Release of Prostaglandin E2 by Microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi

Leo X. Liu Charles A. Dana Research Institute and the Harvard-Thorndike Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

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Janet E. Buhlmann Charles A. Dana Research Institute and the Harvard-Thorndike Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

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Peter F. Weller Charles A. Dana Research Institute and the Harvard-Thorndike Laboratory, Infectious Diseases Division, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.1992.46.520
Volume/Issue:
Volume 46: Issue 5
Page(s):
520–523
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To elucidate the local release of immunomodulatory prostaglandins by intravascular filarial parasites, the formation of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was examined in individual microfilariae of Wuchereria bancrofti and Brugia malayi. Following incubation of living microfilariae immobilized in an agar matrix, prostaglandins released by the parasites were fixed by carbodiimide and localized by indirect immunofluorescence. Prostaglandin E2 was specifically detected around the entire surface of microfilariae with anti-PGE2 antiserum, but not with control nonimmune or PGE2 affinity-immunoadsorbed antiserum. These results provide direct evidence that individual microfilariae of W. bancrofti as well as B. malayi release prostaglandins into their microenvironment. The release of PGE2 by these intravascular parasites may modulate host leukocyte responses, and thereby contribute to the immune defects observed in infected humans with peripheral microfilaremia.
Copyright:
Copyright © 1992 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 1992
Published Online:
May 1992
Cover The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Print ISSN:
0002-9637
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