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Infection and Immunity, November 2006, p. 6324-6330, Vol. 74, No. 11
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01046-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Tsetse Fly Saliva Accelerates the Onset of Trypanosoma brucei Infection in a Mouse Model Associated with a Reduced Host Inflammatory Response{triangledown}

Guy Caljon,1* Jan Van Den Abbeele,2 Benoît Stijlemans,1 Marc Coosemans,2 Patrick De Baetselier,1 and Stefan Magez1

Unit of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium,1 Unit of Entomology, Prins Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Nationalestraat 155, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium2

Received 4 July 2006/ Returned for modification 8 August 2006/ Accepted 25 August 2006

Tsetse flies (Glossina sp.) are the vectors that transmit African trypanosomes, protozoan parasites that cause human sleeping sickness and veterinary infections in the African continent. These blood-feeding dipteran insects deposit saliva at the feeding site that enables the blood-feeding process. Here we demonstrate that tsetse fly saliva also accelerates the onset of a Trypanosoma brucei infection. This effect was associated with a reduced inflammatory reaction at the site of infection initiation (reflected by a decrease of interleukin-6 [IL-6] and IL-12 mRNA) as well as lower serum concentrations of the trypanocidal cytokine tumor necrosis factor. Variant-specific surface glycoprotein-specific antibody isotypes immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG2a, implicated in trypanosome clearance, were not suppressed. We propose that tsetse fly saliva accelerates the onset of trypanosome infection by inhibiting local and systemic inflammatory responses involved in parasite control.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unit of Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. Phone: 32-2-629.1978. Fax: 32-2-629.1981. E-mail: gucaljon{at}vub.ac.be.

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 5 September 2006.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, November 2006, p. 6324-6330, Vol. 74, No. 11
0019-9567/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.01046-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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