Project Title

Urinary Cytokine ELISA: A tool to monitor urinary tract pathology in Schistosoma haematobium infections

Project Objectives

To assess urinary IL-6 and IL-10 ELISA, as a tool for assessing S. haematobium-related urinary tract pathology before and after treatment in a S. haematobium endemic community of Kenya using a commercially available cytokine ELISA kit.

Host Organisation

EDCTP Project Call

Career Development Fellowship (CDF)

Study Design

Diagnostic study

Project Summary

Background: Schistosoma haematobium infects more than 110 million individuals causing urinary schistosomiasis, which results in more than 150,000 deaths annually in tropical and sub-tropical countries. As a result several countries have started, and others are about to start, mass praziquantel administration in endemic areas with an aim to control morbidity. This is expensive and may be required for a long time thus exerting enormous demands on limited national resources. There is therefore a need for accurate, easy-to-use, cheap and easily available tools to monitor the performance of such morbidity control programmes. Infections with schistosomes results in cytokine-mediated urinary tract inflammation. These cytokines, particularly interleukin (IL) -6 and IL-10 are present in urine of S. haematobium-infected individuals and their levels reflect the infection intensity and urinary tract pathology. General objective: To assess urinary IL-6 and IL-10 ELISA, as a tool for assessing S. haematobium-related urinary tract pathology before and after treatment in a S. haematobium endemic community of Kenya using a commercially available cytokine ELISA kit. Specific objectives: i) To correlate levels of urinary IL-6 and IL-10 to S. haematobium-related pathology; ii) To assess levels of urinary IL-6 and IL- 10 in relation to children’s age in an S. haematobium endemic community; iii) To compare changes in urinary IL-6, IL-10 and ECP levels before and after treatment and; iv) To determine the rate of degradation of urinary IL-6 and IL-10 at selected temperature ranges. Methods: Urine samples will be collected from 176 S. haematobium-infected primary schoolchildren and examined for S. haematobium eggs using microscopy, IL-6, IL-10 and ECP levels using ELISA at baseline and at 6, 12 and 24 months after baseline. The children will be treated with praziquantel after baseline and at 12 months after initial treatment (after second follow up sample collection). In addition, levels of urinary IL-6 and IL-10 will be compared in urine samples stored at -20 ºC, 4 ºC and 25 ºC for two weeks.

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