Cross-talk between dendritic cells (DCs) and the intestinal epithelium is important in the decision to mount a protective immune response to a pathogen or to regulate potentially damaging responses to food antigens and the microbiota. Failures in this decision-making process contribute to the development of intestinal inflammation, making the molecular signals that pass between DCs and intestinal epithelial cells potential therapeutic targets. Until now, models with sufficient complexity to understand these interactions have been lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSARS-CoV-2 has caused a worldwide health and economic crisis. During the course of the pandemic, genetic changes occurred in the virus, which have resulted in new properties of the virus-particularly around gains in transmission and the ability to partially evade either natural or vaccine-acquired immunity. Some of these viruses have been labeled Variants of Concern (VoCs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOnchocerciasis (river blindness), caused by the filarial nematode , is a neglected tropical disease mainly of sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, an estimated 20.9 million individuals live with infection and a further 205 million are at risk of disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndosymbiotic intracellular bacteria of the genus are harboured by many species of invertebrates. They display a wide range of developmental, metabolic and nutritional interactions with their hosts and may impact the transmission of arboviruses and protozoan parasites. have occasionally been isolated during insect cell line generation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRed squirrels () are native to most of Eurasia; in much of the United Kingdom, they have been supplanted by the non-native grey squirrel, and are considered an endangered species. Very little is known about the range of tick-borne pathogens to which UK red squirrels are exposed. As part of trap-and-release surveys examining prevalence of spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Sequencing the viral genome as the outbreak progresses is important, particularly in the identification of emerging isolates with different pathogenic potential and to identify whether nucleotide changes in the genome will impair clinical diagnostic tools such as real-time PCR assays. Although single nucleotide polymorphisms and point mutations occur during the replication of coronaviruses, one of the biggest drivers in genetic change is recombination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCandidatus Rickettsia vini was originally detected in Ixodes arboricola ticks from Spain, and subsequently reported from several other Western Palearctic countries including Belgium. Recently, the bacterium was isolated in mammalian (Vero) cell culture from macerated male I. arboricola from Czech Republic, but there have been no reports of propagation in tick cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTicks Tick Borne Dis
September 2020
Trypanosomes have long been recognised as being amongst the most important protozoan parasites of vertebrates, from both medical and veterinary perspectives. Whilst numerous insect species have been identified as vectors, the role of ticks is less well understood. Here we report the isolation and partial molecular characterisation of a novel trypanosome from questing Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in Slovakia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFToxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium spp. can cause devastating pathological effects in humans and livestock, and in particular to young or immunocompromised individuals. The current treatment plans for these enteric parasites are limited due to long drug courses, severe side effects or simply a lack of efficacy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbiting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) transmit arboviruses of veterinary or medical importance, including bluetongue virus (BTV) and Schmallenberg virus, as well as causing severe irritation to livestock and humans. Arthropod cell lines are essential laboratory research tools for the isolation and propagation of vector-borne pathogens and the investigation of host-vector-pathogen interactions. Here we report the establishment of two continuous cell lines, CNE/LULS44 and CNE/LULS47, from embryos of , a midge distributed throughout the Western Palearctic region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhen transmitted through the oral route, first interacts with its host at the small intestinal epithelium. This interaction is crucial to controlling initial invasion and replication, as well as shaping the quality of the systemic immune response. It is therefore an attractive target for the design of novel vaccines and adjuvants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe in vitro 3D culture of intestinal epithelium is a valuable resource in the study of its function. Organoid culture exploits stem cells' ability to regenerate and produce differentiated epithelium. Intestinal organoid models from rodent or human tissue are widely available whereas large animal models are not.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTicks have relatively complex microbiomes, but only a small proportion of the bacterial symbionts recorded from ticks are vertically transmitted. Moreover, co-cladogenesis between ticks and their symbionts, indicating an intimate relationship over evolutionary history driven by a mutualistic association, is the exception rather than the rule. One of the most widespread tick symbionts is Candidatus Midichloria, which has been detected in all of the major tick genera of medical and veterinary importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, 3D small intestinal organoids (enteroids) have been developed from cultures of intestinal stem cells which differentiate in vitro to generate all the differentiated epithelial cell types associated with the intestine and mimic the structural properties of the intestine observed in vivo. Small-molecule drug treatment can skew organoid epithelial cell differentiation toward particular lineages, and these skewed enteroids may provide useful tools to study specific epithelial cell populations, such as goblet and Paneth cells. However, the extent to which differentiated epithelial cell populations in these skewed enteroids represent their in vivo counterparts is not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Coccidiosis, caused by species of the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria, is a major disease of chickens. Eimeria species are present world-wide, and are ubiquitous under intensive farming methods. However, prevalence of Eimeria species is not uniform across production systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examined structural-functional differences along the septo-temporal axis of hippocampus using radial-maze tasks that involved two different memory processes [reference memory (RM) and working memory (WM)], and the use of two kinds of information (spatial vs. nonspatial cue learning). In addition, retention of the nonspatial cue task was tested nine weeks following completion of acquisition, and the rats then underwent discrimination reversal training.
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