IgE in experimental schistosomiasis. II. Quantitative determination of specific IgE antibodies against S. mansoni: a follow-up study of two strains of infected rats. Correlation with protective immunity.

Parasite specific IgE antibodies in rats infected with Schistosoma manoni were measured by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reactions and by the technique of immuno-adsorption. Two strains, one a low IgE producer (Fischer rats) and the other a high IgE producer (Hooded-Lister rats) were studied. In Fischer rats, a time course study of the occurrence of IgE antibodies and resistance to reinfection was made. Parasite specific IgE levels measured by immuno-adsorpiton were much lower than total IgE levels and a similar percentage of specific IgE (about 8%) was in the two strains.IgE antibodies were maximum at day 30 and day 60 after infection; however, a third peak at day 90 was observed only in Fischer rats. Some discrepancies between results obtained by PCA and immunosorbent techniques have been observed, which could be explained by differences in the affinity of IgE antibodies during infection or by the presence of total IgE in the PCA assay. There was a close parallelism between specific IgE antibodies levels and the course of immunity in Fischer rats. This parallelism supports the view that IgE could play a pre-eminent role in protective immunity in rat schistosomiasis.