European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

SIGNIFICANT INVERSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANTIBODIES AGAINST Entamoeba histolytica, Ascaris lumbricoides, Toxocara spp AND THE PRESENCE OF TYPE 1 DIABETES MELLITUS

Maria Del Pilar Crisóstomo Vázquez, Víctor Alberto Maravelez Acosta, Mariana Soria Guerrero, Patricia Medina Bravo, Julio Granados, Enedina Jiménez Cardoso*CA and María de Lourdes Caballero García

ABSTRACT

Autoimmunity is a very heterogeneous disorder with diverse clinical phenotypes, among them T1 DM affects particularly children in certain ethnic groups, there are several explanations for the increasing incidence in prevalence and incidence of T1DM worldwide, epidemiological studies show variability in certain geographical regions and socioeconomically status, besides ethnical and genetic influences, the presence of parasitic infections seems to be at play; thus, those individuals expose to parasites are protected for developing autoimmunity probably due to the expression of FoxP3, which would act as a protective factor by reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the pancreatic B cells protecting for the development of T1DM. Here we analyzed the association of the presence of parasites and antibodies to Ascaris lumbricoides, Toxocara spp and Entamoeba histolytica with HLA-DR genotypes in 26 patients with T1DM who attended to the Children’s Diabetes Clinic (CANDI) at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico; and 33 of their siblings. Intestinal parasites were identified by coproparasitoscopic, IgG antibodies against the parasites Entamoeba histolytica, Ascaris lumbricoides and Toxocara spp. Of the 59 stool samples and sera (26 T1DM and 33 siblings), Entamoeba coli and Endolimax nana in 13.6% of siblings of children with T1DM was identified by CPS. Antibodies against Entamoeba histolytica were detected in 18.6%, Toxocara spp was 37.3% and Ascaris lumbricoides was 35.6% of siblings of children with T1DM; This difference was statistically significant (p <0.05, OR: 0.45,). The HLA-DR3 and HLA-DR4 alleles were increased in the patient group compared to controls (p = 0.0002, OR: 3.5, CI 95% 2.2-5.2). We also found a statistically significant relationship between the presence of antibodies against the three parasites analyzed, Entamoeba histolytica, Ascaris lumbricoides and Toxocara spp and the absence of T1DM manifestations in the 33 siblings of the patients. This would suggest the possible role of parasites in the resistance to the development of autoimmunity.

Keywords: Type 1 Diabetes mellitus, Entamoeba histolytica, Ascaris lumbricoides, Toxocara spp.