Humoral immune status in patients with parasitic arthritis

Abstract

Introduction. The description of clinical manifestations of parasitic infestation includes joint damage manifested by arthralgia and arthritis, however, until today; the form of joint damage in parasitic infections is not clinically defined. The multitude of parasites creates a heterogeneous joint involvement, and the intensifying of specific manifestations would be an important premise in clinical diagnosis. Objective. Assessment of immunological changes in the context of parasitosis and their ratio depending on the clinical variant of parasitic arthritis. Material and methods. A group of 161 patients with parasitic arthritis was selected, established in two stages of compliance according to specific and serological criteria. The average age was 47.0±2.1 years, 72 men / 89 women. The average duration of joint syndrome was 50.4±15.6 months. The first group (97 patients) had parasitic arthritis of echinococcosis infestation, the 2nd (31 patients) – parasitic arthritis of Toxocara cannis and the 3rd (33 patients) had parasitic arthritis of Giardia lamblia infestation. Results and discussion. IgA was increased above normal in all patients with parasitic arthritis (4.25±0.001; p < 0.001). IgM showed significant changes, depended on infestation agent (p < 0.05). Patients with normal IgG levels predominated, except for patients from the group with echinococcosis parasitic arthritis (p > 0.05). The amount of IgE exceeds normal values in Echinococcus parasitic arthritis (38.40 ng/ml), Toxocara canis (34.16 ng/ml), Giardia lamblia (45.06 ng/ml). Conclusions. This suggests that the key aspects of immunity against parasites are mainly determined by the size of the harmful organisms that the immune system needs to combat. Macroorganism includes unique defense mechanisms that can be effective against multicellular helminths: high production of IgA and IgE and activation of key effector cells – eosinophils.