T cell responses in repeated controlled human schistosome infection compared to natural exposure

In areas that are endemic for the parasitic worm infection schistosomiasis, people are repeatedly reinfected - but we still don’t fully understand how immune responses develop in these cycles.  

In this exploratory immunological study, we investigated the specific (cellular and cytokine) immune response in people during repeat infection, comparing individuals naturally infected with schistosomes in endemic areas to repeat controlled human infection (CHI) in volunteers in the Netherlands.

Our results show that CHI induces host immune responses that broadly resemble those of naturally infected endemic individuals. This shows that CHI provides a relevant, precise and tractable approach to complement and inform natural infection studies which should be invaluable for better fundamental understanding of immune responses during schistosomiasis, as well as provide proof-of-concept data for future vaccine development.