Abstract: Onchocerciasis is a human filarial disease which leads to blindness in its ultimate phase. The immunopathology of the disease categorize patients into two types regarding the symptoms of the sickness: the hypo-reactive (generalized) and the hyper-reactive (sowda) types. In vitro, the humoral response by sera from the two categories of patient to recombinant proteins from the human parasitic nematodes: Onchocerca volvulus and Strongyloides ratti and the free-living nematode: Caenorhabditis elegans showed differences in strength and specificity. Immune recognition of antigens from O. volvulus (extract, Ovmif 1 and OvSOD) and C. elegans (mif proteins) were evaluated in a western blot and an indirect enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using 36 human sera. The response was determined as optical density (OD) read at 450 nm and an index value of recognition calculated. The rate of induction of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines by the same proteins was assessed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Variable amounts of recombinant proteins were incubated with PBMC at 5% CO2 in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with antibiotic, bovine serum albumin, HEPES. Generally, there was a stronger recongnition of O. volvulus antigens than C. elegans antigens. However, a comparison of the index values by ANOVA using Bonferroni post-test showed a significantly stronger recognition of O. volvulus antigens by sera from sowda patients than the recognition by sera from the generalized form when compared to C. elegans antigens. The sowda sera were shown therefore to be specific to O. volvulus antigens. The stimulation of PBMC by recombinant proteins from the two categories of nematode induced globally a higher anti-inflammatory (iL-10) cytokine release compared to the pro-inflammatory (TNFα) cytokine. Again, there was a notable higher release of iL-10 and TNF-α by proteins from the parasitic nematodes compared to the free living nematode. The humoral immune response to a cocktail of recombinant proteins from O. volvulus and the bovine parasite Onchocerca ochengi should be evaluated.Abstract: Onchocerciasis is a human filarial disease which leads to blindness in its ultimate phase. The immunopathology of the disease categorize patients into two types regarding the symptoms of the sickness: the hypo-reactive (generalized) and the hyper-reactive (sowda) types. In vitro, the humoral response by sera from the two categories of patient to re...Show More
