Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P04141 (granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor)
 6,790 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To challenge the concept of protective immunity in lymphatic filariasis, 19 adult residents of a Wuchereria bancrofti-endemic island who had been diagnosed 17 years earlier as putatively immune endemic normals (PI/EN) were reexamined. Even with continued exposure to infection, all 19 had maintained their apparent infection-free status. Studies to define the mechanisms underlying this putative immunity revealed that cellular immune responses (including proliferation; generation of interleukin [IL]-2, IL-5, IL-10, interferon-gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) to adult- and microfilarial-stage antigens, but not antibody responses, were markedly greater than those of 20 age-matched, infected patients. Furthermore, the PI/EN group was comprised of high- and low-responding persons who were clinically indistinguishable. These findings provide evidence that protective immunity to lymphatic filariasis does occur and that it is probably T cell-mediated.
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PMID:Evidence for protective immunity to bancroftian filariasis in the Cook Islands. 876 19

On an island in which bancroftian filariasis is endemic, 29 microfilaremic and 16 "endemic normal" (EN) subjects initially studied in 1974-1975 were reevaluated 17 years later. Eleven persons remained microfilaremic, whereas 18 had cleared both microfilaremia and antigenemia. Despite decreased infection on the island, antibody levels remained relatively constant for the subjects with persistent microfilaremia (Mf(+/+)), in contrast to sharp decreases for both EN subjects and subjects with cleared microfilaremia (Mf(+/-)). Although clinically indistinguishable from the EN subjects, the Mf(+/-) group had antibody levels (IgG, IgG4, and IgE) significantly lower than those of the EN subjects. Lymphocyte responses to parasite antigens were marginally greater in Mf(+/-) than in Mf(+/+) subjects, but both groups remained less cell responsive (as measured by proliferation, interleukin-5, interleukin-10, interferon-gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) than did the EN subjects. These findings suggest that, for microfilaremic persons, complete clearance of infection is not sufficient to restore "normal" immune responsiveness; filarial infection may induce very long-term deficits in the ability to respond to parasite antigens.
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PMID:Evolution of immunologic responsiveness of persons living in an area of endemic bancroftian filariasis: a 17-year follow-up. 1139 12