Maternal filarial infection: association of anti-sheath antibody responses with plasma levels of IFN-γ and IL-10

Maternal filarial infection influences the risk of acquiring infection and development of immunity in children. Here we have analysed the blood samples of 60 mothers (24 infected and 36 uninfected) and their corresponding cord bloods to assess the impact of maternal infection on the anti-sheath antibodies and cytokine production in neonates born from them. About 69.4% of non-infected mothers and their cord bloods showed the presence of anti-sheath antibodies, while only 16.6% of the cord bloods from infected mothers were positive for it. The IL-10 level was significantly high in cord bloods of infected mothers compared with non-infected mothers. At the same time the IL-10 level was also observed to be remarkably high in cord bloods of both infected and non-infected mothers negative for anti-sheath antibody. In contrast, IFN-gamma levels were significantly high in cord bloods of non-infected mothers compared with infected mothers and the increment was prominent in cord bloods of both infected and non-infected mothers positive for anti-sheath antibody. The study reveals that the presence or absence of anti-sheath antibodies in association with cytokines skews the filarial specific immunity to either Th1 or Th2 responses in neonates. This may affect the natural history of filarial infection in early childhood.