Cytokine Response to Antigen Stimulation of Whole Blood from Patients with Mycobacterium ulcerans Disease Compared to That from Patients with Tuberculosis
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Date
2006-02
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Abstract
Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer) is a skin-ulcerating infection common in some parts of the
tropics. We have investigated cytokine secretion after stimulation of whole blood from Buruli ulcer (BU)
patients in a region of endemicity in Ghana with M. ulcerans sonicate or culture filtrate antigens to investigate
the development of the response over time and its specificity by comparison with the response to Mycobacterium
tuberculosis sonicate in human immunodeficiency virus-negative tuberculosis patients. Significant gamma
interferon (IFN- ) production in response to whole-blood stimulation with M. ulcerans sonicate was detected
in patients with ulcers, which was higher than that in patients with nodules but similar to subjects with healed
BU. The mean IFN- response in household contacts of BU patients was not significantly different from that
in healthy control subjects from an area of nonendemicity. Results in patients with untreated, smear-positive
pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculosis patients on treatment for more than 2 weeks showed that BU patients
responded better to M. ulcerans antigens than tuberculosis patients. In contrast, interleukin-10 results were
higher in patients with active M. ulcerans disease than in those with healed lesions, but the pattern of response
was similar to that seen in tuberculosis. A similar pattern of cytokine secretion was found using M. tuberculosis
sonicate as an antigen. Neither of the two culture filtrate antigens of M. ulcerans appeared to be more specific
than M. ulcerans sonicate. In the early stages of M. ulcerans disease there was a mixed Th1 and Th2 cytokine
response, but the Th1 response emerged as the dominant type.
Description
An article by American Society for Microbiology
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Citation
American Society for Microbiology Vol. 13, No. 2 p. 253–257