Abstract

Objective: To explore effective diagnosis of Wuchereria bancrofti through DNA-based techniques followed by assessment of vascular endothelial growth factor concentration (VEGF-C) and interleukin 17 (IL-17) as indicators for lymphatic endothelial cell activation, proliferation and massive tissue reaction that may be a good indicator for ongoing lymphatic filariasis. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 38 patients: 23 males (60.5%) and 15 females (39.5%) with filariasis and from controls (60 from a non-endemic and 22 from endemic areas). PCR was used to prove infection. A specific and sensitive ELISA was used to determine serum IL-17 and VEGF-C. Results: A total of 28 patients (46.7%) were positive by PCR, while 10 patients (16.7%) were negative by PCR. Serum level of vascular endothelial growth factor was significantly high in acute cases [(2 147.00 ± 556.00) pg/mL] and in cases of early elephantiasis [(1 950.00 ± 638.00) pg/mL] and lowest in cases of late elephantiasis, endemic and non endemic controls [(1 238.00 ± 443.00), (807.11 ± 6.20) and (857.00 ± 91.50) pg/mL respectively]. Serum IL-17 was found to be significantly high in acute cases, early elephantiasis and late elephantiasis cases [(8 601 ± 1131), (7 867 ± 473) and (6593 ± 378) pg/mL respectively] when compared to endemic controls [(3 194 ± 1 500 pg/mL)] and non endemic controls [(3 416 ± 1 101) pg/mL]. Conclusions: VEGF-C and its inducing factor IL-17 are expected to gain more importance in filariasis. Targeting such factors might ameliorate the pathology in chronic filariasis.

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