Trypanosoma cruzi-induced immunosuppression: B cells undergo spontaneous apoptosis and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) arrests their proliferation during acute infection

ZUÑIGA E.; MOTRAN C.; MONTES C.; LOPEZ-DIAZ F.; BOCCO J.L.; GRUPPI A.

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2000 vol. 119 p. 507 - 507

cute infection with Trypanosoma cruzi is characterized by multiple manifestations of immunosuppression of both cellular and humoral responses. B cells isolated at the acute stage of infection have shown marked impairment in their response to polyclonal activators in vitro. The present work aims at studying the B cell compartment in the context of acute T. cruzi infection to provide evidence for B cell activation, spontaneous apoptosis and arrest of the cell cycle upon mitogenic stimulation as a mechanism underlying B cell hyporesponse. We found that B cells from acutely infected mice, which fail to respond to the mitogen LPS, showed spontaneous proliferation and production of IgM, indicating a high level of B cell activation. Furthermore, these activated B cells also exhibited an increase in Fas expression and apoptosis in cultures without an exogenous stimulus. On the other hand, B cells from early acute and chronic infected mice did not present activation or apoptosis, and were able