Transcriptional profiling of the spleen in progressive visceral leishmaniasis reveals mixed expression of type 1 and type 2 cytokine-responsive genes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Syrian golden hamster (Mesocricetus aureus) has been used as a model to study infections caused by a number of human pathogens. Studies of immunopathogenesis in hamster infection models are challenging because of the limited availability of reagents needed to define cellular and molecular determinants.

Results

We sequenced a hamster cDNA library and developed a first-generation custom cDNA microarray that included 5131 unique cDNAs enriched for immune response genes. We used this microarray to interrogate the hamster spleen response to Leishmania donovani, an intracellular protozoan that causes visceral leishmaniasis. The hamster model of visceral leishmaniasis is of particular interest because it recapitulates clinical and immunopathological features of human

SUBMITTER: Espitia CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4253007 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature