The abundance and morphology of human large intestinal goblet and tuft cells during chronic schistosomiasis.
Matthew B GologorskyClaire M MechlerErna ForgóGregory W CharvilleMichael R HowittPublished in: Parasite immunology (2023)
Schistosomiasis affects nearly 240 million people in predominately low- and middle-income countries and ranks second in the number of cases and socio-economic burden among all parasitic diseases. Despite the enormous burden posed by schistosomes, our understanding of how schistosomiasis impacts infected human tissues remains limited. Intestinal schistosomiasis in animal models leads to goblet cell hyperplasia, likely increasing mucus production and reflecting an intestinal type 2 immune response. However, it is unknown whether these same changes occur in schistosome-infected humans. Using immunofluorescence and light microscopy, we compared the abundance and morphology of goblet cells in patients diagnosed with schistosomiasis to uninfected controls. The mucin-containing vesicles in goblet cells from schistosome-infected patients were significantly larger (hypertrophic) than uninfected individuals, although goblet cell hyperplasia was absent in chronic human schistosomiasis. In addition, we examined tuft cells in the large intestinal epithelium of control and schistosome-infected patients. Tuft cell numbers expand during helminth infection in mice, but these cells have not been characterized in human parasite infections. We found no evidence of tuft cell hyperplasia during human schistosome infection. Thus, our study provides novel insight into schistosome-associated changes to the intestinal epithelium in humans, suggesting an increase in mucus production by large intestinal goblet cells but relatively minor effects on tuft cell numbers.
Keyphrases
- induced apoptosis
- endothelial cells
- single cell
- cell cycle arrest
- immune response
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- cell therapy
- pluripotent stem cells
- hiv infected
- signaling pathway
- end stage renal disease
- chronic kidney disease
- metabolic syndrome
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- cell death
- high throughput
- inflammatory response
- high resolution
- adipose tissue
- skeletal muscle
- cell proliferation
- prognostic factors
- peritoneal dialysis
- microbial community
- oxidative stress
- insulin resistance
- patient reported