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Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons™
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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Immunology and Infectious Disease
Molecular And Cellular Characterizations Of Glucosylceramide Transferase (Synthase) In Giardia Lamblia, Vanessa Enriquez
Molecular And Cellular Characterizations Of Glucosylceramide Transferase (Synthase) In Giardia Lamblia, Vanessa Enriquez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Giardiasis, caused by an intestinal protozoan, Giardia lamblia, is a major public health problem worldwide. Giardia infection is spread through the fecal-oral route via contaminated water and food. It is estimated that over 280 million people are infected with Giardia across the globe. Giardia is a non-invasive parasite and consists of a two-stage life cycle: trophozoites and cysts. Ingested cysts undergo excystation in the proximal small intestine, releasing two trophozoites (excyzoites). Upon reaching the distal small intestine and colonizing there, trophozoites transform into cysts by encystation. It has been reported earlier that the process of encystation induced the synThesis of …
Suppression Of Inflammation Of Cytokine Following Induced Francisella Tularensis Infection, Nicole Renee Setzu
Suppression Of Inflammation Of Cytokine Following Induced Francisella Tularensis Infection, Nicole Renee Setzu
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Francisella tularensis is intracellular bacteria which is the causative agent of the disease Tularemia. Highly virulent in both humans and animals, it takes only as few as 10 microorganisms to cause a lethal infection. The bacteria can enter via direct or indirect routes causing the activations of the host innate inflammatory response to ensue. The bacteria invade host dendritic cells and neutrophils but predominately macrophages. This causes a mass inflammatory response resulting in the cytokine storm. Activation of Natural Killer T (NKT) cells has been shown to suppress inflammation in in vivo studies. Development and optimization of an in vitro …
Determining The Role Of Poly [Adp-Ribose] Polymerase 1 (Parp-1) In Retroviral Infection, Luis Valdes Rodriguez
Determining The Role Of Poly [Adp-Ribose] Polymerase 1 (Parp-1) In Retroviral Infection, Luis Valdes Rodriguez
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Possible links between PARP-1 and HIV-1 have been previously reported but the role of this protein during viral infection has remained elusive. Based on the high evolutionary conservation of PARP-1, from Drosophila to humans, we have been able to counteract the difficulties related with the functional redundancy manifested in the PARP family by studying the influence of PARP-1 on the expression of an endogenous retrovirus using the chicken B lymphoblastoid cell line DT40, this cell line exhibits low PARP-1 functional redundancy and is viable after PARP-1 knockout. We have determined that the transcription level of the endogenous retrovirus RAV-1 is …
Validation Of N-Myristoyltransferase As Potential Chemotherapeutic Target In Chagas Disease, Linda Herrera
Validation Of N-Myristoyltransferase As Potential Chemotherapeutic Target In Chagas Disease, Linda Herrera
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiological agent of Chagas disease, a problem endemic to Central and South America. In recent years, this neglected infectious disease has become a global health concern. The only clinically available drugs for the chemotherapy of Chagas disease have important disadvantages such as, high toxicity, strain resistance and variable efficacy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of new antichagasic agents. The enzyme N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) has been characterized in a range of eukaryotes, from Saccharomyces cerevisae to Homo sapiens. Moreover, NMT has been shown to be essential in protozoan parasites, including Leishmania …
Molecular Characterization Of Trypanosoma Cruzi And Shed Vesicle Components Involved In Host Immunomodulation And Cell Invasion, Ernesto Satoshi Nakayasu
Molecular Characterization Of Trypanosoma Cruzi And Shed Vesicle Components Involved In Host Immunomodulation And Cell Invasion, Ernesto Satoshi Nakayasu
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Chagas disease caused by Trypanosoma cruzi is a devastating infectious disease with millions of cases in Latin America, and recently became a public health concern in United States and Europe. Although many efforts have been made for the development of an effective immunotherapy, currently there is no human vaccine for Chagas disease. Thus, the treatment is based only on two drugs that have limited efficacy and in some cases present severe side effects. One restriction for the rational approach to develop new therapies against this disease is the limited information about the proteins, glycolipids and protein posttranslational modifications expressed by …
Giardia Lamblia: Genomic And Molecular Analyses Of Flippase, Diana Leticia Villazana-Kretzer
Giardia Lamblia: Genomic And Molecular Analyses Of Flippase, Diana Leticia Villazana-Kretzer
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Giardia lamblia, is an intestinal protozoan parasite responsible as a major cause of water-borne intestinal infection in humans (giardiasis). It has been proposed earlier that Giardia has limited lipid synThesis ability and therefore relies on preformed lipid molecules from outside sources. It has also been proposed that lipids are taken up through passive and active transport, and giardial flippasse play a significant role in this process. This study describes the identification and characterization of a putative homologue of flippase gene from Giardia. Flippase is an enzyme that functions as a trans-bilayer transport system facilitating the flip flop diffusion of phospholipids …