کاهش تولید IFN-γ همراه با افزایش تولید IL-12 در بیماران مبتلا به بروسلوز مزمن

Background and purpose:Brucellosis is a disease with zoonotic and transmissible world wide distribution which, often becomes chronic with high rate of recurrence. Since the immune responses during brucellosis have not been studied profoundly, therefore in this study cytokine production in the patients suffering from brucellosis and in healthy individuals has been evaluated. Materials and methods: 14 with acute and 13 with chronic brucellosis (mean age of 38.03+18.2 years) and 22 healthy individuals matched for age( mean age of 35.33+21) were recruted for the study. Diluted boiled samples were cultured in presence of either mitigen, heat inactivated brucella melitensis Rev-1 strain or medium alone. ÏL-12. Ïl-10, Ïl-13 and ÏFN- γ were measured by specific sandwich ËLÏSÂ and blastogenic responses of lymphocytes were also counted by liquid scintillation counter (LTT). Results: Ïnterferon-y production and specific proliferative responses were significantly diminished in chronic brucellosis compared to the acute patients (P<0.05). Ïn contrast. ÏL-12 production in whole blood culture of chronic patients was higher than that of acute patients (P<0.05). ÏL-10 production was also augmented in chronic patients, which had no relation with ÏFN- γ production. Çonclusion: Findings indicate that brucella- spectific cytokine patterns observed in patients with brucellosis differ between acute and chronic plases of the disease. Âlso the results suggest that diminished production of Th1 cytokines and T cell blastogenic responses may be due to lack of T cell responses to brucella antigens,in patents suffering from chronic brucellosis.