Immunolgical indicators of morbidity in human Schistosoma mansoni: role of vascular endothelial growth factor and anti - soluble egg antigen IgG4 in disease progression

Based on the clinical, parasitologic, sigmoidoscopic and sonographic examinations of 90 Schistosomiasis mansoni patients, they were divided into five groups: Lightly infected, heavily infected, intestinal, early hepatosplenic and periportal fibrosis patients. Using ELISA, the levels of circulating vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF] and anti-soluble egg antigen [SEA] IgG4 were measured in their sera. Compared with the normal controls, VEGF levels were significantly raised in all schistosomiasis patients groups, except the lightly- infected and intestinal patients as they were insignificantly elevated. The level of VEGF correlated with the disease progression from the lightly-infected to periportal fibrosis patients. It also correlated with the sonographic indicators of portal hypertension, presence of portosystemic collaterals, portal vein dilatation and splenomegaly. Serum IgG4 was significantly raised in only periportal fibrosis and portal hypertension patients

Role of endothelial cell adhesion molecules in the development of allergy in human fascioliasis

The circulating levels of the endothelial cell adhesion molecules [CAMs] [sICAM-1 sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin] in the sera of 18 allergic asthmatic patients, 16 fascioliasis cases [acute and chronic], 24 fascioliasis cases with allergic chest manifestations and 10 apparently healthy control subjects were estimated by ELISA method. Also, IL-4 serum level was evaluated in all groups. Chest allergy in association with fascioliasis included mainly bronchial asthma, beside eosinophilic bronchitis, persistent wheezing and chronic cough. The study provided an evidence that adhesion molecules expression is up- regulated in acute and chronic fascioliasis cases with allergic chest manifestations. SVCAM-1 seemed to be an early indicator of asthma development in human fascioliasis. IL-4 cytokine was suggested to be responsible for the increased expression, especially in the chronic phase of the diseases, yet the role of other cytokines cannot be excluded