Immunological Response to Implanted Adult Dwarf Tapeworms

Abstract

EARLIER immunofluorescent, radioisotopic, and diffusion chamber isolation investigations^1,2 indicated that antibodies, derived as a result of ova-induced Hymenolepis nana infestations, combined in vivo with adult tapeworms. The authors did not, however, presume that responsible helminth antigens were, necessarily, stage-specific. The work recorded here was carried out to determine whether or not adult cestodes are capable of immunological insult in situ. Implantation of adult parasites into the ileum of the mouse host, for various periods of time, was therefore considered. Under these conditions the cysticercoid stage, with tissue phase involvement, could be precluded or controlled without utilization of an intermediate host. This appeared to permit a singular investigation of the lumen stage of the parasitsemia, from the point of view of possible elicitation of a local and/or systemic immunological response.