immunology of infectious and parasitic diseases - XXXVII Congress ...

EFFECT OF THALIDOMIDE TREATMENT ON IMMUNE RESPONSE
AGAINST BRUCELLA ABORTUS
MARINA COELHO DE QUEIROZ (1) ; CAROLINA DE SOUZA MIRANDA (1) ;
MARCELA MOTA (1) ; TÁRSILA GUIMARÃES (1) ; GILSON COSTA MACEDO (1) .
(1) Laboratório de Imunologia, Departamento de Parasitologia, Microbiologia e
Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Juiz de
Fora, Juiz de Fora – MG, Brasil.
Introduction: Brucellosis is a zoonosis caused by bacteria of the genus
Brucella that infects humans and a variety of animals, mainly cattle. According
to World Health Organization, this illness remains the commonest zoonotic
disease worldwide with thousands of new cases reported every year. In addition
to great damages to health, Brucellosis affects the quality of animal-derived
products resulting in a great economic impact, especially in Brazil. The immune
response against Brucella involves several mechanisms of innate and acquired
immunity, of which the cytokine IFN- and CD8 + T cells have a critical role. In
this context, many studies have shown that Thalidomide (a glutamic acid
derivative) is able to induce high production of IFN-, costimulation, proliferation
and cytokine production, mainly by CD8 + T lymphocytes. Thus, the goal of this
study was evaluate the effect of Thalidomide treatment on immune response
against B. abortus.
Methods and Results: The C57BL/6 mice were treated with Thalidomide
during seven days and infected with B. abortus (S2308). The PBS treated mice
were used as control. A week after the infection, the bacterial load was
determined in the spleen. IFN- and Nitric oxide (NO) production were
evaluated in supernatants of splenocytes in response to B. abortus stimulation.
Cytokine (IFN- e IL-12) concentration was also evaluated in macerated liver.
Finally, the ability of B. abortus-primed splenocytes from Thalidomide treated
mice, to lyse infected macrophages was assayed.
The results have shown a significant decrease in the number of bacteria in the
spleen of the treated animals compared to control group. Furthermore, the
treated group showed greater IFN-, IL-12 and NO production in response to
Brucella. Additionally, was detected an enhanced cytotoxic activity in
splenocytes derived from treated animals.
Conclusion: The results suggest that Thalidomide is able to potentiate the
immune response against B. abortus.
Financial Support: CNPq e FAPEMIG