Plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells are early producers of IL-12 in Neospora caninum-infected mice

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2010

Authors

Luzia Teixeira (Author) ICBAS; Ana Sofia Botelho (Author) Other; Sandro Da Mesquita (Author) Other; Alexandra Correia (Author) Other; Filipe Cerca (Author) Other; Renata Costa (Author) Other; Paula Sampaio (Author) Other; Antonio Gil Castro (Author) Other; Manuel Vilanova (Author) ICBAS

Journal

Title: Immunology and Cell Biology

Vol. 88 No. 1

Pages: 79-86

ISSN: 0818-9641

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 21 Citations

Scopus - 23 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Medical and Health sciences > Basic medicine

CORDIS: Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Immunology

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-B88

DOI: 10.1038/icb.2009.65

Abstract (EN): Neospora caninum is a coccidian parasite causative of clinical infections in a wide range of animal hosts. The maturation and activation of splenic conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) were studied here in BALB/c mice challenged intraperitoneal with N. caninum tachyzoites. The number of cDCs was found to decrease in the spleen of the infected mice 12 h and 2 days after the parasitic challenge, whereas at day 5 after infection it was significantly above that of mock-infected controls. In contrast, the number of splenic pDCs did not change significantly on infection. In the infected mice, both cell subtypes displayed an activated phenotype with upregulation of costimulatory and MHC class II molecules. This stimulatory effect was more marked at the earliest assessed time point after infection, 12 h, when a clear increase in the frequency of cDCs (CD8 alpha(+) and CD8 alpha(-)) and pDCs producing interleukin-12 (IL-12) was also observed. N. caninum tachyzoites could be observed by confocal microscopy associated with sorted DCs. Overall, these results present the first evidence that both cDCs and pDCs mediate in vivo the innate immune response to N. caninum infection through the production of IL-12, a key cytokine for host resistance to neosporosis. Immunology and Cell Biology (2010) 88, 79-86; doi:10.1038/icb.2009.65; published online 15 September 2009

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8