Effects of Helminth Infections on Type-2 Immune Responses in children with asthma

Abstract

Background: Both asthma and helminths demonstrate a predominant type-2 immune response. Additionally, helminths have been demonstrated to have immuno-modulatory roles in allergic conditions such as asthma. Therefore, the major aim of this study was to investigate the immune profile of children with both asthma and helminth infection. Methods: This work was nested within the Study on asthma and parasitic infections among children in Uganda (SONA), a case-control study of children (5-17 years) with and without asthma. This nested study utilized 120 archived samples distributed as follows; 30 children with asthma and helminths, 30 children with asthma but without helminths, 30 children without asthma but with helminths and 30 children with neither asthma nor helminths. The study aimed to investigate the effects of helminths on type-2 immune responses in asthma. The levels of IL-5, IL-10 and IL-13 in whole blood culture supernatants were quantified using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and cluster of differentiation (CD) surface markers were stained with fluorescently-labelled antibody to phenotypically characterize and determine the levels of the group 2 innate lymphoid (ILC2) cells using flow cytometry. Results The IL-5 and IL-13 levels were diminished among helminth infected children compared to the non-infected. The proportions of ILC2 cells were similar between asthmatic and non-asthmatic children with or without helminth infection. Conclusion The variations in the cytokine profile and ILC2 cell proportions among asthmatic and non-asthmatic children with or without helminth infection was investigated. This gives an insight about the protective role of helminths in asthma. Keywords: Geohelminths, immune-modulatory, cluster of differentiation, ELISA, group 2 innate lymphoid cells