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Infection and Immunity, July 2000, p. 3909-3915, Vol. 68, No. 7
Department of Parasitology, Institute for
Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen,
Germany1; Department of Medicine, VA and
Duke University Medical Centers, Durham, North Carolina
270052; Research Unit, Albert
Schweitzer Hospital, Lambaréné,
Gabon3; and Department of Infectious
Diseases, Internal Medicine I, University of Vienna, Vienna,
Austria4
Received 3 February 2000/Returned for modification 15 March
2000/Accepted 12 April 2000
We compared interleukin-12 (IL-12) and other cytokine activities
during and after an acute clinical episode in a matched-pair case-control study of young African children who presented with either
mild or severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. The
acute-phase, pretreatment plasma IL-12 and alpha interferon (IFN-
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Low Interleukin-12 Activity in Severe Plasmodium
falciparum Malaria

)
levels, as well as the acute-phase mitogen-stimulated whole-blood
production capacity of IL-12, were significantly lower in children with
severe rather than mild malaria. IL-12 levels, in addition, showed
strong inverse correlations both with parasitemia and with the numbers of circulating malaria pigment-containing neutrophils. Acute-phase plasma tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and IL-10 levels were significantly higher in those with severe malaria, and the concentrations of both of
these cytokines were positively correlated both with parasitemia and
with the numbers of pigment-containing phagocytes in the blood. Children with severe anemia had the highest levels of TNF in plasma. In
all the children, the levels in plasma and production capacities of all
cytokines normalized when they were healthy and parasite free. The
results indicate that severe but not mild P. falciparum malaria in young, nonimmune African children is characterized by
down-regulated IL-12 activity, contrasting markedly with the up-regulation of both TNF and IL-10 in the same children. A combination of disturbed phagocyte functions resulting from hemozoin consumption, along with reduced IFN-
responses, may contribute to these
differential effects.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Parasitology, Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of
Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 27, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Phone: 49-7071-2980228. Fax: 49-7071-295189. E-mail:
adrian.luty{at}uni-tuebingen.de.
This paper is dedicated to the memory of the late Robert N. Mshana.
Present address: Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center
for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Chamblee, GA 30341.
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