Aumento da frequência de células T regulatórias CD4+CD25+FOXP3high E CD8+CD25+FOXP3high em pacientes menores de 15 anos com hanseníase multibacilar

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which represents an important health problem worldwide, especially in Ceará, Brazil. The incidence in under-15-year-olds reflects the endemicity of the region and the difficulty in its control. The disease presents a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations that reflects the immune response developed, with Th1 and Th2 responses related to the paucibacillary and multibacillary (MB) forms, respectively. Regulatory T cells(Tregs) cells have received special attention in the literature and have been associated with development of chronic infections, however its role in leprosy in children under-15-years-old has not yet been elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of CD4+CD25+FOXP3high, CD8+CD25+FOXP3high, CD4+CD25highFOXP3+ and CD8+CD25highFOXP3+ Treg cells in patients with leprosy and household contacts(HHC), both under 15 years. Peripheral blood mononucelares cells were cultured for 72 hours with activators(anti-CD3 and anti-CD28) and/or with M.leprae total sonicated. After culture, Treg cells were identified by flow cytometry. We found a greater frequency of CD4+CD25+FOXP3high cells in patients than in HHC, where there were no differences in the other cell populations evaluated. The multibacillary patients had a higher frequency of CD4+CD25+FOXP3high and CD8+CD25+FOXP3high cells compared to HHC. Only these patients, CD4+CD25+FOXP3high cells were negatively correlated with CD4+ and CD8+ non-Treg lymphocytes , and CD8+CD25+FOXP3high cells with CD4+ non-Treg lymphocytes. The greater frequency of Tregs with high expression of FOXP3 in individuals with multibacillary leprosy under-15-years-old and its inverse correlation with the frequency of non-regulatory lymphocytes in these patients suggests the involvement of these cells in the perpetuation of M. leprae infection.