Immunology of onchocerciasis. II. Modulatory effects of serum and cell factors on lymphocyte proliferative responses to mitogens and alloantigens

Abstract

The role of cell mediated immunity (CMI) in parasitic diseases has been recently stressed. However, little is known on the CMI effector and immunoregulatory mechanisms in onchocerciasis. Cell reactivity has been tested in vivo and in vitro and recently Greene et al suggested the of non-specific supression of antigen induced lymphocyte blastogenesis in O. volvulus infection. In our group, free circulating antigen ha s been associated with depression of delayed type skin test to O. volvulus.