The anthelmintic drug praziquantel promotes human Tr1 differentiation

Praziquantel (PZQ) is an anthelminthic human and veterinary drug used to treat trematode and cestode worms. Changes in immune responses have been demonstrated in humans following curative PZQ treatment of schistosome infections. These changes have been attributed to the removal of immunosupressive worms and immune responses to parasite antigens exposed from dying worms. To date, there has been no study investigating the potential direct effect of PZQ on the host immune cells. Herein, we analyzed the effect of PZQ on human CD4⁺ T cells classically costimulated by CD3/CD28 or costimulated by the complement regulator CD46 to induce Type 1 regulatory T cells (Tr1). Our results show that PZQ enhanced T-cell proliferation, increased secretion of IL-17 and IL-10 but had no effect on secretion of GM-CSF or IFNγ. Moreover, PZQ increased the coexpression of CD49b and LAG-3, a hallmark of Tr1 cells, suggesting increased Tr1 differentiation. Indeed, supernatants from PZQ-treated cells were able to decrease bystander T-cell activation, and this was partly reduced when blocking IL-10. Hence, our study demonstrates that PZQ directly modulates human T-cell activation and promotes Tr1 differentiation, suggesting that PZQ may have immunomodulatory functions in parasite-unrelated human inflammatory diseases.