Acquisition of Human Antigens by Schistosoma mansoni during Cultivation in vitro

Abstract

Schistosoma mansoni may live in the portal circulation of man for many years. In the rhesus monkey, established adult worms persist even though their presence stimulates a powerful host immunity against reinfection with cercariae¹. We have suggested that this concomitant immunity may be explained if the adult worms possess host antigens²; such an immunological disguise would allow these established worms to evade the efferent component of the host's immune response which kills new invading forms lacking the disguise. The existence of these host antigens at the surface of the worms has been demonstrated by transferring worms, grown to maturity in mice, directly into the portal circulation of rhesus monkeys immunized against mouse erythrocytes. Such mouse worms are rapidly destroyed by an antibody-mediated response directed against sites on the worms' surface; mouse worms survive well on transfer to normal monkeys³.