TY  - JOUR
A1  - Maaz, Denny
A1  - Rausch, Sebastian
A1  - Richter, Dania
A1  - Kruecken, Juergen
A1  - Kuehl, Anja A.
A1  - Demeler, Janina
A1  - Bluemke, Julia
A1  - Matuschka, Franz-Rainer
A1  - von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Georg
A1  - Hartmann, Susanne
T1  - Susceptibility to Ticks and Lyme Disease Spirochetes Is Not Affected in Mice Coinfected with Nematodes
JF  - Infection and immunity
N2  - Small rodents serve as reservoir hosts for tick-borne pathogens, such as the spirochetes causing Lyme disease. Whether natural coinfections with other macroparasites alter the success of tick feeding, antitick immunity, and the host's reservoir competence for tick-borne pathogens remains to be determined. In a parasitological survey of wild mice in Berlin, Germany, approximately 40% of Ixodes ricinus-infested animals simultaneously harbored a nematode of the genus Heligmosomoides. We therefore aimed to analyze the immunological impact of the nematode/tick coinfection as well as its effect on the tick-borne pathogen Borrelia afzelii. Hosts experimentally coinfected with Heligmosomoides polygyrus and larval/nymphal I. ricinus ticks developed substantially stronger systemic type 2 T helper cell (Th2) responses, on the basis of the levels of GATA-3 and interleukin-13 expression, than mice infected with a single pathogen. During repeated larval infestations, however, anti-tick Th2 reactivity and an observed partial immunity to tick feeding were unaffected by concurrent nematode infections. Importantly, the strong systemic Th2 immune response in coinfected mice did not affect susceptibility to tick-borne B. afzelii. An observed trend for decreased local and systemic Th1 reactivity against B. afzelii in coinfected mice did not result in a higher spirochete burden, nor did it facilitate bacterial dissemination or induce signs of immunopathology. Hence, this study indicates that strong systemic Th2 responses in nematode/tick-coinfected house mice do not affect the success of tick feeding and the control of the causative agent of Lyme disease.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1128/IAI.01309-15
SN  - 0019-9567
SN  - 1098-5522
VL  - 84
SP  - 1274
EP  - 1286
PB  - American Society for Microbiology
CY  - Washington
ER  -