Absence of Batf3 results in reduced liver pathology in mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum

Background: the involvement of cd8+t cells in schistosomiasis is being increasingly appreciated,but the underlying mechanism is not well defined. results: in this study,we showed that the absence of batf3 alleviated liver damage in batf3 -/- mice infected with s. japonicum. we found alleviated liver granulomatous inflammation in batf3 -/- mice with schistosomiasis japonica could not be attributed to the difference in schistosome egg or worm burden. the stronger tc1 cell responses observed in batf3 -/- mice suggested that the deletion of batf3 resulted in more activation of cd8+t cells unexpectedly during the natural infection of schistosomes. we detected a small amount of cd8α+ dcs in the spleen of batf3 -/- mice at 9w post-infection. this small amount of newly generated cd8α+ dcs might contribute to enhanced activation of cd8+t cells via cross-presentation and activation which then attenuate hepatic pathological damage found in batf3 -/- mice. conclusions: our study provides evidence that batf3 is associated with the immunoregulation of the liver granuloma formation,which may confer a new options for schistosomiasis treatment. © 2017 the author(s).