Life Sciences Commons^™

Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Signaling May Contribute To Chronic West Nile Virus Post-Infectious Proinflammatory State, A. Arturo Leis, Marie F. Grill, Brent P. Goodman, Syed B. Sadiq, David J. Sinclair, Parminder J.S. Vig, Fengwei Bai

Faculty Publications

Background: West Nile virus (WNV) causes a spectrum of human disease ranging from a febrile illness (WNV fever) to severe neuroinvasive disease (meningitis, encephalitis, acute flaccid paralysis). Since WNV gained entry into North America in 1999, clinicians caring for WNV survivors have observed persistent neurological symptoms occurring long-after the production of neutralizing antibodies and clearance of the virus. Accordingly, alternative pathogeneses other than direct viral invasion have been hypothesized to explain these post-infectious symptoms. The dominant hypothesis is that antiviral inflammatory responses triggered initially to clear WNV may persist to promote a post-infectious proinflammatory state.

Methods: In 4 serologically-confirmed …

The Gut-Microbiome In Gulf War Veterans: A Preliminary Report, Patricia A. Janulewicz, Ratanesh K. Seth, Jeffrey M. Carlson, Joy Ajama, Emily Quinn, Timothy Heeren, Nancy Klimas, Steven M. Lasley, Ronnie Horner, Kimberly Sullivan, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom disorder affecting the central nervous system (CNS), immune and gastrointestinal (GI) systems of Gulf War veterans (GWV). We assessed the relationships between GWI, GI symptoms, gut microbiome and inflammatory markers in GWV from the Boston Gulf War Illness Consortium (GWIC). Three groups of GWIC veterans were recruited in this pilot study; GWV without GWI and no gastrointestinal symptoms (controls), GWV with GWI and no gastrointestinal symptoms (GWI-GI), GWV with GWI who reported gastrointestinal symptoms (GW+GI). Here we report on a subset of the first thirteen stool samples analyzed. Results showed significantly different …

Il-22 Signaling Contributes To West Nile Encephalitis Pathogenesis, Fengwei Bai, Penghua Wang, Lauren A. Zenewicz, Jianfeng Dai, David Gate, Gong Cheng, Long Yang, Feng Qian, Xiaoling Yuan, Ruth R. Montgomery, Richard A. Flavell, Terrence Town, Erol Fikrig

Faculty Publications

The Th17 cytokine, IL-22, regulates host immune responses to extracellular pathogens. Whether IL-22 plays a role in viral infection, however, is poorly understood. We report here that Il22^-/- mice were more resistant to lethal West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis, but had similar viral loads in the periphery compared to wild type (WT) mice. Viral loads, leukocyte infiltrates, proinflammatory cytokines and apoptotic cells in the central nervous system (CNS) of Il22^-/- mice were also strikingly reduced. Further examination showed that Cxcr2, a chemokine receptor that plays a non-redundant role in mediating neutrophil migration, was significantly reduced in Il22^{-/- …}