Article
T-cell populations and cytokine expression are impaired in thymus and spleen of protein malnourished BALB/c mice infected with leishmania infantum
Registro en:
ESCOBAR, Sergio Cuervo et al. T-cell populations and cytokine expression are impaired in thymus and spleen of protein malnourished BALB/c mice infected with leishmania infantum. Plos One, v.9, n.12, p.e114584, 2014.
1932-6203
10.1371/journal.pone.0114584
1932-6203
Autor
Escobar, Sergio Cuervo
Barragán, Monica Losada
Pérez, Adriana Umaña
Porrozzi, Renato
Vahia, Leonardo Saboia
Miranda, Luisa Helena Monteiro de
Morgado, Fernanda Nazaré
Menezes, Rodrigo Caldas
Gómez, Myriam Sánchez
Cuervo, Patricia
Resumen
CNPq, Departamento Administrativo de
Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, FIOCRUZ, National University of Colombia Research
Council Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic infectious disease that causes significant
morbidity and mortality in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Although
infections with visceralizing Leishmania may be asymptomatic, factors such as
undernutrition increase the likelihood of progressing to clinical disease. Protein
malnutrition, the most deleterious cause of malnutrition in developing countries, has
been considered as a primary risk factor for the development of clinical VL.
However, data regarding the immunological basis of this association are scarce.
With the aim to analyze the effects of protein malnutrition on Leishmania infantum
infection, we used BALB/c mice subjected to control or low protein isocaloric diets.
Each animal group was divided into two subgroups and one was infected with L.
infantum resulting in four study groups: animals fed 14% protein diet (CP), animals
fed 4% protein diet (LP), animals fed 14% protein diet and infected (CPi), and
animals fed 4% protein diet and infected (LPi).The susceptibility to L. infantum
infection and immune responses were assessed in terms of body and lymphoid
organ weight, parasite load, lymphocyte subpopulations, and cytokine expression.
LPi mice had a significant reduction of body and lymphoid organ weight and
exhibited a severe decrease of lymphoid follicles in the spleen. Moreover, LPi
animals showed a significant decrease in CD4+CD8+ Tcells in the thymus, whereas
there was an increase of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells percentages in the spleen.
Notably, the cytokine mRNA levels in the thymus and spleen of protein malnourished-infected animals were altered compared to the CP mice. Protein
malnutrition results in a drastic dysregulation of T cells and cytokine expression in
the thymus and spleen of L. infantum-infected BALB/c mice, which may lead to
defective regulation of the thymocyte population and an impaired splenic immune
response, accelerating the events of a normal course of infection.