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Excessive inflammatory immune responses during infections with Plasmodium parasites are responsible for severe complications such as cerebral malaria (CM) that can be studied experimentally in mice. Dendritic cells (DCs) activate cytotoxic CD8 + T-cells and initiate immune responses against the parasites. Batf3 -/- mice lack a DC subset, which efficiently induces strong CD8 T-cell responses by cross-presentation of exogenous antigens. Here we show that Batf3 -/- mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) were protected from experimental CM (ECM), characterized by a stable blood-brain barrier (BBB) and significantly less infiltrated peripheral immune cells in the brain. Importantly, the absence of ECM in Batf3 -/- mice correlated with attenuated responses of cytotoxic T-cells, as their parasite-specific lytic activity as well as the production of interferon gamma and granzyme B were significantly decreased. Remarkably, spleens of ECM-protected Batf3 -/- mice had elevated levels of regulatory immune cells and interleukin 10. Thus, protection from ECM in PbA-infected Batf3 -/- mice was associated with the absence of strong CD8 + T-cell activity and induction of immunoregulatory mediators and cells., (© 2019 The Authors. Immunology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Sepsis initially starts with a systemic inflammatory response (SIRS phase) and is followed by a compensatory anti-inflammatory response syndrome (CARS) that causes impaired adaptive T-cell immunity, immune paralysis and an increased susceptibility to secondary infections. In contrast, parasitic filariae release thousands of microfilariae into the peripheral blood without triggering inflammation, as they induce regulatory, anti-inflammatory host responses. Hence, we investigated the impact of chronic filarial infection on adaptive T-cell responses during the SIRS and CARS phases of a systemic bacterial infection and analysed the development of T-cell paralysis following a subsequent adenovirus challenge in BALB/c mice. Chronic filarial infection impaired adenovirus-specific CD8(+) T-cell cytotoxicity and interferon-γ responses in the absence of a bacterial challenge and led to higher numbers of splenic CTLA-4(+)  CD4(+) T cells, whereas splenic T-cell expression of CD69 and CD62 ligand, serum cytokine levels and regulatory T-cell frequencies were comparable to naive controls. Irrespective of filarial infection, the SIRS phase dominated 6-24 hr after intravenous Escherichia coli challenge with increased T-cell activation and pro-inflammatory cytokine production, whereas the CARS phase occurred 6 days post E. coli challenge and correlated with high levels of transforming growth factor-β and increased CD62 ligand T-cell expression. Escherichia coli-induced impairment of adenovirus-specific CD8(+) T-cell cytotoxicity and interferon-γ production was not additionally impaired by chronic filarial infection. This suggests that filarial immunoregulation does not exacerbate E. coli-induced T-cell paralysis., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We sought to determine whether Litomosoides sigmodontis, a filarial infection of rodents, protects against type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice. Six-week-old NOD mice were sham-infected or infected with either L3 larvae, adult male worms, or adult female worms. Whereas 82% of uninfected NOD mice developed diabetes by 25 weeks of age, no L. sigmodontis-infected mice developed disease. Although all mice had evidence of ongoing islet cell inflammation by histology, L. sigmodontis-infected mice had greater numbers of total islets and non-infiltrated islets than control mice. Protection against diabetes was associated with a T helper type 2 (Th2) shift, as interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-5 release from alpha-CD3/alpha-CD28-stimulated splenocytes was greater in L. sigmodontis-infected mice than in uninfected mice. Increased circulating levels of insulin-specific immunoglobulin G1, showed that this Th2 shift occurs in response to one of the main autoantigens in diabetes. Multicolour flow cytometry studies demonstrated that protection against diabetes in L. sigmodontis-infected NOD mice was associated with significantly increased numbers of splenic CD4(+) CD25(+) FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells. Interestingly, injection of crude worm antigen into NOD mice also resulted in protection against type 1 diabetes, though to a lesser degree than infection with live L. sigmodontis worms. In conclusion, these studies demonstrate that filarial worms can protect against the onset of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice. This protection is associated with a Th2 shift, as demonstrated by cytokine and antibody production, and with an increase in CD4(+) CD25(+) FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells.