Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:27:42.644Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Different levels of immunity to Schistosoma mansoni in the mouse: the role of variant cercariae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. A Smith
Affiliation:
Wellcome Research Laboratories, Langley Court, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BS
J. A. Clegg
Affiliation:
Wellcome Research Laboratories, Langley Court, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3BS

Summary

Very variable levels of immunity to a second infection with Schistosoma mansoni were recorded in 7 strains of mice, 12–15 weeks following a small primary infection. When 2 or more strains of mice were assayed at the same time, less variation occurred within the experiment than between different experiments. This evidence suggested variation between pools of cercariae as the main cause of variability in immunity. In direct experiments in one strain of mouse, 2 different pools of cercariae stimulated widely different levels of immunity to the same challenge. Conversely, challenge infections drawn from different pools showed different susceptibility to immunity stimulated by the same primary infection. Individual clones of cercariae, from snails infected with single miracidia, showed a high level of susceptibility to immunity stimulated by a small bisexual infection, or were not susceptible at all. Antigenic polymorphism is the most likely explanation for the differences observed between clones of cercariae. However, indirect immunofluorescence showed the presence of at least 1 common antigen on the surface of schistosomula derived from different clones of cercariae and clone-specific antigens have not been detected.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Chernin, E. J. (1968). Transplantation of larval Schistosoma mansoni from infected to Uninfected snails. Journal of Parasitology 52, 473–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clegg, J. A. (1974). Host antigens and the immune response in schistosomiasis. In Parasites in the Immunized Host: Mechanisms of Survival (ed. Porter, R. and Knight, J.), pp. 161–83. Ciba Foundation Symposium 25 (New Series), Amsterdam and London: Elsevier, Associated Scientific Publishers.Google Scholar
Clegg, J. A. & Smith, M. A. (1978). Prospects for the development of dead vaccines against helminths. In Advances in Parasitology, vol. 16 (ed. Lumsden, W. H. R., Baker, J. R. and Muller, R. L.), pp. 165217. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Clegg, J. A. & Smithers, S. R. (1972). The effects of immune rhesus monkey serum on schistosomula of Schistosoma mansoni during cultivation in vitro. International Journal for Parasitology 2, 7998.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, E. R. (1977). Recovery of infective Schistosoma mansoni schistosomula from liquid nitrogen: a step towards storage of a live schistosomiasis vaccine. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 71, 498500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perez, H. A., Clegg, J. A. & Smithers, S. R. (1974). Acquired immunity to Schistosoma mansoni in the rat: measurement of immunity by the lung recovery assay. Parasitology 69, 349–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sher, A., Mackenzie, P. & Smithers, S. R. (1974). Decreased recovery of invading parasites from the lungs as a parameter of acquired immunity to schistosomiasis in the mouse. Journal of Infectious Diseases 130, 626–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sher, A., smithers, S. R. & Mackenzie, P. (1975). Passive transfer of acquired resistance to Schistosoma mansoni in laboratory mice. Parasitology 70, 347–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, M. A. & Clegg, J. A. (1976). Different levels of acquired immunity to Schistosoma mansoni in two strains of hamster. Parasitology 73, 4752.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, M. A., Clegg, J. A. & Webbe, G. (1976). Cross-immunity to Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium in the hamster. Parasitology 73, 5364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smithers, S. R. & Terry, R. J. (1965). The infection of laboratory- hosts with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni and the recovery of the adult worms. Parasitology 55, 695700.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smithers, S. R. & Terry, R. J. (1976). The immunology of schistosomiasis. In Advances in Parasitology, vol. 14 (ed. Dawes, B.), pp. 399422. London and New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Stirewalt, M. A. (1963). Seminar on immunity to parasitic helminths IV. Schistosome infections. Experimental Parasitology 13, 1844.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed