A Praziquantel Treatment Study of Immune and Transcriptome Profiles in Schistosoma haematobium-Infected Gabonese Schoolchildren

Schistosoma infection has been associated with altered immune function, including hyporesponsiveness. S. haematobium-infected schoolchildren were studied before and after praziquantel treatment and compared to uninfected controls. Cellular responses were characterised by cytokine production and flow cytometry, and in a subset of children RNA-Seq transcriptome profiling performed. Removal of S. haematobium infection resulted in increased schistosome-specific cytokine responses which were negatively associated with CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ T cells and accompanied by increased frequency of effector memory T cells. Innate responses to TLR ligation decreased with treatment and showed positive association with CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ T cells. At the transcriptome level, schistosome infection was associated with enrichment in cell adhesion, while parasite removal with a more quiescent profile. Further analysis indicated alteration in cellular energy metabolism to be associated with S. haematobium infection and that EGR2 and EGR3, transcription factors which negatively regulate T cell activation, may play a role in adaptive immune hyporesponsiveness.