Dysregulation of serum gamma interferon levels in vascular chronic Q Fever patients provides insights into disease pathogenesis.

Abstract

A large community outbreak of Q fever occurred in the Netherlands in the period 2007 to 2010. Some of the infected patients developed chronic Q fever, which typically includes pathogen dissemination to predisposed cardiovascular sites, with potentially fatal consequences. To identify the immune mechanisms responsible for ineffective clearance of Coxiella burnetii in patients who developed chronic Q fever, we compared serum concentrations of 47 inflammation-associated markers among patients with acute Q fever, vascular chronic Q fever, and past resolved Q fever. Serum levels of gamma interferon were strongly increased in acute but not in vascular chronic Q fever patients, compared to past resolved Q fever patients. Interleukin-18 levels showed a comparable increase in acute as well as vascular chronic Q fever patients. Additionally, vascular chronic Q fever patients had lower serum levels of gamma interferon-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) than did acute Q fever patients. Serum responses for these and other markers indicate that type I immune responses to C. burnetii are affected in chronic Q fever patients. This may be attributed to an affected immune system in cardiovascular patients, which enables local C. burnetii replication at affected cardiovascular sites.

• Authors: Jeroen L A Pennings, Marjolein N T Kremers, Hennie M Hodemaekers, Julia C J P Hagenaars, Olivier H J Koning, Nicole H M Renders, Mirjam H A Hermans, Arja de Klerk, Daan W Notermans, Peter C Wever, Riny Janssen
• Journal: Clinical and vaccine immunology : CVI (Clin Vaccine Immunol) Vol. 22 Issue 6 Pg. 664-71 (Jun 2015) ISSN: 1556-679X [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25924761 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Chemical References

• CXCL10 protein, human
• Chemokine CXCL10
• Transforming Growth Factor beta
• Interferon-gamma

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Chemokine CXCL10 (blood)
• Female
• Humans
• Interferon-gamma (blood)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Netherlands (epidemiology)
• Q Fever (epidemiology, immunology, pathology)
• Retrospective Studies
• Serum (chemistry)
• Transforming Growth Factor beta (blood)
• Young Adult