Immunomodulatory Potential of Non-Classical HLA-G in Infections including COVID-19 and Parasitic Diseases
Sajad Rashidi,
Carmen Vieira,
Renu Tuteja,
Reza Mansouri,
Mohammad Ali-Hassanzadeh,
Antonio Muro,
Paul Nguewa,
Raúl Manzano-Román
Affiliations
Sajad Rashidi
Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 7134845794, Iran
Carmen Vieira
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Group (E-INTRO), Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca-Research Center for Tropical Diseases (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Renu Tuteja
Parasite Biology Group, ICGEB, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India
Reza Mansouri
Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Yazd 8915173143, Iran
Mohammad Ali-Hassanzadeh
Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft 7861615765, Iran
Antonio Muro
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Group (E-INTRO), Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca-Research Center for Tropical Diseases (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Paul Nguewa
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, ISTUN Institute of Tropical Health, IdiSNA (Navarra Institute for Health Research), University of Navarra, c/ Irunlarrea 1, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
Raúl Manzano-Román
Infectious and Tropical Diseases Group (E-INTRO), Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca-Research Center for Tropical Diseases (IBSAL-CIETUS), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (HLA-G), a polymorphic non-classical HLA (HLA-Ib) with immune-regulatory properties in cancers and infectious diseases, presents both membrane-bound and soluble (sHLA-G) isoforms. Polymorphism has implications in host responses to pathogen infections and in pathogenesis. Differential expression patterns of HLA-G/sHLA-G or its polymorphism seem to be related to different pathological conditions, potentially acting as a disease progression biomarker. Pathogen antigens might be involved in the regulation of both membrane-bound and sHLA-G levels and impact immune responses during co-infections. The upregulation of HLA-G in viral and bacterial infections induce tolerance to infection. Recently, sHLA-G was found useful to identify the prognosis of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among patients and it was observed that the high levels of sHLA-G are associated with worse prognosis. The use of pathogens, such as Plasmodium falciparum, as immune modulators for other infections could be extended for the modulation of membrane-bound HLA-G in COVID-19-infected tissues. Overall, such information might open new avenues concerning the effect of some pathogens such as parasites in decreasing the expression level of HLA-G to restrict pathogenesis in some infections or to influence the immune responses after vaccination among others.