Immunology of Infectious Disease Commons^™

The Acquisition Of Human B Cell Memory In Response To Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria, Gretchen E. Weiss

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

Immunity to Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), the most deadly agent of malaria, is only acquired after years of repeated infections and appears to wane rapidly without ongoing exposure. Antibodies (Abs) are central to malaria immunity, yet little is known about the B‐cell biology that underlies Pf‐specific humoral immunity. To address this gap in our knowledge we carried out a year‐long prospective study of the acquisition and maintenance of long‐lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and memory B cells (MBCs) in 225 individuals aged two to twenty‐five years in Mali, in an area of intense seasonal transmission. Using protein microarrays containing approximately 25% of …

Probiotic Therapy - Recruiting Old Friends To Fight New Foes, Roy D. Sleator

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Against a backdrop of increasing antibiotic resistance, and the emergence of new and evolving pathogens, clinicians are increasingly forced to consider alternative therapies - probiotics are one such alternative.

Naı¨Ve T Cells Re-Distribute To The Lungs Of Selectin Ligand Deficient Mice, Thandi M. Onami, John R. Harp

Thandi M. Onami

BACKGROUND: Selectin mediated tethering represents one of the earliest steps in T cell extravasation into lymph nodes via high endothelial venules and is dependent on the biosynthesis of sialyl Lewis X (sLe(x)) ligands by several glycosyltransferases, including two fucosyltransferases, fucosyltransferase-IV and -VII. Selectin mediated binding also plays a key role in T cell entry to inflamed organs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To understand how loss of selectin ligands (sLe(x)) influences T cell migration to the lung, we examined fucosyltransferase-IV and -VII double knockout (FtDKO) mice. We discovered that FtDKO mice showed significant increases (approximately 5-fold) in numbers of naïve T cells in …

Naïve T Cells Re-Distribute To The Lungs Of Selectin Ligand Deficient Mice, Thandi M. Onami, John R. Harp

Microbiology Publications and Other Works

BACKGROUND: Selectin mediated tethering represents one of the earliest steps in T cell extravasation into lymph nodes via high endothelial venules and is dependent on the biosynthesis of sialyl Lewis X (sLe(x)) ligands by several glycosyltransferases, including two fucosyltransferases, fucosyltransferase-IV and -VII. Selectin mediated binding also plays a key role in T cell entry to inflamed organs.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To understand how loss of selectin ligands (sLe(x)) influences T cell migration to the lung, we examined fucosyltransferase-IV and -VII double knockout (FtDKO) mice. We discovered that FtDKO mice showed significant increases (approximately 5-fold) in numbers of naïve T cells in …

Regulation Of Cd8+ T Cell Responses To Toxoplasma Gondii, Kimberly A. Jordan

Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations

Protective immunity to Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular protozoan parasite, is characterized by a strongly polarized Th1-mediated immune response that is dependent on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. In order to study the factors that influence development of CD8+ T cell responses to this parasite, a system was developed using a replication-deficient parasite that expressed the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA). These initial studies revealed that an OVA-specific CD8+ T cell response was induced and peaked at day 10 post-immunization, that the primary response was CD4+ T cell-dependent, and that the cells induced by immunization primarily resembled effector cells. Protective immunity to …

The Role Of Mucosal Epithelial Cells In Hiv-1 Infection, Danielle Fontenot

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The predominant route of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission is infection across the vaginal mucosa. Epithelial cells, which form the primary barrier of protection against pathogens, are the first cell type at these mucosal tissues to encounter the virus but their role in HIV infection has not been clearly elucidated. Although mucosal epithelial cells express only low levels of the receptors required for successful HIV infection, productive infection does occur at these sites. The present work provides evidence to show that HIV exposure, without the need for productive infection, induces human cervical epithelial cells to produce Thymic Stromal …

Aspergillus Fumigatus Stimulates The Nlrp3 Inflammasome Through A Pathway Requiring Ros Production And The Syk Tyrosine Kinase, Najwane Saïd-Sadier, Eduardo V. Padilla, Gordon Langsley, David M. Ojcius

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a life-threatening disease that occurs in immunodepressed patients when infected with Aspergillus fumigatus. This fungus is the second most-common causative agent of fungal disease after Candida albicans. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms by which A. fulmigatus activates the innate immune system. We investigated the inflammatory response to conidia and hyphae of A. fumigatus and specifically, their capacity to trigger activation of an inflammasome. Our results show that in contrast to conidia, hyphal fragments induce NLRP3 inflammasome assembly, caspase-1 activation and IL-1β release from a human monocyte cell line. The ability of Aspergillus …