Participação de células endoteliais na proteção do verme adulto do Schistosoma mansoni

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease considered a prevalent health problem in tropical developing countries, and the Praziquantel (PZQ) is the drug of choice for treatment. The adult worm of S. mansoni resides in the vascular lumen, although little is known about the interaction of endothelial cells with the adult worm and the participation of these cells during progression or protection from infection. In addition, the expression of antioxidant genes by these cells has not yet been evaluated during schistosomiasis and after treatment. AIM: To evaluate the expression of antioxidant genes in HUVEC cells grown with adult S. mansoni worms and exposed to treatment, as well as the survival capacity of worms with HUVEC and exposed to oxidizing agents. METHODOLOGY: The names of the genes, enzymes and substrates used in this work were presented in a coded form to keep confidentiality because it is sensitive information for innovation. HUVEC cells were cultured and challenged with adult S. mansoni worms and subjected to PZQ treatment at 1, 3 and 6 hours. After the challenge, RNA extraction was performed using trizol. Then, the qPCR reaction of antioxidant genes was performed. To evaluate the adult worms ability to survive oxidative stress, adult worms were cultivated with the oxidizing agent OX and adult worms with OX in the presence of HUVEC. The worms were evaluated by optical microscopy. RESULTS: HUVEC cells showed increased expression of the antioxidant genes αOX-A and αOX-B when challenged only with PZQ. In addition, it was interesting to note that adult worms were not able to induce or suppress the antioxidant genes evaluated, with the exception of αOX-E, which had its expression significantly increased in HUVEC cells after 6 hours of exposure to an adult worm couple . When the survival capacity was evaluated, adult worms grown with HUVEC cells and challenged with OX showed a higher percentage of survival and resisted higher concentrations of OX when compared to adult worms challenged with OX without the presence of HUVEC. The antioxidant protein αOX-E was added to the culture of adult worms together with the oxidizing agent OX, demonstrating an increased survival of worms in this condition even in high concentrations of OX. Thus, adult worms grown with HUVEC cells behave similarly to the culture of the worms in which αOX-E was added. CONCLUSION: The adult S. mansoni worm seems to induce HUVEC cells to express more αOX-E, a molecule that is involved in the control of oxidative stress. Thus making it an environment conducive to their survival. This information can help new approaches to adjuvant treatments to PZQ.