Abstract
T lymphocytes play a vital role in antimalaria immunity, but there is little information about the role of T cells in malaria infection. In order to explore the profile of T cells in malaria immunity, we infected Chinese rhesus macaques with the malaria parasite (Plasmodium cynomolgi) and examined the dynamics of T cell subsets. Both repeated and long-term infections were involved. Our results showed that the monkeys in the repeated infection group acquired protective immunity through primary infection, which was evidenced by a much lower parasitemia, milder anemia, and milder fever during reinfection; the monkeys in the long-term infection group also developed protective immunity, but this was not sufficient to eliminate the parasite. The total counts of leukocytes, neutrophils, CD3+ T cells, CD4+ or CD8+ T cells, and naïve and memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells declined during the acute phase of malaria but increased after the parasite was controlled. The total number of activated CD4+ T cells significantly increased during malaria in animals with a long-term infection, which remained at least 3 months after the termination of malaria. However, the activated CD4+ T cells decreased during the acute phase of infection in the repeated infection group and converted to preinfection levels after malaria was cured. Regulatory CD4+ T cells continued to increase during the malaria infections and quickly reverted to preinfection levels after the parasite was controlled. Our study provides a systematic analysis of the kinetic profiles of T lymphocyte subsets during malaria infections and provides some experimental insight into malaria immunology.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-YW-R-164, KSCX1-YW-10), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30800986 and 30870132), and the Guangdong Science and Technology Department (07118293, 9151051501000073, 9251064001000002). We thank the animal care staffs at the Non-human Primate Animal Center of GIBH for their professional care of the animals. We appreciate Professor Peiquan Chen for donating a strain of P. cynomolgi.
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Li, Q., Ruan, Z., Zhang, H. et al. Characterization of peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets in Chinese rhesus macaques with repeated or long-term infection with Plasmodium cynomolgi . Parasitol Res 110, 961–969 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2581-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2581-3