Abstract

Cystic echinococcosis is a widespread zoonosis caused by the larval stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus. In intermediary hosts, two types of echinococcal cysts can be found: fertile, which produce protoscoleces, the infective form of the parasite to dogs; and infertile, that do not present protoscoleces and therefore are not able to continue with the parasite life cycle. The adventitial layer, the local immune response against the cyst, plays an important role in cyst fertility. Grazing cattle can often feature Fasciola hepatica co-infection, a parasite known to modulate the host systemic immune response. In this work the cellular Th1/Th2 immune profiles were evaluated in the adventitial layer of fertile and non-fertile cysts with and without co-infection with Fasciola hepatica. Measuring with immunohistochemistry and qPCR in adventitial layer, we report that non-fertile cysts present higher levels of Th1 cytokines (IFN-gamma (P 0.0001) and TNF-alpha (P 0.05)), and fertile cysts have higher levels of Th2 cytokines (IL-4 (P 0.001)). Co-infection with Fasciola hepatica is associated with a decrease in the expression of IL-4 (P 0.05) and an increase in the expression of IFN-gamma (P 0.0001) in the adventitial layer of fertile cysts. Non-fertile cysts were associated with higher levels of Th1 cytokines in the adventitial layer, with IFN-gamma expression enhanced by F. hepatica co-infection (P 0.0001), confirming that polyparasitism should be considered in the treatment and control of naturally infected cattle.