Publications by authors named "Stan Hilt"
Background: Partial protective immunity to schistosomiasis develops over time, following repeated praziquantel treatment. Moreover, animals develop protective immunity after repeated immunisation with irradiated cercariae. Here, we evaluated development of natural immunity through consecutive exposure-treatment cycles with Schistosoma mansoni (Sm) in healthy, Schistosoma-naïve participants using single-sex controlled human Sm infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that greatly affects children's health, prompting a study in Mwanga district, Tanzania, where mass drug administration has been ongoing for 20 years.
- The study tested 576 school-aged children for schistosomiasis using different diagnostic methods, revealing a notable disparity in prevalence rates—20.3% with the UCP-LF CAA test versus 65.3% with combined POC-CCA and microhaematuria tests.
- Key risk factors identified included younger age (5-10 years), and activities such as fishing, farming, and swimming, indicating ongoing transmission despite improvements from drug interventions.
Infection with Schistosoma haematobium causes urogenital disease associated with organ disfunction, bleeding, pain, and higher susceptibility to infections and cancer. Timely and accurate diagnosis is crucial for prompt and appropriate treatment as well as surveillance efforts, and the use of plasma biomarkers offers important advantages over parasitological examination of urine, including increased sensitivity and the possibility to use the same specimen for multiple investigations. The present study aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance of different plasma biomarkers in endemic populations from Burkina Faso, West Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFT cells are the most common immune cells in atherosclerotic plaques, and the function of T cells can be altered by fatty acids. Here, we show that pre-exposure of CD4 T cells to oleic acid, an abundant fatty acid linked to cardiovascular events, upregulates core metabolic pathways and promotes differentiation into interleukin-9 (IL-9)-producing cells upon activation. RNA sequencing of non-activated T cells reveals that oleic acid upregulates genes encoding key enzymes responsible for cholesterol and fatty acid biosynthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - A new controlled human infection model for schistosomiasis (CHI-S) using female-only Schistosoma mansoni cercariae was developed to improve vaccine research and understand early immune responses.
- - Thirteen healthy participants were exposed to either 10 or 20 female cercariae, resulting in most experiencing rash or mild symptoms, with some showing detectable infection despite receiving praziquantel treatment.
- - The study found that female infections display similar symptoms and immune responses as male infections but show greater resistance to praziquantel, suggesting challenges for future research and disease control efforts.
Marine alkaloid rigidins are cytotoxic compounds known to kill cancer cells at nanomolar concentrations by targeting the microtubule network. Here, a rigidin analogue containing a thioether group was "caged" by coordination of its thioether group to a photosensitive ruthenium complex. In the dark, the coordinated ruthenium fragment prevented the rigidin analogue from inhibiting tubulin polymerization and reduced its toxicity in 2D cancer cell line monolayers, 3D lung cancer tumor spheroids (A549), and a lung cancer tumor xenograft (A549) in nude mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF