Unlabelled: Infection with the apicomplexan parasite is a leading cause of diarrheal disease. Cryptosporidiosis is of particular importance in infants and shows a strong association with malnutrition, both as a risk factor and as a consequence. invades and replicates within the small intestine epithelial cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptosporidium is an enteric pathogen and a prominent cause of diarrheal disease worldwide. Control of Cryptosporidium requires CD4+ T cells, but how protective CD4+ T cell responses are generated is poorly understood. Here, Cryptosporidium parasites that express MHCII-restricted model antigens were generated to understand the basis for CD4+ T cell priming and effector function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe production of IFN-γ is crucial for control of multiple enteric infections, but its impact on intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) is not well understood. Cryptosporidium parasites exclusively infect epithelial cells and the ability of interferons to activate the transcription factor STAT1 in IEC is required for parasite clearance. Here, the use of single cell RNA sequencing to profile IEC during infection revealed an increased proportion of mid-villus enterocytes during infection and induction of IFN-γ-dependent gene signatures that was comparable between uninfected and infected cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe production of IFN-γ is crucial for control of multiple enteric infections, but its impact on intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) is not well understood. parasites exclusively infect epithelial cells and the ability of interferons to activate the transcription factor STAT1 in IEC is required for parasite clearance. The use of single cell RNA sequencing to profile IEC during infection revealed induction of IFN-γ-dependent gene signatures that was comparable between uninfected and infected cells, and IEC expression of the IFN-γ receptor was required for parasite control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis an enteric pathogen that is a prominent cause of diarrheal disease. Control of this infection requires CD4 T cells, though the processes that lead to T cell-mediated resistance have been difficult to assess. Here, parasites that express MHCII-restricted model antigens were generated to dissect the early events that influence CD4 T cell priming and effector function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPost-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC, "Long COVID") pose a significant global health challenge. The pathophysiology is unknown, and no effective treatments have been found to date. Several hypotheses have been formulated to explain the etiology of PASC, including viral persistence, chronic inflammation, hypercoagulability, and autonomic dysfunction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptosporidium parasites replicate within intestinal epithelial cells and are an important cause of diarrhoeal disease in young children and in patients with primary and acquired defects in T cell function. This Review of immune-mediated control of Cryptosporidium highlights advances in understanding how intestinal epithelial cells detect this infection, the induction of innate resistance and the processes required for activation of T cell responses that promote parasite control. The development of a genetic tool set to modify Cryptosporidium combined with tractable mouse models provide new opportunities to understand the principles that govern the interface between intestinal epithelial cells and the immune system that mediate resistance to enteric pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFcauses debilitating diarrheal disease in patients with primary and acquired defects in T cell function. However, it has been a challenge to understand how this infection generates T cell responses and how they mediate parasite control. Here, was engineered to express a parasite effector protein (MEDLE-2) that contains the MHC-I restricted SIINFEKL epitope which is recognized by TCR transgenic OT-I CD8 T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCryptosporidium is a leading cause of severe diarrhea and diarrheal-related death in children worldwide. As an obligate intracellular parasite, Cryptosporidium relies on intestinal epithelial cells to provide a niche for its growth and survival, but little is known about the contributions that the infected cell makes to this relationship. Here we conducted a genome wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen to discover host genes that influence Cryptosporidium parvum infection and/or host cell survival.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that recently caused a series of increasingly severe outbreaks. We previously demonstrated that, compared with a pre-epidemic isolate (ZIKV), a Brazilian ZIKV isolate (ZIKV) possesses a novel capacity to suppress host immunity, resulting in delayed viral clearance. However, whether ZIKV modulates CD4 T cell responses remains unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) has emerged as an important global health threat, with the recently acquired capacity to cause severe neurological symptoms and to persist within host tissues. We previously demonstrated that an early Asian lineage ZIKV isolate induces a highly activated CD8 T cell response specific for an immunodominant epitope in the ZIKV envelope protein in wild-type mice. Here we show that a contemporary ZIKV isolate from the Brazilian outbreak severely limits CD8 T cell immunity in mice and blocks generation of the immunodominant CD8 T cell response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCD8 T cell-mediated immunity is critical for host defense against viruses and requires mitochondria-mediated type I IFN (IFN-I) signaling for optimal protection. Cyclophilin D (CypD) is a mitochondrial matrix protein that modulates the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, but its role in IFN-I signaling and CD8 T cell responses to viral infection has not been previously explored. In this study, we demonstrate that CypD plays a critical extrinsic role in the survival of Ag-specific CD8 T cell following acute viral infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor the first 60 years following its isolation, Zika virus (ZIKV) remained a relatively poorly described member of the family. However, since 2007, it has caused a series of increasingly severe outbreaks and is now associated with neurological symptoms such as Guillain-Barré syndrome and congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). A number of reports have improved our understanding of rare complications that may be associated with ZIKV infection in adults, the areas of the body to which it spreads, and viral persistence in various tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCD4 and CD8 T cells are an important part of the host's capacity to defend itself against viral infections. During infections, T cells have been implicated in both protective and pathogenic responses. Given the recent emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) as a prominent global health threat, the question remains as to how T cells contribute to anti-ZIKV immunity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe interferon (IFN) family of cytokines is a crucial part of the host's ability to mount an effective immune response against viral infections. In addition to establishing an antiviral state within cells, IFNs also support the optimal activation of other key immune cell types. The ability of members of the Flaviviridae family to suppress type I IFN responses has been well-described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arbovirus of the Flaviviridae family. Although ZIKV infection is typically mild and self-limiting in healthy adults, infection has been associated with neurological symptoms such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, and a causal link has been established between fetal microcephaly and ZIKV infection during pregnancy. These risks, and the magnitude of the ongoing ZIKV pandemic, have created an urgent need for the development of animal models to study the immune response to ZIKV infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging arthropod-borne pathogen that has recently gained notoriety due to its rapid and ongoing geographic expansion and its novel association with neurological complications. Reports of ZIKV-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome as well as fetal microcephaly place emphasis on the need to develop preventative measures and therapeutics to combat ZIKV infection. Thus, it is imperative that models to study ZIKV replication and pathogenesis and the immune response are developed in conjunction with integrated vector control strategies to mount an efficient response to the pandemic.
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