The effect of treatment with either oxamniquine or praziquantel on
S.mansoni specific IFN-gamma, IL-4 , IL-5 and IL-10 was compared on
PBMC which were collected pre-treatment, 6 and 18 weeks post treatment.
Using sandwich ELISA on the supernatants harvested from the PBMC
stimulation by crude S. mansoni SEA and SWAP antigens after 5 days
the levels of PBMC proliferation and cytokine production were similar
according to treatment with either praziquantel or oxamniquine. Before
treatment, infected groups showed low ratios, of IL-4:IFN-gamma,
IL-5:IFN-gamma and IL-10:IFN-gamma, indicating that IFN-gamma was high
in the infected individuals. The general increase in immuno-modulation
was observed post-treatment with elevated immune reactivity and
cytokine production in both treatment groups. Treatment induced
significant increases in levels of IL-4 (p<0.05), IL-5 (p<0.0001)
and IL-10 (p<0.05) cytokines 6 and 18 weeks after treatment. There
were no significant differences in the increase in IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10
between children treated with praziquantel or oxamniquine.
Pre-treatment IFN-gamma and IL-5 levels were positively correlated with
infection (p<0.001), while post treatment IL-4 cytokine levels were
negatively correlated with baseline infection status (p<0.001). The
Results suggest that treatment-induced immune responses are similar for
both commonanti-schistosome drugs praziquantel or oxamniquine having
similar and immunizing effect
