Population level changes in schistosome‐specific antibody levels following chemotherapy

AIMS: Previous studies have reported that chemotherapy of schistosomiasis by praziquantel in humans boosts protective antibody responses against S mansoni and S haematobium. A number of studies have reported schistosome‐specific antibody levels before and after chemotherapy. Using these reports, a meta‐analysis was conducted to identify predictors of population level change in schistosome‐specific antibody levels after chemotherapy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Following a systematic review, 92 observations from 26 articles published between 1988 and 2013 were included in this study. Observations were grouped by antigen type and antibody isotypes for the classification and regression tree (CART) analysis. The study showed that the change in antibody levels was variable: (a) between different human populations and (b) according to the parasite antigen and antibody isotypes. Thus, while anti‐worm responses predominantly increased after chemotherapy, anti‐egg responses decreased or did not show a significant trend. The change in antibody levels depended on a combination of age and infection intensity for anti‐egg IgA, IgM, IgG1, IgG2 and anti‐worm IgM and IgG. CONCLUSION: The study results are consistent with praziquantel treatment boosting anti‐worm antibody responses. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in post‐treatment changes in specific antibody levels that is related to host age and pre‐treatment infection intensity.