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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells In Murine Retrovirus-Induced Aids Inhibit T- And B-Cell Responses In Vitro That Are Used To Define The Immunodeficiency, Kathy A. Green, W. James Cook, William R. Green Dec 2012

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells In Murine Retrovirus-Induced Aids Inhibit T- And B-Cell Responses In Vitro That Are Used To Define The Immunodeficiency, Kathy A. Green, W. James Cook, William R. Green

Dartmouth Scholarship

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) have been characterized in several disease settings, especially in many tumor systems. Compared to their involvement in tumor microenvironments, however, MDSCs have been less well studied in their responses to infectious disease processes, in particular to retroviruses that induce immunodeficiency. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the development of a highly immunosuppressive MDSC population that is dependent on infection by the LP-BM5 retrovirus, which causes murine acquired immunodeficiency. These MDSCs express a cell surface marker signature (CD11b Gr-1 Ly6C ) characteristic of monocyte-type MDSCs. Such MDSCs profoundly inhibit immune responsiveness by a cell dose- and …


Herpes Simplex Virus 34.5 Interferes With Autophagosome Maturation And Antigen Presentation In Dendritic Cells, Philipe A. M. Gobeil, David A. Leib Sep 2012

Herpes Simplex Virus 34.5 Interferes With Autophagosome Maturation And Antigen Presentation In Dendritic Cells, Philipe A. M. Gobeil, David A. Leib

Dartmouth Scholarship

The cellular autophagy response induced by herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is countered by the viral γ34.5 protein. γ34.5 modulates autophagy by binding to the host autophagy protein Beclin-1 and through this binding inhibits the formation of autophagosomes in fibroblasts and neurons. In contrast, in this study dendritic cells (DCs) infected with HSV-1 showed an accumulation of autophagosomes and of the long-lived protein p62. No such accumulations were observed in DCs infected with a γ34.5-null virus or a virus lacking the Beclin-binding domain (BBD) of γ34.5. To explore this further, we established stably transduced DC lines to show that γ34.5 …


Serial Analysis Of The Gut And Respiratory Microbiome In Cystic Fibrosis In Infancy: Interaction Between Intestinal And Respiratory Tracts And Impact Of Nutritional Exposures, J. C. Madan, D. C. Koestler, B. A. Stanton, L. Davidson, L. A. Moulton, M. L. Housman, J. H. Moore, M. F. Guill, H. G. Morrison, M. L. Sogin, T. H. Hampton, M. R. Karagas, P. E. Palumbo, J. A. Foster, P. L. Hibberd, G. A. O’Toole Aug 2012

Serial Analysis Of The Gut And Respiratory Microbiome In Cystic Fibrosis In Infancy: Interaction Between Intestinal And Respiratory Tracts And Impact Of Nutritional Exposures, J. C. Madan, D. C. Koestler, B. A. Stanton, L. Davidson, L. A. Moulton, M. L. Housman, J. H. Moore, M. F. Guill, H. G. Morrison, M. L. Sogin, T. H. Hampton, M. R. Karagas, P. E. Palumbo, J. A. Foster, P. L. Hibberd, G. A. O’Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pulmonary damage caused by chronic colonization of the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung by microbial communities is the proximal cause of respiratory failure. While there has been an effort to document the microbiome of the CF lung in pediatric and adult patients, little is known regarding the developing microflora in infants. We examined the respiratory and intestinal microbiota development in infants with CF from birth to 21 months. Distinct genera dominated in the gut compared to those in the respiratory tract, yet some bacteria overlapped, demonstrating a core microbiota dominated by Veillonella and Streptococcus. Bacterial diversity increased significantly over time, …


Microbiological Components In Mainstream And Sidestream Cigarette Smoke, Lennart Larsson, Christina Pehrson, Tenzin Dechen, Mardi Crane-Godreau Aug 2012

Microbiological Components In Mainstream And Sidestream Cigarette Smoke, Lennart Larsson, Christina Pehrson, Tenzin Dechen, Mardi Crane-Godreau

Dartmouth Scholarship

Research has shown that tobacco smoke contains substances of microbiological origin such as ergosterol (a fungal membrane lipid) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria). The aim of the present study was to compare the amounts of ergosterol and LPS in the tobacco and mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) smoke of some popular US cigarettes. We measured LPS 3-hydroxy fatty acids and fungal biomass biomarker ergosterol in the tobacco and smoke from cigarettes of 11 popular brands purchased in the US. University of Kentucky reference cigarettes were also included for comparison.


The Crispr/Cas Adaptive Immune System Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Mediates Resistance To Naturally Occurring And Engineered Phages, Kyle C. Cady, Joe Bondy-Denomy, Gary E. Heussler, Alan R. Davidson, George A. O'Toole Aug 2012

The Crispr/Cas Adaptive Immune System Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Mediates Resistance To Naturally Occurring And Engineered Phages, Kyle C. Cady, Joe Bondy-Denomy, Gary E. Heussler, Alan R. Davidson, George A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Here we report the isolation of 6 temperate bacteriophages (phages) that are prevented from replicating within the laboratory strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 by the endogenous CRISPR/Cas system of this microbe. These phages are only the second identified group of naturally occurring phages demonstrated to be blocked for replication by a nonengineered CRISPR/Cas system, and our results provide the first evidence that the P. aeruginosa type I-F CRISPR/Cas system can function in phage resistance. Previous studies have highlighted the importance of the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) and a proximal 8-nucleotide seed sequence in mediating CRISPR/Cas-based immunity. Through engineering of a protospacer …


Minor Pilins Of The Type Iv Pilus System Participate In The Negative Regulation Of Swarming Motility, S L. Kuchma, E. F. Griffin, G. A. O'Toole Aug 2012

Minor Pilins Of The Type Iv Pilus System Participate In The Negative Regulation Of Swarming Motility, S L. Kuchma, E. F. Griffin, G. A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits distinct surface-associated behaviors, including biofilm formation, flagellum-mediated swarming motility, and type IV pilus-driven twitching. Here, we report a role for the minor pilins, PilW and PilX, components of the type IV pilus assembly machinery, in the repression of swarming motility. Mutating either the pilW or pilX gene alleviates the inhibition of swarming motility observed for strains with elevated levels of the intracellular signaling molecule cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) due to loss of BifA, a c-di-GMP-degrading phosphodiesterase. Blocking PilD peptidase-mediated processing of PilW and PilX renders the unprocessed proteins defective for pilus assembly but still functional in c-di-GMP-mediated swarming …


Epoxide-Mediated Cifr Repression Of Cif Gene Expression Utilizes Two Binding Sites In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Alicia E. Ballok, Christopher D. Bahl, Emily L. Dolben, Allia K. Lindsay, Jessica D. St. Laurent, Deborah Hogan, Dean Madden, George A. O'Toole Jul 2012

Epoxide-Mediated Cifr Repression Of Cif Gene Expression Utilizes Two Binding Sites In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Alicia E. Ballok, Christopher D. Bahl, Emily L. Dolben, Allia K. Lindsay, Jessica D. St. Laurent, Deborah Hogan, Dean Madden, George A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes an epoxide hydrolase virulence factor that reduces the apical membrane expression of ABC transporters such as the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). This virulence factor, named CFTR inhibitory factor (Cif), is regulated by a TetR-family, epoxide-responsive repressor known as CifR via direct binding and repression. We identified two sites of CifR binding in the intergenic space between cifR and morB, the first gene in the operon containing the cif gene. We have mapped these binding sites and found they are 27 bp in length, and they overlap the -10 and +1 sites of both the cifR …


Prevalence Of Streptococci And Increased Polymicrobial Diversity Associated With Cystic Fibrosis Patient Stability, L. M. Filkins, T. H. Hampton, A. H. Gifford, M. J. Gross, D. A. Hogan, M. L. Sogin, H. G. Morrison, B. J. Paster, G. A. O'Toole Jun 2012

Prevalence Of Streptococci And Increased Polymicrobial Diversity Associated With Cystic Fibrosis Patient Stability, L. M. Filkins, T. H. Hampton, A. H. Gifford, M. J. Gross, D. A. Hogan, M. L. Sogin, H. G. Morrison, B. J. Paster, G. A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Diverse microbial communities chronically colonize the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Pyrosequencing of amplicons for hypervariable regions in the 16S rRNA gene generated taxonomic profiles of bacterial communities for sputum genomic DNA samples from 22 patients during a state of clinical stability (outpatients) and 13 patients during acute exacerbation (inpatients). We employed quantitative PCR (qPCR) to confirm the detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus by the pyrosequencing data and human oral microbe identification microarray (HOMIM) analysis to determine the species of the streptococci identified by pyrosequencing. We show that outpatient sputum samples have significantly higher bacterial diversity than inpatients, but …


Lapg, Required For Modulating Biofilm Formation By Pseudomonas Fluorescens Pf0-1, Is A Calcium-Dependent Protease, Chelsea D. Boyd, Debashree Chatterjee, Holger Sondermann, George A. O'Toole Jun 2012

Lapg, Required For Modulating Biofilm Formation By Pseudomonas Fluorescens Pf0-1, Is A Calcium-Dependent Protease, Chelsea D. Boyd, Debashree Chatterjee, Holger Sondermann, George A. O'Toole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Biofilm formation by Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf0-1 requires the cell surface adhesin LapA. We previously reported that LapG, a periplasmic cysteine protease of P. fluorescens, cleaves the N terminus of LapA, thus releasing this adhesin from the cell surface and resulting in loss of the ability to make a biofilm. The activity of LapG is regulated by the inner membrane-localized cyclic-di-GMP receptor LapD via direct protein-protein interactions. Here we present chelation and metal add-back studies demonstrating that calcium availability regulates biofilm formation by P. fluorescens Pf0-1. The determination that LapG is a calcium-dependent protease, based on in vivo and in vitro …


Molecular Epidemiology Of Hiv-Associated Tuberculosis In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Strain Predominance, Clustering, And Polyclonal Disease, Lisa V. Adams, Barry N. Kreiswirth, Robert D. Arbeit, Hanna Soini, Lillian Mtei, Mecky Matee, Muhammad Bakari, Timothy Lahey, Wendy Wieland-Alter May 2012

Molecular Epidemiology Of Hiv-Associated Tuberculosis In Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania: Strain Predominance, Clustering, And Polyclonal Disease, Lisa V. Adams, Barry N. Kreiswirth, Robert D. Arbeit, Hanna Soini, Lillian Mtei, Mecky Matee, Muhammad Bakari, Timothy Lahey, Wendy Wieland-Alter

Dartmouth Scholarship

Molecular typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be used to elucidate the epidemiology of tuberculosis, including the rates of clustering, the frequency of polyclonal disease, and the distribution of genotypic families. We performed IS6110 typing and spoligotyping on M. tuberculosis strains isolated from HIV-infected subjects at baseline or during follow-up in the DarDar Trial in Tanzania and on selected community isolates. Clustering occurred in 203 (74%) of 275 subjects: 124 (80%) of 155 HIV-infected subjects with baseline isolates, 56 (69%) of 81 HIV-infected subjects with endpoint isolates, and 23 (59%) of 39 community controls. Overall, 113 (41%) subjects had an …


Corneal Replication Is An Interferon Response-Independent Bottleneck For Virulence Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 In The Absence Of Virion Host Shutoff, Tracy J. Pasieka, Vineet D. Menachery, Pamela C. Rosato, David A. Leib May 2012

Corneal Replication Is An Interferon Response-Independent Bottleneck For Virulence Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 In The Absence Of Virion Host Shutoff, Tracy J. Pasieka, Vineet D. Menachery, Pamela C. Rosato, David A. Leib

Dartmouth Scholarship

Herpes simplex viruses lacking the virion host shutoff function (Δvhs) are avirulent and hypersensitive to type I and type II interferon (IFN). In this study, we demonstrate that even in the absence of IFN responses in AG129 (IFN-αβγR−/−) mice, Δvhs remains highly attenuated via corneal infection but is fully virulent via intracranial infection. The data demonstrate that the interferon-independent inherent replication defect of Δvhs has a significant impact upon peripheral replication and neuroinvasion.


An Inside Job: Hacking Into Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer And Activator Of Transcription Signaling Cascades By The Intracellular Protozoan Toxoplasma Gondii, Eric Y. Denkers, David J. Bzik, Barbara A. Fox, Barbara A. Butcher Feb 2012

An Inside Job: Hacking Into Janus Kinase/Signal Transducer And Activator Of Transcription Signaling Cascades By The Intracellular Protozoan Toxoplasma Gondii, Eric Y. Denkers, David J. Bzik, Barbara A. Fox, Barbara A. Butcher

Dartmouth Scholarship

The intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii is well known for its skill at invading and living within host cells. New discoveries are now also revealing the astounding ability of the parasite to inject effector proteins into the cytoplasm to seize control of the host cell. This review summarizes recent advances in our understanding of one such secretory protein called ROP16. This molecule is released from rhoptries into the host cell during invasion. The ROP16 molecule acts as a kinase, directly activating both signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and STAT6 signaling pathways. In macrophages, an important and preferential target …


Structural Characterization Of A Conserved, Calcium-Dependent Periplasmic Protease From Legionella Pneumophila, Debashree Chatterjee, Chelsea D. Boyd, George A. O'Toole, Holger Sondermann Jan 2012

Structural Characterization Of A Conserved, Calcium-Dependent Periplasmic Protease From Legionella Pneumophila, Debashree Chatterjee, Chelsea D. Boyd, George A. O'Toole, Holger Sondermann

Dartmouth Scholarship

The bacterial dinucleotide second messenger c-di-GMP has emerged as a central molecule in regulating bacterial behavior, including motility and biofilm formation. Proteins for the synthesis and degradation of c-di-GMP and effectors for its signal transmission are widely used in the bacterial domain. Previous work established the GGDEF-EAL domain-containing receptor LapD as a central switch in Pseudomonas fluorescens cell adhesion. LapD senses c-di-GMP inside the cytosol and relays this signal to the outside by the differential recruitment of the periplasmic protease LapG. Here we identify the core components of an orthologous system in Legionella pneumophila. Despite only moderate sequence conservation at …