Parasitic infection with Trichuris trichiura influences plasma levels of soluble HLA class I

High levels of sHLA-1 (soluble HLA-class 1) have been correlated with rejec tion episodes in solid organ transplant recipients and with graft versus ho st disease in bone marrow recipients. Studies of human infection with paras itic worms of the gut have suggested that certain individuals may be geneti cally predisposed to intense infection. In this study, the influence of par asitic helminth infection on levels of sHLA-1 in plasma was investigated in 155 HLA typed individuals from St. Lucia, exposed to the gut parasite Tric huris trichiura. The results confirmed previous findings showing increased levels of sHLA-1 in HLA-A9, and in this case HLA-A23 positive individuals. However, HLA-A9 positive individuals with high worm burden had significantl y lower levels of sHLA-1 in their plasma compared with HLA-A9 positive subj ects with low worm burden. These results suggest that the intensity of T. t richiura infection influences the ability of HLA-A9 posit ive subjects to m aintain high levels of sHLA-1. (C) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Inc.