Tick feeding modulates the human skin immune landscape to facilitate tick-borne pathogen transmission.

ABSTRACT: During cutaneous tick attachment, the feeding cavity becomes a site of transmission for tick salivary compounds and tick-borne pathogens. However, the immunological consequences of tick feeding for human skin remain unclear. Here, we assessed human skin and blood samples upon tick bite and developed a human skin explant model mimicking Ixodes ricinus bites and tick-borne pathogen infection. Following tick attachment, we observed rapidly occurring patterns of immunomodulation, including increases in neutrophils and cutaneous B and T cells. T cells upregulated tissue residency markers, while lymphocytic cytokine production was impaired. In early stages of Borrelia burgdorferi model infections, we detected strain-specific immune responses and close spatial relationships between macrophages an

SUBMITTER: Strobl J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9621130 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature