Peritoneum from Trypanosoma cruzi infected mice is a homing site of Syndecan-1neg plasma cells which provide non-parasite specific antibodies

MERINO, MARÍA CECILIA; MONTES, CAROLINA LUCIA; ACOSTA RODRIGUEZ EVA; BERMEJO, DANIELA A; AMEZCUA VESELY, MARIA CAROLINA; GRUPPI, ADRIANA

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNOLOGY

OXFORD UNIV PRESS

Año: 2010 vol. 22 p. 399 - 410

0953-8178

Humoral immunity during experimental Chagas disease has been considered a double-edge sword,critical to control Trypanosoma cruzi spreading but also associated to tissue damage. Peritoneal B-1cells have been linked to the pathogenesis of Chagas disease; however, they may also help to controlthe infection by providing a fast wave of antibodies. In the present work, we determined thatperitoneal B-cell response to T. cruzi is characterized by a marked reduction of CD191 B cells due toplasma cell differentiation rather than to cell death. Both peritoneal B-2 and B-1 cells decrease afterparasite infection, but with different kinetics. Thus, the reduction in B-2 cell number can be detectedfrom day 4 postinfection while the number of B-1 cells decreases only after 15 days of infection.Differentiation of peritoneal B-1 and B-2 cells into IgM-secreting cells was triggered by parasites butnot by cytokines produced by peritoneal cells. Electron microscopy studies showed that peritoneumof infected mice lodges plasma cells with typical morphology as well as atypical plasma cells named‘Mott-like cells’ containing high number of cytoplasmatic Ig1 granules. The plasma cells inducedduring the infection showed a phenotype that may allow their persistence in peritoneum and they maycontribute to the high levels of antibodies exhibited at the chronic phase of infection. We also showedthat the peritoneal B-cell response is scarcely specific for the invading pathogen and rather constitutean important source of non-parasite-specific IgM and IgG in the infected host.