Enteric helminth infection confers protection against lethal respiratory influenza virus infection

作者：Chi Tai, Jia-Xun Xie, Jr‐Shiuan Lin · 发表于：The Journal of Immunology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.4049/jimmunol.210.supp.156.01 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Influenza Virus Research Studies、Respiratory viral infections research、Parasites and Host Interactions

Abstract Chronic helminth infection has been considered a serious public health issue. Due to the widespread of helminthiasis, people co-infected with helminth and other pathogens, such as virus, may be common. Studies suggest that helminth infection exert immunomodulatory effects that may alter host susceptibility to subsequent unrelated pulmonary pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the outcome of helminth-respiratory viral co-infection remains controversial. Here, we established an enteric helminth Heligomosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb)-influenza virus co-infection mouse model, then characterized the immune responses modulated by Hpb infection in the lungs of the helminth chronically infected mice. Our results showed that enteric helminth-infected mice exhibited increased survival and reduced weight loss after lethal influenza virus infection compared with helminth-inexperienced mice. Further analysis revealed that enteric helminth infection altered immune landscape in the lungs by increasing effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells infiltrated into the airway, as well as upregulating type I interferons and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the lung tissues before influenza virus infection. After influenza virus infection, viral titers were significantly decreased, whereas the viral-specific antibody responses and cellular responses were increased in the lungs of helminth-infected mice. Moreover, histological examination of the lungs revealed that cell infiltration i...