BackgroundIt is documented that Schistosoma mansoni antigens can induce immune responses able to regulate complex diseases. Conversely, the dysregulated inflammatory response in leprosy increases morbidity and leads to reactional episodes, impairing the disease pathogenesis.
The goal of this study was to evaluate the potential of the S. mansoni (Sm29) antigen in regulating the immune response in leprosy through a transcriptome study across clinical reactional forms: reversal reaction (RR), and erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), and without reaction (WR).MethodsPeripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured and stimulated with sonicated M.
leprae antigen and rSm29 antigen. Total RNA was extracted by the TRIzol® (Ambion) according to the manufacturer’s protocol.
RNA libraries were constructed with the TruSeq Stranded Total RNA Prep Globin kit (Illumina) and quantified by qPCR with the KAPA Library Quantification Kit (Roche). Sequencing was performed by Nextseq 2000 (Illumina) with 2x100 base pairs (bp) reads.
Differential expression was analyzed using DESeq2 to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between conditions.
Frontiers in Immunology published a clinical update in Infectious Disease on 01 Jun 2026.
The item focuses on The Sm29 antigen differentially shapes transcriptomic and regulatory landscapes across reactional forms of leprosy.
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