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High Yield Purification of Plasmodium falciparum Merozoites For Use in Opsonizing Antibody Assays
Published on: July 17, 2014
Protective immunity in human filariasis: a role for parasite-specific IgA responses
Bikash R Sahu1, Madhu C Mohanty, Prakash K Sahoo
1Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, India.
Background:
Filaria-specific antibodies of immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgE, and IgM isotypes have been correlated with acquired immunity in the literature, but the status of filaria-specific IgA and its role in human filariasis has not been addressed. The present study attempts to fill this lacuna.
Methods:
Both total and filaria-specific IgA to different developmental stages of filarial parasites were quantified by solid-phase immunoassays in 412 clinically and parasitologically defined cases occurring in an area endemic for human bancroftian filariasis in Orissa, India.
Results:
Compared with other clinical categories, microfilariae carriers were deficient in total as well as filaria-specific IgA. More crucially, significantly high levels were observed in putatively immune control subjects from areas of endemicity. These associations were also related to sex; female subjects in each category displayed higher levels of filaria-specific IgA than did male subjects.
Conclusion:
The study demonstrates, for the first time, a positive correlation between protective immunity and increased levels of filaria-specific IgA in human bancroftian filariasis. Furthermore, filaria-specific IgA appears to be an immunological window for the sex-related differences in susceptibility to infection observed in human filariasis.
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