ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>XI International Meeting on Paracoccidioidomycosis</TITLE><link rel=STYLESHEET type=text/css href=css.css></HEAD><BODY aLink=#ff0000 bgColor=#FFFFFF leftMargin=0 link=#000000 text=#000000 topMargin=0 vLink=#000000 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><table align=center width=700 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td align=left bgcolor=#cccccc valign=top width=550><font face=arial size=2><strong><font face=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif size=3><font size=1>XI International Meeting on Paracoccidioidomycosis</font></font></strong><font face=Verdana size=1><b><br></b></font><font face=Verdana, Arial,Helvetica, sans-serif size=1><strong> </strong></font></font></td><td align=right bgcolor=#cccccc valign=top width=150><font face=arial size=2><strong><font face=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif size=1><font  size=1>Resume:159-1</font></em></font></strong></font></td></tr><tr><td colspan=2><br><br><table align=center width=700><tr><td><b>Poster (Painel)</b><br><table width="100%"><tr><td width="60">159-1</td><td><b>CYTOTOXIC GRANULES, CHEMOTAXIS AND PHENOTIPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF EOSINOPHILS OF PATIENTS WITH THE JUVENILE FORM OF PARACOCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS</b></td></tr><tr><td valign=top>Authors:</td><td><u>Fernanda Gambogi Braga </u>  (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) ; Rosiane Maria Silva   (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) ; Ronei Luciano Mamoni   (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) ; Ricardo Mendes Pereira   (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) ; Antonia Terezinha  Tresoldi   (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) ; Maria Heloisa Souza Lima Blotta   (FCM/UNICAMP - Faculdade de Ciências Médicas/UNICAMP) </td></tr></table><p align=justify><b><font size=2>Abstract</font></b><p align=justify class=tres><font size=2><b>Background and objectives</b>: High number of circulating eosinophils are detected in patients with the acute (juvenile) form of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), associated with a poor cellular immune response and disease severity. However, the role of these cells in PCM is still unknown.  The aim of this study was to investigate phenotypical and functional characteristics of eosinophils from PCM patients compared to those from healthy donors.
<b>Methods and results</b>: Peripheral blood eosinophils from patients with the acute form of PCM and healthy controls were purified by negative magnetic selection and submitted to flow cytometry to detect CD80, CD86, HLA-DR, TLR-4, TLR-2, CD49d, ICAM-1, CD11a, CD11b, Fc&EpsilonRI&Alpha, CD23, CCR3 and investigated the relationship between RANTES, eotaxin and IL-5 in modulation the chemotaxis of the <i>ex-vivo</i> eosinophils and after 4h-stimulation with <i>P. brasiliensis</i> yeast cells. Biopsies obtained these patients were stained with anti-major basic protein (anti-MBP) and anti- eotaxin. The results showed that <i>ex-vivo</i> eosinophils from patients presented lower expression of CD49d, CD23, TLR-4, CD86, CD80, CD11a and CD11b than healthy controls. After 4h culture eosinophils challenged with fungus <i>P. brasiliensis</i> from PCM patients showed a decrease in the majority of markers except CD49d and CCR3. The chemotatic response of patients with PCM to eotaxin and RANTES was lower than in controls, and the percentage of migration towards eotaxin was higher than others chemotatic agents. All biopsies showed infiltration of intact eosinophils using the polyclonal anti-major basic protein antibodies along with the presence of <i>P. brasiliensis</i> and blood vessels. 
<b>Discussion and conclusions<b/>: Altogether the results showed a downregulation of molecules associated with antigen recognition and presentation in eosinophils of patients with PCM, in addition to lower chemotatic capacity compared to healthy controls. These alterations may contribute to disease severity and dissemination. 
<b>Financial support</b>: FAPESP and CNPq  
</font></p><br><b>Keyword: </b>&nbsp;CHEMOTAXIS, EOSINOPHILS, flow cytometry, PARACOCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS</td></tr></table></tr></td></table></body></html>