Trichomonas vaginalis is a flagellated lumen-dwelling extracellular protozoan parasite that causes human trichomoniasis via sexual intercourse. Human neutrophils play a crucial role in acute tissue inflammatory responses in T. vaginalis infection. In this study, we investigated the signaling mechanism of neutrophil responses when stimulated with T. vaginalis-derived secretory products (TvSP), which were collected from 1×10(7) live trichomonads. Incubation of human neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood with TvSP induced up-regulation of IL-8 protein secretion. In addition, stimulation with TvSP induced phosphorylation of NF-κB and CREB in neutrophils. Moreover, TvSP-induced IL-8 production was also significantly inhibited by pretreatment of neutrophils with iκB inhibitor or CREB inhibitor. These results suggest that transcription factors NF-κB and CREB are involved in IL-8 production in human neutrophils induced by stimulation with T. vaginalis infection.
Keywords: CREB; IL-8; NF-κB; Trichomonas vaginalis; human neutrophil.