Humoral and cellular immune responses in dogs with inapparent natural Leishmania infantum infection.

Resumo
Molecular analysis, serology and immunophenotyping for T lymphocytes and their subsets, B lymphocytes and monocytes were performed on dogs naturally infected with Leishmania infantum. Animals were categorised as asymptomatic dogs I (AD-I), with negative serology and positive molecular results, and asymptomatic dogs II (AD-II), with positive serology and positive molecular results, and these were compared to symptomatic dogs (SD) and control dogs (CD). AD-I exhibited immunophenotypic features similar to those of CD, including isotype profiles and concentrations of monocytes. Similar biomarkers were found in AD-II and SD, such as, higher levels of immunoglobulins IgG, IgG2, IgM and IgA and higher concentrations of eosinophils. High frequencies of T lymphocytes and CD4+ T cells were observed in both AD-I and AD-II compared to SD, whereas CD8+ T cells were higher only in AD-II compared with SD. Analysis of B lymphocytes revealed an increased frequency of this cell type only in AD-II animals compared with SD. Asymptomatic dogs appear to have a dichotomous infection spectrum that can influence the humoral and cellular immunological status during canine visceral leishmaniasis.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Canine visceral leishmaniasis, Asymptomatic dogs, Immune response
Citação
VITAL, W. C. et al. Humoral and cellular immune responses in dogs with inapparent natural Leishmania infantum infection. The Veterinary Journal (London, England. 1997), v. 2, p. 23-24, 2011. Disponível em: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023311001432>. Acesso em: 08 nov. 2014.