Immunomodulation in trichinellosis: does Trichinella really escape the host immune system?

This review describes different aspects of the host immune response to Trichinella. The role of antibodies, T cells, mast cells, eosinophils and neutrophils in immune reaction to this nematode is considered, in the light of the recent data derived from experimental models, both in in vivo and in vitro. The knowledge of immune response mechanisms against Trichinella is fundamental to understand how the parasite can escape such mechanisms.

Glycan microarray profiling of parasite infection sera identifies the LDNF glycan as a potential antigen for serodiagnosis of trichinellosis.

Diagnostic methods for parasite infections still highly depend on the identification of the parasites by direct methods such as microscopic examination of blood, stool and tissue biopsies. Serodiagnosis is often carried out to complement the direct methods; however, few synthetic antigens with sufficient sensitivity and specificity are available. Here we evaluated a glycan microarray approach to select for synthetic glycan antigens that could be used for serodiagnosis of parasitic infections.

Trichinella inflammatory myopathy: host or parasite strategy?

The parasitic nematode Trichinella has a special relation with muscle, because of its unique intracellular localization in the skeletal muscle cell, completely devoted in morphology and biochemistry to become the parasite protective niche, otherwise called the nurse cell. The long-lasting muscle infection of Trichinella exhibits a strong interplay with the host immune response, mainly characterized by a Th2 phenotype. The aim of this review is to illustrate the role of the Th2 host immune response at the muscle level during trichinellosis in different experimental models, such as knock-out or immuno-modulated mice.

Enzymatic antioxidant systems in helminth parasites.

Parasitic helminths have a coexistence with mammalian hosts whereby they survive for several years in known hostile conditions of their hosts. Many explanations exist describing how these parasitic helminths are able to survive. In the last years, a lot of studies have focused on both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems now shown to exist in these parasites and which may serve as defence tactics against the host-generated oxygen radicals.

Immunosuppression of TH2 responses in Trichinella spiralis infection by Helicobacter pylori neutrophil-activating protein.

Background: The Helicobacter pylori neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP) is able to induce IL-12 expression by cells of innate immunity and to shift to T(H)1 human allergen-specific T(H)2 cells in vitro.

Objective: We performed an in vivo investigation of the ability of HP-NAP to downmodulate the T(H)2 response induced in mice by Trichinella spiralis infection.

Methods: Groups of T spiralis-infected BALB/c mice received intraperitoneal PBS/rat IgG2b (control animals) or 10 microg of HP-NAP with or without anti-Toll-like receptor 2 antibody on days 10 and 28 after infection.