%0 Journal Article
%T Constitutive activation and accelerated maturation of peripheral blood T cells in healthy adults in Burkina Faso compared to Germany: the case of malaria?
%A Tiba F
%A Nauwelaers F
%A Sangare L
%A Coulibaly B
%A Mrosek V
%A Kräusslich HG
%A Böhler T
%J Eur J Med Res
%V 16
%N 12
%D Dec 2011 2
%M 22112357
%F 4.981
%R 10.1186/2047-783x-16-12-519
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>It is not exactly known how frequent exposure to Plasmodium falciparum shapes the peripheral blood T-cell population in healthy West Africans.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>The frequency of peripheral blood CD4(+) lymphocytes responding to Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (PfMSP-1) by production of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-2 (IL-2) or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) was determined using a commercially available flow cytometric activation assay (FastImmune) in 17 healthy adults in Nouna, Burkina Faso. T-cell activation and maturation in peripheral blood of healthy adults in Burkina Faso (n=40) and Germany (n=20) were compared using immunophenotyping and three-colour flow cytometry.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>Significant numbers of PfMSP-1 -specific CD4(+) lymphocytes producing IFN-γ, IL-2 and/or TNF-α were detected in 14 healthy adults in Nouna. Cytokine profiles showed predominant production of IFN-γ and TNF-α. Compared to Germans, Burkinabé showed markedly lower proportions of CCR7+ CD45RA+ naive CD4(+) cells and slightly higher frequencies of CD95(+)CD4(+) T-cells and of CD38(+) CD8(+) T-cells. The median antibody-binding capacity of CD95(dim) CD4(+) T-cells in Burkinabé was more than twice the value observed in Germans (263 vs. 108 binding sites per cell, p<0.0001).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>We hypothesize that an IFN-γ-induced increase in the expression level of CD95 on CD4(+) lymphocytes may lower the activation threshold of resting naive CD4(+) T-cells in healthy adults living in Burkina Faso. Bystander activation of these cells deserves further study as a molecular mechanism linking strong IFN-γ responses against Plasmodium falciparum to decreased susceptibility to parasitemia observed in specific ethnic groups in West Africa.