R. Maron et al., ORAL-ADMINISTRATION OF SCHISTOSOME EGG ANTIGENS AND INSULIN B-CHAIN GENERATES AND ENHANCES TH2-TYPE RESPONSES IN NOD MICE, Clinical immunology and immunopathology, 87(1), 1998, pp. 85-92
In murine Schistosoma mansoni, parenteral administration of parasite e
ggs or saline-soluble egg antigens (SEA), generates Th2 T-cell respons
es to both schistosome-specific and unrelated third-party antigens, Or
al administration of insulin to NOD mice suppresses or delays the onse
t of diabetes by skewing the response toward CD4(+) Th2 cells and TGF-
beta producing cells. From these two independent sets of observations,
we initiated the present study to determine if oral administration of
SEA would stimulate Th2-type cytokine responses when mice were fed SE
A alone or in tandem with insulin B-chain. Our results show that feedi
ng NOD mice with either insulin B-chain or SEA alone significantly inh
ibits proliferation to the immunizing antigen. When cytokine profiles
were examined, feeding led to a predominance of IL-10 and TGF-beta pro
duction. Furthermore, feeding SEA in combination with insulin B chain
augmented the level of IL-10 production to insulin. T-cell Lines estab
lished from SEA-fed and -immunized mice secreted IL-4 and IL-10 cytoki
nes whereas the T-cell lines from control-fed mice immunized with SEA
secreted predominantly IL-2 and IFN-gamma, These results demonstrate t
hat orally administered insulin can induce regulatory T-cells secretin
g IL-4, IL-10, and TGF-beta and that Th2 responses to oral insulin cou
ld be augmented in a synergistic way by feeding SEA and insulin B-chai
n together. (C) 1998 Academic Press.