Medical Sciences Commons^™

Examining Early Interactions Between Innate Airway Resident Immune Cells And Mtb-Specific Factors During Pulmonary Infection With Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Micah D. Dunlap

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the leading cause of death by an infectious agent in the world today, infecting roughly one quarter of humans. Despite this, the mechanisms of early pathogenesis and host protective innate immune responses remain poorly understood and uncharacterized.

Lung resident Alveolar Macrophages (AMs) are the first host contact with Mtb bacilli after inhalation and are thus key mediators of the early pulmonary immune response. AMs are generally believed to reside entirely in the airway, but it was recently demonstrated that they have the capacity to egress and enter into granulomas during pulmonary infection with hypervirulent Mtb. Furthermore, …

Host Determinants Of Protection And Pathogenesis During Chikungunya Virus Infection, Lindsey Elaine Cook

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted alphavirus that causes acute and chronic polyarthritis. The virus has rapidly emerged over the last decade, and in 2013, CHIKV spread to the Western Hemisphere for the first time, infecting more than 1.8 million people. CHIKV targets the joints and musculoskeletal tissues, resulting in severe myalgia and symmetric polyarthritis that clinically mimics rheumatoid arthritis. Currently, no approved treatment is effective in preventing or controlling CHIKV infection or disease. Pathogenesis of CHIKV is still poorly understood but is thought to reflect an interplay between viral replication and detrimental immune responses. CHIKV patients have increased numbers …