Resumen de Ascaris lumbricoides infection in urban schoolchildren: Specific IgE and IL-10 production

V. Souza, D. Medeiros, A. Da Silva Barbosa, J.A. Rizzo, D. Solé, E. Sarinho

• Background Helminth infections and allergies are diseases with intense Th2 lymphocytes participation and characterised by a high IgE and Interleukin-(IL) IL-4, IL-5 production and eosinophilia. However, helminths also induce IL-10 production, which may alter the outcome of allergic diseases in infected patients.

  Objective This experimental study analyses the relationship between IL-10 production by cell culture from geohelminth infected and non-infected children and specific IgE to Ascaris lumbricoides (Asc) or Blomia tropicalis (BT).

  Methods IL-10 content in supernatant from peripheral blood mononuclear cell culture from nine helminth infected and eleven non-infected patients was determined by ELISA after in vitro stimulation with Asc or BT extracts.

  Results A positive association was observed between total IgE levels and anti-Ascaris and anti-Blomia tropicalis specific IgE, independent of infection status. For both helminth-infected and non-infected groups, there was no difference in IL-10 production in response to Asc extract, even though anti-Ascaris IgE levels were higher in the latter group. In response to BT stimulus, a lower production of IL-10 by the geohelminth-infected group was observed, but with no relationship between IL-10 production and specific IgE to BT.

  Conclusion The results suggest that anti-Ascaris IgE in non-infected patients may be associated to a resistance to parasites. Levels of specific IgE to parasite antigens or B. tropicalis allergen were not impaired by IL-10 production in children from an urban area in which geohelminthiasis is endemic.