Immunological relationships during primary infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Nematospiroides dubius): downregulation of specific cytokine secretion (IL-9 and IL-10) correlates with poor mastocytosis and chronic survival of adult worms.

Mice were infected either with Trichinella spiralis (day 0), Heligmosomoides polygyrus (day-14) or concurrently with both species and were killed in groups, together with naïve control mice, on 2 occasions (day 8 and 15 post infection with T. spiralis, corresponding to days 22 and 29 p.i. with H. polygyrus). The expulsion of T. spiralis was slowed significantly in concurrently infected mice and this was associated with a reduced mastocytosis and lower serum mucosal mast cell protease levels. Mesenteric lymph node (MLN) lymphocytes from all three experimental groups secreted IL-3 and IL-4 in copious amounts when stimulated in vitro by Concanavalin A (Con-A), but the secretion of high levels of IL-9 and IL-10 was essentially confined to mice infected with T. spiralis alone. It is suggested that adult H. polygyrus selectively modulate cytokine secretion by Th2 cells within the MLN during infection and that this is brought about as a direct consequence of the mechanism employed by H. polygyrus to depress mucosal inflammatory responses in order to facilitate its own survival.