp.br. David Michael Aronoff, Division of Infectious Diseases Department of Internal Medicine, 5220-D MSRB III, 1500 W. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0640, Telephone: +1 (734) 647-1786, Fax: +1 (734) 764-4556, E-mail: daronoff{at}umich.edu.
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