High Levels of IL-10 and CD4+CD25hi+ Treg Cells in Endemic Burkitt’s Lymphoma Patients

Biomedicines

Godfred Futagbi¹  Ben Gyan¹  Harriet Nunoo¹  John K.A. Tetteh¹  Jennifer E. Welbeck¹  Lorna Awo Renner¹  Michael Ofori¹  Daniel Dodoo¹  Dominic A. Edoh¹ 

[1] ¹Department of Animal Biology and Conservation Science, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana

关键词: Burkitt’s lymphoma;    malaria;    EBNA1;    Th2;    Treg cells;   

DOI  :  10.3390/biomedicines3030224

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Background: The interplay between Epstein-Barr virus infection, malaria, and endemic Burkitt’s Lymphoma is not well understood. Reports show diminished EBV-specific Th1 responses in children living in malaria endemic areas and deficiency of EBNA1-specific IFN-γ T cell responses in children with endemic Burkitt’s Lymphoma (eBL). This study, therefore, examined some factors involved in the loss of EBNA-1-specific T cell responses in eBL. Methods: T-cell subset frequencies, activation, and IFN-γ- or IL-4-specific responses were analyzed by flow-cytometry. Plasma cytokine levels were measured by ELISA. Results: CD4+ and CD8+ cells in age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 3) expressed more IFN-γ in response to all immunostimulants than in pediatric endemic BL (eBL) patients (n = 4). In healthy controls, IFN-γ expression was higher than IL-4 expression, whereas in eBL patients the expression of IL-4 by CD4+ cells to EBNA-1 was slightly higher than IFN-γ. Moreover, the blood levels of TNF-α was significantly lower(p = 0.004) while IL-10 was significantly higher (p = 0.038), in eBL patients (n = 21) compared to controls (n = 16). Additionally, the frequency of CD4+CD25hi+ T cells was higher in both age-matched acute uncomplicated malaria (n = 26) and eBL (n = 14) patients compared to healthy controls (n = 19; p = 0.000 and p = 0.027, respectively). Conclusion: The data suggest that reduced Th1 response in eBL might be due to increased levels of IL-10 and T reg cells.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.