Life Sciences Commons^™

Comparison Of Percutaneous Vs Oral Infection Of Hamsters With The Hookworm Ancylostoma Ceylanicum: Parasite Development, Pathology And Primary Immune Response, Richard D. Bungiro, Lisa M. Harrison, Blaise Dondji, Michael Cappello

Biology Faculty Scholarship

Background

Hundreds of millions of people in poor countries continue to suffer from disease caused by bloodfeeding hookworms. While mice and rats are not reliably permissive hosts for any human hookworm species, adult Golden Syrian hamsters are fully permissive for the human and animal pathogen Ancylostoma ceylanicum. Similar to humans, hamsters may be infected with A. ceylanicum third-stage larvae orally or percutaneously. Oral infection typically leads to consistent worm yields in hamsters but may not accurately reflect the clinical and immunological manifestations of human infection resulting from skin penetration.

Methodology/Principal findings

In this study we compared host responses …

Energetic Cost And Physiological Trade-Offs, Heba A. Ali

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding how organisms allocate limited resources across physiological systems is a major challenge in biology. This study revealed that high energetic demand of electric signals of male electric fish (Brachyhypopomus gauderio) is matched by a metabolic trade-off with other cellular functions. We used thyroxine (T4) to modulate the fish’s signal metabolism, partitioned the energy budget pharmacologically, and measured energy consumption using oxygen respirometry. In males, total energy consumption was unchanged pre- and post-T4 treatment, while signal metabolism rose and the standard metabolic rate fell in an even trade-off. Total metabolism in females did the opposite. Under T4, the …

Identifying The Cell Composition And Clonal Diversity Of Supratentorial Ependymoma Using Single Cell Rna-Sequencing, James He

University Scholar Projects

Ependymoma is a primary solid tumor of the central nervous system. Supratentorial ependymoma (ST-EPN), a subtype of ependymomas, is driven by an oncogenic fusion between the ZFTA and RELA genes in 70% of cases. We introduced this fusion into neural progenitor cells of mice embryos via in utero electroporation of a non-viral binary piggyBac transposon system containing ZFTA-RELA. From preliminary data in the LoTurco lab, inducing the expression of ZFTA-RELA into different neural progenitor cells produces tumors of varying lethality and cellular composition. To define the cellular composition and subclonal diversity of ST-EPN tumors, we used single cell RNA-sequencing to …

Impact Of Porcine Arterivirus, Influenza B, And Their Coinfection On Antiviral Response In The Porcine Lung, Damarius S. Fleming, Laura C. Miller, Yun Tian, Yonghai Li, Wenjun Ma, Yongming Sang

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Interferon (IFN) cytokines induce an autonomous antiviral state in cells of the infected site to restrict virus spreading and critically regulate overall antiviral response. The antiviral state leads to host protection through expression of hundreds of IFN-stimulated genes that restrict viral infection through multiple mechanisms, for example, directly in viral genome degradation and indirectly through cellular metabolic inhibition. Young pigs were split into four treatment groups: control, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV, also known as porcine arterivirus) infected, influenza B virus (IBV) infected, and IBV/PRRSV coinfection. Lung tissue was collected at 3, 5, and 7 days post infection …

Characterization Of Sensory And Shelter Enrichment In The Rodent Research Habitat, Amber M. Paul, Yasaman Shirazi-Fard, America Reyes, Moniece Lowe, Margareth Cheng-Campbell, Sungshin Choi, Eduardo Almeida, April Ronca, Ruth K. Globus

Publications

The ISS provides a platform for conducting Rodent Research (RR) in microgravity and 9 missions have been successfully conducted. The results from these experiments have begun to provide new insights into the effects of spaceflight on mammalian physiological systems. After RR-1-4, the Flight IACUC required inclusion of additional cage enrichment into the Rodent Habitats (RH) to “enhance animal well-being by providing animals with sensory and motor stimulation, through structures and resources that facilitate the expression of species typical behaviors”. A Hut, in the form of a rigid, mesh igloo-like shelter was implemented beginning with RR-5. The potential influence of the …

Serological Proteomic Screening And Evaluation Of A Recombinant Egg Antigen For The Diagnosis Of Low-Intensity Schistosoma Mansoni Infections In Endemic Area In Brazil, Vanessa Silva-Moraes, Lisa Marie Shollenberger, William Castro-Borges, Ana Lucia Teles Rabello, Donald A. Harn, Lia Carolina Soares Medeiros, Wander De Jesus Jeremias, Liliane Maria Vidal Siqueira, Caroline Stephane Salviano Pereira, Maria Luysa Camargos Pedrosa, Nathalie Bonatti Franco Almeida, Aureo Almeida, Jose Roberto Lambertucci, Nidia Francisca De Figueiredo Carneiro, Paulo Marcos Zech Coelho, Refaella Fortini Queiroz Grenfell

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Despite decades of use of control programs, schistosomiasis remains a global public health problem. To further reduce prevalence and intensity of infection, or to achieve the goal of elimination in low-endemic areas, there needs to be better diagnostic tools to detect low-intensity infections in low-endemic areas in Brazil. The rationale for development of new diagnostic tools is that the current standard test Kato-Katz (KK) is not sensitive enough to detect low-intensity infections in low-endemic areas. In order to develop new diagnostic tools, we employed a proteomics approach to identify biomarkers associated with schistosome-specific immune responses in hopes of developing …

Systemic Immunosuppression And Risk Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Harpal S. Sandhu, Joshua Lambert, Yan Xu, Henry J. Kaplan

Applied Statistics Laboratory Faculty Publications

A local immune response has been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but it is unclear if systemic immunosuppressive/immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) protects against the onset and/or progression of AMD. We performed a retrospective cohort study using a Cox proportional hazards model of two cohorts. Cohort 1 included patients with stage V chronic kidney disease (CKD) status post kidney transplantation, on at least one IMT agent, and older than 50. Cohort 2 included patients with stage IV or V CKD who had not undergone kidney transplantation, were not on IMT, and were older than 50. The main outcomes …

The Life Cycle Stages Of Pneumocystis Murina Have Opposing Effects On The Immune Response To This Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen, Heather M. Evans, Grady L. Bryant Iii, Beth A. Garvy

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

The cell wall β-glucans of Pneumocystis cysts have been shown to stimulate immune responses in lung epithelial cells, dendritic cells, and alveolar macrophages. Little is known about how the trophic life forms, which do not have a fungal cell wall, interact with these innate immune cells. Here we report differences in the responses of both neonatal and adult mice to the trophic and cystic life cycle stages of Pneumocystis murina. The adult and neonatal immune responses to infection with Pneumocystis murina trophic forms were less robust than the responses to infection with a physiologically normal mixture of cysts and …

The Conserved G-Protein Coupled Receptor Fshr-1 Regulates Protective Host Responses To Infection And Oxidative Stress, Elizabeth V. Miller, Leah N. Grandi, Jennifer A. Giannini, Joseph D. Robinson, Jennifer R. Powell

Biology Faculty Publications

The innate immune system’s ability to sense an infection is critical so that it can rapidly respond if pathogenic microorganisms threaten the host, but otherwise maintain a quiescent baseline state to avoid causing damage to the host or to commensal microorganisms. One important mechanism for discriminating between pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria is the recognition of cellular damage caused by a pathogen during the course of infection. InCaenorhabditis elegans, the conserved G-protein coupled receptor FSHR-1 is an important constituent of the innate immune response. FSHR-1 activates the expression of antimicrobial infection response genes in infected worms and delays accumulation …

Measuring Immune Responsiveness In Xenopus Laevis Using Phytohaemagglutanin (Pha), Kevin Kinney, Skyler Majors, Madelyn Lee, Scott Espich, Erika Kischuk

Annual Student Research Poster Session

Phytohaemagglutanin (PHA) is a red kidney bean extract that has been used to stimulate an immunological T cell response in a variety of animals. This procedure has become very popular method to analyze an individual animal’s ability to trigger an immunological response.(Brown 2014) PHA skin testing has been used in a variety of avian, mice, lizard, and amphibian species where it is injected into the muscle, skin, or webbing of an animal and then recording the amount of swelling before and after the injection.(Smits 1999) We are using the amphibian Xenopus laevis to test 1) their immune reaction under normal …

Modeling The Adaptive Immune Response To Mutation-Generated Antigens, Rory J. Geyer

University Scholar Projects

Somatic mutations may drive tumorigenesis or lead to new, immunogenic epitopes (neoantigens). The immune system is thought to represses neoplastic growths through the recognition of neoantigens presented only by tumor cells. To study mutations as well as the immune response to mutation-generated antigens, we have created a conditional knockin mouse line with a gene encoding, 5’ to 3’, yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), ovalbumin (which is processed to the immunologically recognizable peptide, SIINFEKL), and cyan fluorescent protein (CFP), or, YFP-ovalbumin-CFP. A frame shift mutation has been created at the 5’ end of the ovalbumin gene, hence YFP should always be expressed, …

Modeling The Adaptive Immune Response To Mutation-Generated Antigens, Rory J. Geyer

Honors Scholar Theses

Somatic mutations may drive tumorigenesis or lead to new, immunogenic epitopes (neoantigens). The immune system is thought to represses neoplastic growths through the recognition of neoantigens presented only by tumor cells. To study mutations as well as the immune response to mutation-generated antigens, we have created a conditional knockin mouse line with a gene encoding, 5’ to 3’, yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), ovalbumin (which is processed to the immunologically recognizable peptide, SIINFEKL), and cyan fluorescent protein (CFP), or, YFP-ovalbumin-CFP. A frame shift mutation has been created at the 5’ end of the ovalbumin gene, hence YFP should always be expressed, …

Microrna In Autoimmunity And Autoimmune Diseases, Kaleb M. Pauley, S. Cha, E. K. Chan

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small conserved non-coding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression by targeting the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of specific messenger RNAs (mRNAs) for degradation or translational repression. miRNA-mediated gene regulation is critical for normal cellular functions such as the cell cycle, differentiation, and apoptosis, and as much as one-third of human mRNAs may be miRNA targets. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that miRNAs play a vital role in the regulation of immunological functions and the prevention of autoimmunity. Here we review the many newly discovered roles of miRNA regulation in immune functions and in the development of autoimmunity …

Molecular Characterization And Related Aspects Of The Innate Immune Response In Ticks, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Wayne L. Hynes

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Compared to insects, little is known about innate immunity in ticks. This chapter addresses the molecular processes that recognize non-self and the cellular and molecular processes mobilized to phagocytose, engulf, inhibit or kill invaders. We discuss the receptors that recognize pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and the putative up-regulation of regulatory cascades that lead, ultimately, to cellular or molecular responses. We describe the molecular events that activate the cellular processes and the array of humoral factors that are mobilized against invading organisms, including antimicrobial peptides, proteases and protease inhibitors, lectins, coagulation factors and others. Special attention is directed to the …

Cellular Basis Of Decreased Immune Responses To Pneumococcal Vaccines In Aged Mice, Manju Garg, Wei Luo, Alan M. Kaplan, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Previously, model systems were developed in our laboratory to study murine immune responses to the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine Pnu-Imune, both in vivo and in vitro (M. Garg and B. Subbarao, Infect. Immun. 60:2329-2336, 1992; M. Garg, A. M. Kaplan, and S. Bondada, J. Immunol. 152: 1589-1596, 1994). Using these systems, we found that aged mice did not respond to the vaccine in vivo or in vitro. Cell separation studies showed that the unresponsiveness of the aged spleen cells to the vaccine was not due to an intrinsic B-cell defect or to T-cell-mediated immunosuppression but resulted from an accessory cell …

Reversal Of Age-Associated Decline In Immune Response To Pnu-Imune Vaccine By Supplementation With The Steroid Hormone Dehydroepiandrosterone, Manju Garg, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Recently, we reported that murine antibody responses to the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (Pnu-Imune) vaccine declined with age. Here we present data to support the concept that age-associated immune defects are not only due to intrinsic defects in immune cells but are also due to extrinsic factors emanating from the neuroendocrine system. We found that supplementation with dehydroepiandrosterone, a steroid hormone known to be reduced in the aged, corrects the immune deficiency of aged mice and significantly enhanced their splenic immune responses to the Pnu-Imune vaccine.

Immune Responses Of Systemic And Mucosal Lymphoid Organs To Pnu-Imune Vaccine As A Function Of Age And The Efficacy Of Monophosphoryl Lipid A As An Adjuvant, Manju Garg, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

A murine model system was established to study immune responses to the Pnu-Imune vaccine, which is made up of 23 different pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides. In this animal model, antibody-forming cell responses to 21 of 23 individual polysaccharides in the vaccine were detected. The Pnu-Imune vaccine elicited good antibody responses from the spleens and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) of young mice, whereas a variety of other peripheral lymph nodes were unresponsive. The immunoglobulin M plaque-forming cell (PFC) response in the spleen to the Pnu-Imune vaccine (given intraperitoneally or subcutaneously) decreased dramatically with increasing age. However, the spleen and MLN differed in …