DIFFERENTIAL PROLIFERATIVE AND INTERLEUKIN-10 RESPONSES TO FRACTIONATED FILARIAL ANTIGENS - PREFERENTIAL RECOGNITION BY PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LYMPHATIC DYSFUNCTION

To characterize filarial antigens that may be associated with the deve lopment of chronic lymphatic dysfunction in persons with lymphatic fil ariasis, T cell responsiveness to Brugia pahangi adult worm extracts a nd SDS-PAGE antigen fractions were examined among Haitians from an are a in which Wuchereria bancrofti is endemic. Greater T cell proliferati on and interleukin-10 (IL-10) production were observed in amicrofilare mic patients with hydrocele or elephantiasis than in amicrofilaremic o r microfilaremic asymptomatic persons. Antigen fractions that stimulat ed the highest proliferative responses (in the 25-49 kDa range) and IL -10 production were not identical. Further separation of an immunodomi nant 30- to 38-kDa fraction by ion exchange high-pressure liquid chrom atography identified several subfractions, including a 32-kDa protein band, that elicited T cell responses from patients with elephantiasis or hydrocele. By immunoblot, these patients also had markedly greater humoral reactivity to parasite antigens of similar to 52, 43, 32, and 30 kDa.