Association between Micronutrients (Vitamin A, D, Iron) and Schistosome-Specific Cytokine Responses in Zimbabweans Exposed to Schistosoma haematobium.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Parasitology Research Volume 2012, Article ID 128628, 9 pages doi:10.1155/2012/128628 Clinical Study Association between Micronutrients (Vitamin A, D, Iron) and Schistosome-Specific Cytokine Responses in Zimbabweans Exposed to Schistosoma haematobium Liam Reilly,1, 2 Norman Nausch,1 Nicholas Midzi,3 Takafira Mduluza,4, 5 and Francisca Mutapi1 1Ashworth Laboratories, Institute for Immunology and Infection Research, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK 2 Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium 3 Schistosomiasis Section, National Institute of Health Research, Box CY 570, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe 4 Biochemistry Department, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe 5 Harvard School of Public Health, Botswana Havard Aids Institute, P. Bag 320, Gaborone, Botswana Correspondence should be addressed to Liam Reilly, l.j.reilly@.uk Received 29 September 2011; Accepted 20 November 2011 Academic Editor: Sungano Mharakurwa Copyright © 2012 Liam Reilly et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Micronutrients play an important role in the development of effective immune responses. This study characterised a populations exposed to schistosome infections in terms of the relationship between micronutrients and immune responses. Levels of retinol binding protein (RBP; vitamin A marker), vitamin D, ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and C reactive protein (CRP) were related to levels of schistosome specific cyt