| First Author | Paciorkowski N | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | J Exp Med | Volume | 191 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 731-6 |
| PubMed ID | 10684864 | Mgi Jnum | J:112016 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3655355 | Doi | 10.1084/jem.191.4.731 |
| Citation | Paciorkowski N, et al. (2000) B1 B lymphocytes play a critical role in host protection against lymphatic filarial parasites. J Exp Med 191(4):731-6 |
| abstractText | Host defense against multicellular, extracellular pathogens such as nematode parasites is believed to be mediated largely, if not exclusively, by T lymphocytes. During our investigations into the course of Brugia malayi and Brugia pahangi infections in immunodeficient mouse models, we found that mice lacking B lymphocytes were permissive for Brugian infections, whereas immunocompetent mice were uniformly resistant. Mice bearing the Btk(xid) mutation were as permissive as those lacking all B cells, suggesting that the B1 subset may be responsible for host protection. Reconstitution of immunodeficient recombination activating gene (Rag)-1(-/)- mice with B1 B cells conferred resistance, even in the absence of conventional B2 lymphocytes and most T cells. These results suggest that B1 B cells are necessary to mediate host resistance to Brugian infection. Our data are consistent with a model wherein early resistance to B. malayi is mediated by humoral immune response, with a significant attrition of the incoming infectious larval load. Sterile clearance of the remaining parasite burden appears to require cell-mediated immunity. These data raise the possibility that the identification of molecule(s) recognized by humoral immune mechanisms might help generate prophylactic vaccines. |
