Comparison of the hepatoprotective effects of immune cells and serum in Schistosoma mansoni-infected immunosuppressed mice.

Immunosuppressed mice with heavy Schistosoma mansoni infections suffer from a severe hepatotoxicity reaction soon after the onset of infection patency, and this may be directly consequent upon the failure of the hosts to mount adequate granulomatous responses to embolized parasite eggs. Immune serum or immune peripheral lymphocytes from normal S. mansoni-infected immunologically intact donor mice were transferred to homologously-infected syngeneic T-cell deprived recipients to test the respective capacities of the transferred humoral or cellular immune effector elements to prevent hepatocellular damage and to reconstitute granuloma formation. Transferred immune serum was very effective in preventing liver cell damage, but did not significantly reconstitute the capacity to form granulomas in the recipients. In contrast, mice receiving immune spleen and mesenteric lymph node cells had their capacity to form granulomas around liver-bound eggs reconstituted, but lymphoid cell transfer was less effective in protecting against hepatocyte damage than serum transfer. Protection of host tissues may therefore not be the main role of the T-cell mediated S. mansoni egg granuloma.