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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Biosciences & Biotechnology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #280906
Title: Enhanced egress of intracellular Eimeria tenella sporozoites by splenic lymphocytes from coccidia-infected chickens

Author
item DONG, XIAOJUAN - China Agricultural University
item ABDELNABI, GHADA - China Agricultural University
item Lee, Sung
item LI, GUANGXING - Non ARS Employee
item JIN, HONG - China Agricultural University
item Lillehoj, Hyun
item SUO, XUN - China Agricultural University

Submitted to: Infection and Immunity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2012
Publication Date: 6/6/2012
Citation: Dong, X., Abdelnabi, G.H., Lee, S.H., Li, G., Jin, H., Lillehoj, H.S., Suo, X. 2012. Enhanced egress of intracellular Eimeria tenella sporozoites by splenic lymphocytes from coccidia-infected chickens. Infection and Immunity. 79:3465-3470.

Interpretive Summary: Comprehensive understanding of the underlying host-pathogen immunology is important in the development of effective disease control strategies against infectious diseases. Limited information on how parasites interact with host immune system during coccidiosis, an intestinal disease caused by several intracellular protozoan parasites, hinders our ability to develop an effective vaccine against this parasite. In this research, ARS scientists collaborated with researchers at the China Agricultural University to identify a new stage of coccidia parasite which is important in host-parasite interaction. The results indicate that “egress” is a potentially important parasite life cycle stage where a novel strategy of intervention to reduce disease loss can be developed. This finding will help industry to design new methods to reduce parasite invasion.

Technical Abstract: Egress, which describes the mechanism that some intracellular parasites use to exit from parasitophorous vacuoles and host cells, plays a very important role in the parasite life cycle and is central to Eimeria propagation and pathogenesis. Despite the importance of egress in the intracellular parasite’s life cycle, very little information is known on this process compared to other steps, e.g. invasion. The present study was conducted to investigate the interplay between host’s adaptive immune system and Eimeria egression. The splenic lymphocytes or soluble immune factors were incubated with parasites-infected host cells for 3 or 5 hours and the percentage of egress was calculated according to the established formula, viability of egressed parasites were tested using trypan blue exclusion and viability of host cells were tested using Annexin V and propidium iodide staining. We found that premature egression of sporozoites from E. tenella-infected primary chicken kidney cells, or from chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells, occurred when the cells were co-cultured in vitro with spleen lymphocytes from E. tenella-infected chickens, but not when co-cultured with splenocytes from uninfected chickens. Eimeria-specific antibodies and cytokines (IFN-', IL-2, IL-15) derived from E. tenella-primed B and T lymphocytes, respectively, also were capable of promoting premature egress of sporozoite from infected host cells. Both egressed host cells and parasites were viable, although the latter with reduced re-invasion ability to some extent. These results suggest a novel, immune-mediated mechanism that the host exploites to interrupt the normal Eimeria life cycle in vivo, and thereby blocks the release of mature parasites into the environment.