ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2013
Regulatory T cells in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of syphilis patients with and without neurological involvement.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurosyphilis in China: A Systematic Review of Cases From 2009-2021.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Review
- Cytotoxic T-cell deficiency and sustained B-cell activation in serofast syphilis: a prospective observational study.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Observational
- Risk factors and incidence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV among syphilis patients in Shanghai, China.Postepy dermatologii i alergologii · 2025Article
- A Study on the Inflammatory Response of the Brain in Neurosyphilis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Article
- Neurosyphilis is characterized by a compartmentalized and robust neuroimmune response but not by neuronal injury.Med (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Immunophenotypic variations in syphilis: insights from Mendelian randomization analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Crossing the Barrier: A Comparative Study ofCells · 2023Review
- Review
- Secondary immunoreaction in patients with neurosyphilis and its relevance to clinical outcomes.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Gut Microbiota Alternation in Disease Progression of Neurosyphilis.Infection and drug resistance · 2022Article
- Neurosyphilis with ocular involvement and normal magnetic resonance imaging results affirmed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Review
- CARE-NS, a research strategy for neurosyphilis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Article
- Syphilitic infection impairs immunity by inducing both apoptosis and pyroptosis of CD4Innate immunity · 2021Article
- The importance of proper and prompt treatment of ocular syphilis: a lesson from permanent vision loss in 52 eyes.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2020Article
- Mechanisms of sexually transmitted infection-induced inflammation in women: implications for HIV risk.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2019Article
- Immunological Changes in Monocyte Subsets and Their Association With Foxp3Frontiers in immunology · 2019Article
- The immunological response to syphilis differs by HIV status; a prospective observational cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSyphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by spirochetal bacterium Treponema pallidum, can progress to affect the central nervous system, causing neurosyphilis. Accumulating evidence suggest that regulatory T cells (Tregs) may play an important role in the pathogenesis of syphilis. However, little is known about Treg response in neurosyphilis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsWe analyzed Treg frequencies and Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) levels in the blood and CSF of 431 syphilis patients without neurological involvement, 100 neurosyphilis patients and 100 healthy donors. Suppressive function of Tregs in peripheral blood was also assessed. Among syphilis patients without neurological involvement, we found that secondary and serofast patients had increased Treg percentages, suppressive function and TGF-β levels in peripheral blood compared to healthy donors. Serum Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) titers were positively correlated with Treg numbers in these patients. Compared to these syphilis patients without neurological involvement, neurosyphilis patients had higher Treg frequency in peripheral blood. In the central nervous system, neurosyphilis patients had higher numbers of leukocytes in CSF compared to syphilis patients without neurological involvement. CD4(+) T cells were the predominant cell type in the inflammatory infiltrates in CSF of neurosyphilis patients. Interestingly, among these neurosyphilis patients, a significant decrease in CSF CD4(+) CD25(high) Treg percentage and number was observed in symptomatic neurosyphilis patients compared to those of asymptomatic neurosyphilis patients, which may be associated with low CSF TGF-β levels.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that Tregs might play an important role in both bacterial persistence and neurologic compromise in the pathogenesis of syphilis.
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