Helminth infection represents a major health problem causing approximately 5 million disability‐adjusted life years worldwide. Concerns that repeated anti‐helminthic treatment may lead to drug resistance render it important that vaccines are developed but will require increased understanding of the immune‐mediated cellular and antibody responses to helminth infection. IL‐4 or antibody‐activated murine macrophages are known to immobilize parasitic nematode larvae, but few studies have addressed whether this is translatable to human macrophages. In the current study, we investigated the capacity of human macrophages to recognize and attack larval stages of Ascaris suum , a natural porcine parasite that is genetically similar to the human helminth Ascaris lumbricoides . Human macrophages were able to adhere to and trap A suum larvae in the presence of either human or pig serum containing Ascaris ‐specific antibodies and other factors. Gene expression analysis of serum‐activated macrophages revealed that CCL24, a potent eosinophil attractant, was the most upregulated gene following culture with A suum larvae in vitro, and human eosinophils displayed even greater ability to adhere to, and trap, A suum larvae. These data suggest that immune serum–activated macrophages can recruit eosinophils to the site of infection, where they act in concert to immobilize tissue‐migrating Ascaris larvae.

中文翻译：

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免疫血清激活的人类巨噬细胞与嗜酸性粒细胞协同作用，以固定A虫的幼虫。

蠕虫感染是一个重大的健康问题，导致全世界大约500万残疾调整生命年。对反复进行抗蠕虫药治疗可能导致耐药性的担忧使开发疫苗变得很重要，但将需要进一步了解免疫介导的细胞对蠕虫感染的反应。已知IL-4或抗体激活的鼠巨噬细胞可固定寄生线虫幼虫，但很少有研究探讨它是否可转化为人类巨噬细胞。在当前的研究中，我们调查了人类巨噬细胞识别和攻击猪scar虫（Ascaris suum）幼虫阶段的能力，猪scar虫是一种天然的猪寄生虫，在遗传上与人的蠕虫A虫（Ascaris lumbricoides）相似。人巨噬细胞能够粘附到捕集甲猪蛔虫幼虫在含有人或猪血清的存在蛔虫特异性抗体和其他因素。对血清活化的巨噬细胞的基因表达分析表明，CCL24是一种有效的嗜酸性粒细胞引诱剂，是在体外用A suum幼虫培养后表达最强的基因，而人类嗜酸性粒细胞表现出更大的粘附和捕获A suum幼虫的能力。这些数据表明，血清免疫激活的巨噬细胞可以招募嗜酸性粒细胞感染的网站，在那里他们采取一致行动，以固定组织迁移蛔虫幼虫。