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Changes in NK and NKT cells in mesenteric lymph nodes after a Schistosoma japonicum infection

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Abstract

The mesenteric lymph node (MLN) is the main draining lymph node in mouse enterocoelia, which contains many types of immune cells. Among these cells, natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells belong to innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), which have potent activities for controlling a variety of pathogenic infections. In this study, C57BL/6 mice were infected with Schistosoma japonicum for 5–7 weeks. Lymphocytes were isolated from the MLN to detect changes in the phenotype and function of NK and NKT cells using a fluorescence activating cell sorter (FACS). These results demonstrated that a S. japonicum infection could significantly increase the percentage of NK cells in the mouse MLN, (P < 0.05). We found an increase in the cell number of both NK and NKT cells. In addition, we found that NK and NKT cells from infected mice expressed higher levels of CD69 compared to normal mice (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that a S. japonicum infection could induce MLN NK and NKT cell activation. Moreover, we found that the expression of CD4 was increased in infected MLN NK cells (P < 0.05). Furthermore, intracellular cytokine staining revealed that expression of IL-4 and IL-17 were significantly enhanced in both the NK and NKT cells of infected mice after phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and ionomycin stimulation (P < 0.05). Taken together, these results indicated that infection-induced MLN NK and NKT cells might play roles in modulating the classical T cell response. Finally, our results indicated that the expression of CD94 was decreased in NK cells, suggesting that the downregulation of CD94 expression might served as a mechanism in NK cell activation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of China (30901353), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou City (2011 J22007), and College Scientific Research Project in Guangzhou City (2012C117).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology, Guangzhou Medical University, 510182, Guangzhou, China

    Xueping Luo, Dianhui Chen, Xiuxue Yu, Fan Wu & Lu Li

  2. Department of Functional Experiment Center, Guangzhou Medical University, 510182, Guangzhou, China

    Hongyan Xie

  3. Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control Research of Ministry of Education, Sun Yat-sen University, 510080, Guangzhou, China

    Changyou Wu

  4. Department of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology; Institute of Immunology, Guangzhou Medical University, 510182, Guangzhou, China

    Jun Huang

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  1. Xueping Luo
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  2. Hongyan Xie
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  3. Dianhui Chen
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  4. Xiuxue Yu
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  5. Fan Wu
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  6. Lu Li
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  7. Changyou Wu
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  8. Jun Huang
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Correspondence to Jun Huang.

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Xueping Luo and Hongyan Xie equally contributed to this work.

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Luo, X., Xie, H., Chen, D. et al. Changes in NK and NKT cells in mesenteric lymph nodes after a Schistosoma japonicum infection. Parasitol Res 113, 1001–1009 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3732-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3732-5

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