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Invasive Pathogens (invasive + pathogen)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%
Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Lamina propria dendritic cells: For whom the bell TOLLs?

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 6 2008
Maria Rescigno PhD.
Abstract One of the major tasks of the mucosal immune system is to discriminate between dangerous and harmless antigens that are encountered daily at mucosal sites. In the gastrointestinal tract, immune cells have to tolerate food antigens and commensal microbes but at the same time have to induce a prompt response against invasive pathogens, when needed. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, it is shown that intestinal dendritic cell (DC) populations can be distinguished based on the expression level of Toll-like receptors (TLR) and on the response of these TLR to their microbial ligands. DC either do not express TLR or they express them but respond in a non-inflammatory mode. In this commentary, these findings are discussed in the context of available knowledge on lamina propria DC. See accompanying article http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eji.200737909 [source]

Ribosomal DNA sequence analysis of mucosa-associated bacteria in Crohn's disease

INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES, Issue 6 2004
Tom Prindiville MD
Abstract Background: Enteric bacteria are implicated in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD); however, no specific causative organisms have been identified. Aims: This study was undertaken to correlate disease activity with changes in intestinal biota in patients with CD. Subjects: Ribosomal DNA analysis was used to explore the composition of the intestinal biota in patients with (1) CD undergoing colonoscopy, (2) CD undergoing surgical resection, and (3) no inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: Primers targeting bacterial 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were used to amplify bacterial DNA associated with active CD lesions, comparable normal tissue from patients with CD, and normal control tissue. Each amplicon was cloned. Seven hundred thirty-nine rDNA clones were sequenced from 16 biopsies from CD patients, 15 surgical samples, and 10 biopsies from normal control patients. Results: Known extracellular or intracellular pathogens were not found. No rDNA sequence, phylogenetic group, or subgroup was consistently associated with CD lesions compared with normal tissues from the same patients. Colonic biopsies from CD-afflicted patients compared with biopsies from normal control subjects had an increase in facultative bacteria; in small bowel, CD patients had an increase in the Ruminococcus gnavus subgroup with a decrease in the Clostridium leptum and Prevotella nigrescens subgroups. However, differences in small bowel may have reflected individual variation rather than disease association. Surgical samples showed differences when compared with biopsy-derived samples. Conclusions: These findings suggest that CD is not caused by invasive pathogens associated specifically with the sites of lesions but that dysbiosis exists in this condition. [source]

Leptospira: a spirochaete with a hybrid outer membrane

MOLECULAR MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
David A. Haake
Summary Leptospira is a genus of spirochaetes that includes organisms with a variety of lifestyles ranging from aquatic saprophytes to invasive pathogens. Adaptation to a wide variety of environmental conditions has required leptospires to acquire a large genome and a complex outer membrane with features that are unique among bacteria. The most abundant surface-exposed outer membrane proteins are lipoproteins that are integrated into the lipid bilayer by amino-terminal fatty acids. In contrast to many spirochaetes, the leptospiral outer membrane also includes lipopolysaccharide and many homologues of well-known beta-barrel transmembrane outer membrane proteins. Research on leptospiral transmembrane outer membrane proteins has lagged behind studies of lipoproteins because of their aberrant behaviour by Triton X-114 detergent fractionation. For this reason, transmembrane outer membrane proteins are best characterized by assessing membrane integration and surface exposure. Not surprisingly, some outer membrane proteins that mediate host,pathogen interactions are strongly regulated by conditions found in mammalian host tissues. For example, the leptospiral immunoglobulin-like (Lig) repeat proteins are dramatically induced by osmolarity and mediate interactions with host extracellular matrix proteins. Development of molecular genetic tools are making it possible to finally understand the roles of these and other outer membrane proteins in mechanisms of leptospiral pathogenesis. [source]

Proteomic strategies to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms of spirochetes

PROTEOMICS - CLINICAL APPLICATIONS, Issue 9 2007
Jarlath E. Nally Dr.
Abstract Spirochetes are a unique group of bacteria that include several motile and highly invasive pathogens that cause a multitude of acute and chronic disease processes. Nine genomes of spirochetes have been completed, which provide significant insights into pathogenic mechanisms of disease and reflect an often complex lifestyle associated with a wide range of environmental and host factors encountered during disease transmission and infection. Characterization of the outer membrane of spirochetes is of particular interest since it interacts directly with the host and environs during disease and likely contains candidate vaccinogens and diagnostics. In concert with appropriate fractionation techniques, the tools of proteomics have rapidly evolved to characterize the proteome of spirochetes. Of greater significance, studies have confirmed the differential expression of many proteins, including those of the outer membrane, in response to environmental signals encountered during disease transmission and infection. Characterization of the proteome in response to such signals provides novel insights to understand pathogenic mechanisms of spirochetes. [source]