Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

Impact Of Physical Activity And Cardiorespiratory Fitness On Vascular Homeostasis In Premenopausal Women Consuming A Westernized High-Fat Meal, Lauren N. Pedersen

Theses and Dissertations

A large percentage of adults in industrialized nations consume a Westernized dietary pattern, which contributes to fasting dyslipidemia and increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Evidence suggests that a single Westernized meal containing high saturated fat may induce alterations in blood lipids as well as disturb multiple factors regulating peripheral vascular homeostasis, including innate immune cell function, oxidative stress, and vascular function. Conversely, participation in acute and chronic exercise may beneficially impact an individual’s postprandial response. Therefore, this dissertation contains three manuscripts seeking to describe how acute exercise, cardiorespiratory fitness, and physical activity level impact the lipemic and vascular homeostatic …

Pushing The Limits: Increasing The Speed And Specificity Of Sars-Cov-2 Testing, Grayson Way

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence and spread of the current COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of continual improvements upon current microbiological testing methods. Rapid and accurate testing can help mitigate spread by improving on the time to quarantine and quarantine duration required. As of the writing of this thesis, COVID-19 has been responsible for more than 500,000 deaths in the United States of America, and greater than 2 million deaths globally. The work done in this thesis has shown improvements in the current SARS-CoV-2 testing methodology by reducing the time it takes for patient testing while maintaining accuracy and the sensitivity required …

Sars-Cov-2: An Investigation On Mutagenicity And Its Effects On Infectivity And Mortality, Tyler Elliott Silverwood

Honors Theses and Capstones

SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has rapidly become a worldwide public health concern. Classified as a betacoronavirus, it is the third human coronavirus (HCoV) to emerge in the 21st century that causes severe disease, alongside SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The genome consists of open reading frames encoding accessory proteins and four structural proteins, including the spike protein which is a key determinant of host cell tropism. Mutations within the genome, particularly the spike gene, have been linked in-vitro to increased binding affinity to the human receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2), increased fitness in human hosts, and immune evasion. …

Occurrence Of Pulmonary Arteritis With Lungworm Infections In Gray Seals From New England, 2013-2020, Jillian R. Broadhurst, Inga Sidor Dvm, Ms, Dacvp

Honors Theses and Capstones

Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) are a common pinniped species in New England coastal waters. Parasitic infection is an important cause of mortality for this species, and lungworm species are frequently implicated in cases of respiratory infection, especially in pups and weanling seals. The most common of these is Otostrongylus circumlitus, a large nematode found in the bronchi and bronchioles of affected seals. The full life cycle is unknown but its presence in lungs and sometimes pulmonary arteries suggests that migration via arterial circulation occurs. Signs and microscopic findings are widely variable; our cases included dyspnea, bloody mucoid …

Transcriptional Regulation Of Duox-Dependent Reactive Oxygen Species Production Against Bacterial Infection In The Gut Of Cat Fleas (Ctenocephalides Felis)., Ryne W. Maness

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Fleas (Order Siphonaptera) are opportunistic blood feeders that parasitize a wide variety of mammals and birds. They also transmit bacterial pathogens that cause diseases in humans (e.g., murine typhus, flea-borne spotted fever, cat scratch disease, and plague). Because they acquire infectious pathogens while blood feeding, the flea gut is considered to be the initial site of infection. While immune responses have been well documented in other disease vectors, few studies have identified the immune mechanisms involved in defense of the flea gut. In other hematophagous insects, the synthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the immediate immune defense mechanism against …

Disease Prevalence And The Population Genetic Structure Of Crassostrea Virginica Along The Georgia Coast, Sarah Batchelor

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Eastern Oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is an ecologically important species that plays a role in protecting shorelines, water filtration, and providing habitat and food for various fish species. Perkinsus marinus and Haplosporidium nesloni are two pathogens currently affecting oyster populations. These pathogens have both been documented as causes of mass mortality events along the East coast. They greatly diminish the health of oysters, resulting in the degradation of oyster tissue, reduction in growth and reproductive ability, and may cause death. In this study, wild oysters were collected from eleven locations along the Georgia coast to investigate the presence, intensity, …

Of Pigs And Men: The Best-Laid Plans For Prevention And Control Of Swine Fevers, Jishu Shi, Lihua Wang, David Scott Mcvey

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

John Steinbeck drew the title of his novel “Of Mice and Men” from a line in a Robert Burns poem “To a mouse”: “The best-laid plans of mice and men/Go often awry.” Unlike John Steinbeck who used the title to mirror the characters who were struggling during the Great Depression to the mouse whose nest was accidentally destroyed by the poet (Burns 1785), we chose this line to emphasize that the best-laid plan can go wrong in infectious disease control and prevention. Here, we will discuss the contributing factors behind the global successes and failures in the prevention and control …

Impact Of The Histidine‐Containing Phosphocarrier Protein Hpr On Carbon Metabolism And Virulence In Staphylococcus Aureus, Linda Pätzold, Anne-Christine Brausch, Evelyn-Laura Bielefeld, Lisa Zimmer, Greg A. Somerville, Markus Bischoff, Rosmarie Gaupp

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a common mechanism pathogenic bacteria use to link central metabolism with virulence factor synthesis. In gram‐positive bacteria, catabolite control protein A (CcpA) and the histidine‐containing phosphocarrier protein HPr (encoded by ptsH) are the predominant mediators of CCR. In addition to modulating CcpA activity, HPr is essential for glucose import via the phosphotransferase system. While the regulatory functions of CcpA in Staphylococcus aureus are largely known, little is known about the function of HPr in CCR and infectivity. To address this knowledge gap, ptsH mutants were created in S. aureus that either lack the open reading …

An Evaluation Of The Anti-Carcinogenic Response Of Major Isothiocyanates In Non-Metastatic And Metastatic Melanoma Cells, Melina Mitsiogianni, Sotiris Kyriakou, Ioannis Anestopoulos, Dimitrios T. Trafalis, Maria V. Deligiorgi, Rodrigo Franco, Aglaia Pappa, Mihalis I. Panayiotidi

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Malignant melanoma is one of the most deadly types of solid cancers, a property mainly attributed to its highly aggressive metastatic form. On the other hand, different classes of isothiocy- anates, a class of phytochemicals, present in cruciferous vegetables have been characterized by considerable anti-cancer activity in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models. In the current study, we investigated the anti-cancer response of five isothiocyanates in an in vitro model of melanoma consisting of non-metastatic (A375, B16F-10) and metastatic (VMM1, Hs294T) malignant melanoma as well as non-melanoma epidermoid carcinoma (A431) and non-tumorigenic melanocyte-neighboring keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. Our aim …

Inhibition Of Zika Virus Replication By G-Quadruplex-Binding Ligands, Prativa Majee, Aryamav Pattnaik, Bikash R. Sahoo, Uma Shankar, Asit K. Pattnaik, Amit Kumar, Debasis Nayak

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-transmitted Flavivirus, emerged in the last decade causing serious diseases and affecting human health globally. Currently, no licensed vaccines or antivirals are available to combat ZIKV, although several vaccine candidates are in the pipeline. In recent years, the presence of non-canon- ical G-quadruplex (GQ) secondary structures in viral genomes has ignited significant attention as potential targets for anti- viral strategy. In this study, we identified several novel conserved potential GQ structures by analyzing published ZIKV genome sequences using an in-house algorithm. Bio- physical and biochemical analysis of the RNA sequences con- taining these potential GQ sequences …

Il-10 As A Th2 Cytokine: Differences Between Mice And Humans, Mahima T. Rasquinha, Meghna Sur, Ninaad Lasrado, Jay Reddy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The discovery of interleukin (IL)-10 more than 30 years ago marked the beginning of our understanding of how cytokines regulate immune responses, based on cross-regulation between T helper (Th)1 and Th2 cytokines. Although multiple cell types were shown to produce IL-10, its identity as a Th2 cytokine remained strong since it was rigidly associated with Th2 clones in mice, whereas both Th1 and Th2 clones could secrete IL-10 in humans. However, as new Th1/Th2 cell functionalities emerged, anti-inflammatory action of IL-10 gained more attention than its inhibitory effect on Th1 cells, which may occur as an indirect consequence of suppression …

Molecular Identification Of Parasites In An Intestinal Coprolite From A Mummified Religious Dignitary Of The Piraino Mother Church Crypt, Sicily, Amanda Rollins, Krystiana Krupa, Georgia Millward, Dario Piombino-Mascali, Karl Reinhard, Frederika Kaestle

Karl Reinhard Publications

Intestinal contents were sampled from a spontaneously enhanced mummy from the Sepulcher of the Priests of the Piraino Mother Church in the Province of Messina, Sicily. This adult male mummy, Piraino 1, is an unidentified religious dignitary dating from the late-18th to mid-19th centuries. Immunological and molecular diagnostics were used to test for common and clinically significant parasites. A morphological diagnosis of Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) was confirmed genetically. A previously undetected Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm) infection was also identified genetically. These data indicate that the Piraino 1 individual was simultaneously infected with multiple intestinal parasite species indicative of poor hygiene. This …

Biodiversity Of The Coccidia (Apicomplexa: Conoidasida) In Vertebrates: What We Know, What We Do Not Know, And What Needs To Be Done, Donald W. Duszynski

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Faculty Publications

Over the last two decades my colleagues and I have assembled the literature on a good percentage of most of the coccidians (Conoidasida) known, to date, to parasitise: Amphibia, four major lineages of Reptilia (Amphisbaenia, Chelonia, Crocodylia, Serpentes), and seven major orders in the Mammalia (Carnivora, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Insectivora, Marsupialia, Primates, Scandentia). These vertebrates, combined, comprise about 15,225 species; only about 899 (5.8%) of them have been surveyed for coccidia and 1,946 apicomplexan valid species names or other forms are recorded in the literature. Based on these compilations and other factors, I extrapolated that there yet may be an additional …

A Study On The Pathological Effects Of Trypanorhyncha Cestodes In Dusky Groupers Epinephelus Marginatus From The Canary Islands, Carolina De Sales-Ribeiro, Miguel A. Rivero, Antonio Fernández, Natalia García-Álvarez, Jorge Francisco González, Oscar Quesada-Canales, María José Caballero

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Trypanorhyncha are cestodes commonly infecting marine fish. Numerous studies have detailed the biology of Trypanorhyncha species, but information on the pathological changes produced by these parasites is limited. Dusky groupers are keystone species necessary for the preservation of several marine ecosystems. Considering their vulnerable state of conservation and the efforts being made to culture them, identification of the effects caused by Trypanorhyncha is vital. Here, we aimed to determine the prevalence and pathological changes produced by Trypanorhyncha in dusky groupers from the Canary Islands. The prevalence of trypanorhynch plerocerci was 96%. Grossly, in the abdominal cavity, there were numerous larvae-filled …

Monitoring Relationships Between Corticosterone And Snake Fungal Disease In Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) In Western Kentucky, John Bromley Hewlett

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Over the past four decades, emergent fungal diseases have been the most devastating relative to species declines and extinctions. While most research has focused on fungal diseases affecting amphibians and bats, less has focused on diseases like snake fungal disease (SFD), caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola (Oo). SFD was first described in 2006 in North America within a Timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) population in New Hampshire. Since then SFD has been documented in 19 US states, one US territory (Puerto Rico), and Europe. SFD causes high mortality in some species, including the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnakes (Sistrurus …

Double Anus In An Ixodes Scapularis Nymph, A Medically Important Tick Vector, Vikas Taank, Frank A. Lattanzio, Hameeda Sultana, Girish Neelakanta

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Ixodes scapularis ticks are medically important arthropod vectors that transmit several pathogens to humans. The observations of morphological abnormalities, including nanism, missing leg, extra leg, and gynandromorphism, have been reported in these ticks. In this study, we report the presence of two anuses in a laboratory-reared I. scapularis nymph.

Results: Larval ticks were allowed to feed on mice and to molt to nymphs. Two anuses were observed in one of the freshly molted nymphs. Stereo and scanning electron microscopy confirmed the presence of two anuses in one nymph within a single anal groove.

Conclusions: This report confirms the rare …

Focus Stacking Images Of Morphological Character States For Differentiating The Adults Of Ixodes Affinis And Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) In Areas Of Sympatry, Robyn M. Nadolny, Marcée Toliver, Holly D. Gaff, John G. Snodgrass, Richard G. Robbins

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Adult females and males of Ixodes affinis and Ixodes scapularis are illustrated by focus stacking image photography, and morphological character states are described that reliably differentiate the two species. In conjunction with other environmental cues, such as the questing phenology of adults, these characteristics will enable the rapid identification of adults of either sex along the southern Coastal Plain of the United States, where these species are sympatric.

Tick Ecdysteroid Hormone, Global Microbiota/Rickettsia Signaling In The Ovary Versus Carcass During Vitellogenesis In Part-Fed (Virgin) American Dog Ticks, Dermacentor Variabilis, Loganathan Ponnusamy, Haley Sutton, Robert D. Mitchell Iii, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Charles S. Apperson, Richard Michael Roe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The transovarial transmission of tick-borne bacterial pathogens is an important mechanism for their maintenance in natural populations and transmission, causing disease in humans and animals. The mechanism for this transmission and the possible role of tick hormones facilitating this process have never been studied. Injections of physiological levels of the tick hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), into part-fed (virgin) adult females of the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis, attached to the host caused a reduction in density of Rickettsia montanensis in the carcass and an increase in the ovaries compared to buffer-injected controls. This injection initiates yolk protein synthesis and uptake …

Spatio-Temporal Modelling Of Tick Life-Stage Count Data With Spatially Varying Coefficients, Thabo Lephoto, Henry Mwambi, Oliver Bodhlyera, Holly Gaff

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

There is a vast amount of geo-referenced data in many fields of study including ecological studies. Geo-referencing is usually by point referencing; that is, latitudes and longitudes or by areal referencing, which includes districts, counties, states, provinces and other administrative units. The availability of large geo-referenced datasets for modelling has necessitated the development and application of spatial statistical methods. However, spatial varying coefficients models exploring the abundance of tick counts remain limited. In this study we used data that was collected and prepared by researchers in the Department of Biological Sciences from the Old Dominion University, Virginia, USA. We modelled …

Complete Genome Sequence Of Rickettsia Parkeri Strain Black Gap, Sandor E. Karpathy, Christopher D. Paddock, Stephanie L. Grizzard, Dhwani Batra, Lori A. Rowe, David T. Gauthier

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A unique genotype of Rickettsia parkeri, designated R. parkeri strain Black Gap, has thus far been associated exclusively with the North American tick, Dermacentor parumapertus. The compete genome consists of a single circular chromosome with 1,329,522 bp and a G+C content of 32.5%.

Biology And Molecular Biology Of Ixodes Scapularis, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Ladislav Šimo, Justin D. Radolf (Ed.), D. Scott Samuels (Ed.)

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

This chapter describes the biology of the tick Ixodes scapularis in relation to its role as the vector of the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi. Following a review of the internal anatomy of the tick, we review basic molecular processes that contribute to an understanding of the dynamics of the tick's specialized parasitic processes, including attachment behavior, salivation; silencing of host anti-inflammatory responses to enable blood ingestion at the dermal feeding site; hemoglobin digestion and reproduction. The chapter is divided into three parts: 1) systematic and anatomical characteristics of ticks; 2) host finding, attachment, salivary disruption of host defenses, blood …

An Investigation Of The Role Of Basigin-Variant-1 In The Immune Response Within The Retina, Abigail D. Tompa

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The neural retina is considered an immune privileged area, in that the eye attempts to suppress the inflammatory response to preserve vision. If there is damage to the blood-retina barrier, such as in diabetes or macular degeneration, it is possible for monocytes to travel out of the blood vessels and into the retina. While studying retinoblastoma, a research group determined that the protein, Basigin, through its extracellular domain, elicits an immune response by enhancing transcription of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). Basigin is cell adhesion molecule that belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily. The Basigin gene has two main transcripts, that …

การศึกษาการแสดงออกของ Efflux Pump ในเชื้อ Acinetobacter Baumannii ที่ถูกเหนี่ยวนำให้ดื้อยา Amikacin, ณัฐนิชา บัวงามดี

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

เชื้อแบคทีเรียแกรมลบ Acinetobacter baumannii เป็นเชื้อฉวยโอกาส ที่ก่อให้เกิดการติดเชื้อในโรงพยาบาล และมีการดื้อต่อยาปฏิชีวนะหลายชนิด จากหลายกลไกการดื้อยา รวมถึงการใช้ efflux pump ขับยาออกนอกเซลล์ การศึกษาครั้งนี้ผู้วิจัยได้ทดสอบหาค่าความเข้มข้นต่ำสุดที่ยับยั้งการเจริญเติบโตของเชื้อ (MIC) ต่อยา amikacin ในเชื้อ A. baumannii ทั้งหมด 8 ตัวอย่าง ที่ได้จากสิ่งส่งตรวจของผู้ป่วย และเชื้อสายพันธุ์มาตรฐาน ATCC 19606 พบว่าเชื้อ A. baumannii 7 ตัวอย่างมีค่า MIC อยู่ในช่วง 0.25 – 4 µg/mL (ไวต่อยา) และเชื้ออีก 2 ตัวอย่างมีค่า MIC เท่ากับ 64 และมากกว่า 256 µg/mL (ดื้อต่อยา) เมื่อเหนี่ยวนำเชื้อด้วยยา amikacin โดยเพาะเลี้ยงเชื้อในสภาวะที่มียา amikacin ความเข้มข้นเพิ่มขึ้นเป็นสองเท่า ทุก 48 ชั่วโมง ติดต่อกันเป็นเวลาหลายวัน พบว่าเชื้อ A. baumannii หลังเหนี่ยวนำด้วยยา amikacin ทั้ง 8 ตัวอย่าง มีค่า MIC เพิ่มขึ้นอยู่ในช่วง 32 ถึงมากกว่า 256 µg/mL ผลการศึกษาการใช้สารยับยั้ง efflux pump ได้แก่ สาร carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) พบว่าเชื้อ A. baumannii หลังเหนี่ยวนำด้วยยา amikacin ทั้ง 8 ตัวอย่าง มีค่า MIC ต่อยา amikacin เมื่อมีสาร CCCP ลดลงมากกว่าหรือเท่ากับ 4 เท่าของค่า MIC ต่อยา amikacin ที่ไม่มีสาร …

Nutritional Aspects Related To Covid-19: A Bibliometric Analysis Using Scopus Database, Arti Muley Dr, Srujana Medithi Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Nutrition therapy has lately gained attention as an effective way of combating the novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), especially to address the immunity in an individual and their overall health. The present study is a bibliometric assessment of research conducted to understand the role of nutrition in treating COVID-19 which was carried out since the pandemic's sudden outburst during 2020 and 2021 and published in the Scopus database. A total of 93 publications were found, and the results were studied by evaluating these documents. The present analysis identifies the active countries where the research was conducted, various types of documents wherein …

Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Hiv-Infection Induced Susceptibility Of Cd4+ T Cells To Enhanced Activation-Induced Fasl Expression And Cell Death., Smita Ghare, Paula M. Chilton, Aakarsha V. Rao, Swati Joshi-Barve, Paula Peyrani, Andrea Reyes-Vega, Craig J. Mcclain, Kendall Bryant, Robert L. Cook, Mathew Freiberg, Shirish Barve

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Background:

Chronic immune activation and CD4⁺ T cell depletion are significant pathogenic features of HIV infection. Expression of Fas ligand (FasL), a key mediator of activation-induced cell death in T cells, is elevated in people living with HIV-1 infection (PLWH). However, the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the enhanced induction of FasL expression in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH are not completely elucidated. Hence, the current work examined the effect of HIV infection on FasL promoter-associated histone modifications and transcriptional regulation in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH.

Method:

Flow cytometric analysis was performed to examine the Fas-FasL expression on …

Dirofilaria Immitis Prevalence In Canis Latrans In Kentucky, Melanie Ann Brandon

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Dirofilaria immitis (canine heartworm) was found in forty-two (42) of the two hundred seventy-five (275) Canis latrans (coyote) necropsied in the state of Kentucky from November 27, 2019 through March 3, 2021. Thirty-five (35) of the positive cases were from western Kentucky region with the other seven spread across the state. With this group of coyotes, one hundred fifty-eight (158) were male and the other one hundred six-teen (116) were female. The estimated age ranged from a pup to senior dogs. A little over forty percent of the dogs were obtained through coyote/predator tournaments; the remaining were acquired from pest …

Impact Of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Outbreak Quarantine, Isolation, And Lockdown Policies On Mental Health And Suicide, Balasankar Ganesan, Adel Al-Jumaily, Kenneth N. K. Fong, Palak Prasad, Surendra Kumar Meena, Raymond Kai-Yu Tong

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has made a huge impact on people's physical and mental health, and it remains a cause of death for many all over the world. To prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, different types of public health measures (social isolation, quarantine, lockdowns, and curfews) have been imposed by governments. However, mental health experts warn that the prolonged lockdown, quarantine, or isolation will create a “second pandemic” with severe mental health issues and suicides. The quarantined or isolated people may suffer from various issues such as physical inactivity, mental health, economic and social problems. As with …

Kynurenic Acid May Underlie Sex-Specific Immune Responses To Covid-19, Yuping Cai, Daniel J. Kim, Takehiro Takahashi, David I. Broadhurst, Hong Yan, Shuangge Ma, Nicholas J. W. Rattray, Arnau Casanovas-Massana, Benjamin Israelow, Jon Klein, Carolina Lucas, Tianyang Mao, Adam J. Moore, M. Catherine Muenker, Ji Eun Oh, Julio Silva, Patrick Wong, Albert I. Ko, Sajid A. Khan, Akiko Iwasaki, Caroline H. Johnson, Yale Impact Research Team

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has poorer clinical outcomes in males than in females, and immune responses underlie these sex-related differences. Because immune responses are, in part, regulated by metabolites, we examined the serum metabolomes of COVID-19 patients. In male patients, kynurenic acid (KA) and a high KA–to–kynurenine (K) ratio (KA:K) positively correlated with age and with inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and negatively correlated with T cell responses. Males that clinically deteriorated had a higher KA:K than those that stabilized. KA inhibits glutamate release, and glutamate abundance was lower in patients that clinically deteriorated and correlated with immune responses. Analysis of …

Molecular Studies On The Interactions Between Biomphalaria Snails And Schistosoma Mansoni, Lijun Lu

Biology ETDs

Biomphalaria snails serve as vectors for Schistosoma mansoni, a trematode causing human schistosomiasis. Control of Schistosoma mansoni involves chemotherapy of affected people, but new control methods built on improved understanding of schistosome-snail interactions are needed. My dissertation applies molecular and bioinformatics approaches to understand such interactions. Chapter 1 shows that significant differences exist among Biomphalaria species in Africa with respect to their ability to support schistosome development. Chapters 2 and 3 reveal the transcriptional responses of Biomphalaria glabrata susceptible (SUS) or resistant (RES) to Schistosoma mansoni. Chapter 2 identifies a new family of snail immune factors, the AIG …

Genetic Variants In Immune Related Genes As Predictors Of Responsiveness To Bcg Immunotherapy In Metastatic Melanoma Patients., Romela Irene Ramos, Misa A Shaw, Leland Foshag, Stacey L Stern, Negin Rahimzadeh, David Elashoff, Dave Hoon

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Adjuvant immunotherapy in melanoma patients improves clinical outcomes. However, success is unpredictable due to inherited heterogeneity of immune responses. Inherent immune genes associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may influence anti-tumor immune responses. We assessed the predictive ability of 26 immune-gene SNPs genomic panels for a clinical response to adjuvant BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) immunotherapy, using melanoma patient cohorts derived from three phase III multicenter clinical trials: AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage IV patients given adjuvant BCG (pilot cohort; n = 92), AJCC stage III patients given adjuvant BCG (verification cohort; n = 269), and …