Plasmodium sporozoites induce regulatory macrophages.

Professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs), like macrophages (Mϕs) and dendritic cells (DCs), are central players in the induction of natural and vaccine-induced immunity to malaria, yet very little is known about the interaction of SPZ with human APCs. Intradermal delivery of whole-sporozoite vaccines reduces their effectivity, possibly due to dermal immunoregulatory effects. Therefore, understanding these interactions could prove pivotal to malaria vaccination.

Quantification of wild-type and radiation attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite motility in human skin.

Given the number of global malaria cases and deaths, the need for a vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) remains pressing. Administration of live, radiation-attenuated Pf sporozoites can fully protect malaria-naïve individuals. Despite the fact that motility of these attenuated parasites is key to their infectivity and ultimately protective efficacy, sporozoite motility in human tissue (e.

New Insights Into the Kinetics and Variability of Egg Excretion in Controlled Human Hookworm Infections.

Four healthy volunteers were infected with 50 Necator americanus infective larvae (L3) in a controlled human hookworm infection trial and followed for 52 weeks. The kinetics of fecal egg counts in volunteers was assessed with Bayesian multilevel analysis, which revealed an increase between weeks 7 and 13, followed by an egg density plateau of about 1000 eggs/g of feces. Variation in egg counts was minimal between same-day measurements but varied considerably between days, particularly during the plateau phase.

Early Induction of Human Regulatory Dermal Antigen Presenting Cells by Skin-Penetrating Cercariae.

Following initial invasion of cercariae, schistosomula reside in the skin for several days during which they can interact with the dermal immune system. While murine experiments have indicated that exposure to radiation-attenuated (RA) cercariae can generate protective immunity which is initiated in the skin stage, contrasting non-attenuated cercariae, such data is missing for the human model. Since murine skin does not form a reliable marker for immune responses in human skin, we used human skin explants to study the interaction with non-attenuated and RA cercariae with dermal innate antigen presenting cells (APCs) and the subsequent immunological responses.

Human serum antibodies against EBV latent membrane protein 1 cross-react with α-synuclein.

Objectives: To identify the epitope on α-synuclein (α-syn) to which antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) bind and to determine whether antibodies targeting this mimicry domain are present in human sera.

Methods: Reactivity of the α-syn-cross-reacting anti-LMP1 monoclonal antibody CS1-4 to a synthetic peptide containing the putative mimicry domain was compared to those in which this domain was mutated and to murine and rat α-syn (which differ from human α-syn at this site) in Western blots. Using ELISA, sera from EBV+ (n = 4) and EBV- (n = 12) donors as well as those with infectious mononucleosis (IM; n = 120), and Hodgkin disease (HD; n = 33) were interrogated for antibody reactivity to synthetic peptides corresponding to regions of α-syn and LMP1 containing the mimicry domain.