Project description:The mucosa that lines the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts is an important portal of entry for pathogens and provides the frontline of immune defense against HIV infection. Epithelial barrier dysfunction during HIV infection has largely been attributed to the rapid and severe depletion of CD4 T cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, the poential role of small non-coding microRNA (miRNA) to contribute to epithelial dysfunction was investigated in the non-human primate SIV model and microarrays were utilized to determine changes in mucosal gene expression (non-miRNA) that could be correlated to miRNA modulatiolns. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the jejunal mucosa that occur during chronic SIV infection Jejunum tissues from healthy uninfected macaques and macaques with chronic stage SIV infection were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:The mucosa that lines the gastrointestinal (GI) tracts is an important portal of entry for pathogens and provides the frontline of immune defense against HIV infection. Epithelial barrier dysfunction during HIV infection has largely been attributed to the rapid and severe depletion of CD4 T cells in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. In this study, the poential role of small non-coding microRNA (miRNA) to contribute to epithelial dysfunction was investigated in the non-human primate SIV model and microarrays were utilized to determine changes in mucosal gene expression (non-miRNA) that could be correlated to miRNA modulatiolns. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the jejunal mucosa that occur during chronic SIV infection
Project description:Aging is associated with declining immunity and inflammation as well as alterations in the gut microbiome with a decrease of beneficial microbes and increase in pathogenic ones. The aim of this study was to investigate aging associated gut microbiome in relation to immunologic and metabolic profile in a non-human primate (NHP) model. 12 old (age>18 years) and 4 young (age 3-6 years) Rhesus macaques were included in this study. Immune cell subsets were characterized in PBMC by flow cytometry and plasma cytokines levels were determined by bead based multiplex cytokine analysis. Stool samples were collected by ileal loop and investigated for microbiome analysis by shotgun metagenomics. Serum, gut microbial lysate and microbe-free fecal extract were subjected to metabolomic analysis by mass-spectrometry. Our results showed that the old animals exhibited higher inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and lower CD4 T cells with altered distribution of naïve and memory T cell maturation subsets. The gut microbiome in old animals had higher abundance of Archaeal and Proteobacterial species and lower Firmicutes than the young. Significant enrichment of metabolites that contribute to inflammatory and cytotoxic pathways was observed in serum and feces of old animals compared to the young. We conclude that aging NHP undergo immunosenescence and age associated alterations in the gut microbiome that has a distinct metabolic profile.
Project description:A majority of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have inadequate access to antiretroviral therapy and ultimately develop debilitating oral infections that often correlate with disease progression. Our study evaluates the potential of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected rhesus macaques to serve as a non-human primate model for oral manifestations of HIV disease. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the tongue mucosa that occur during chronic SIV infection. Dorsal tongue tissues from healthy uninfected macaques and macaques with chronic stage SIV infection were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:A majority of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have inadequate access to antiretroviral therapy and ultimately develop debilitating oral infections that often correlate with disease progression. Our study evaluates the potential of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected rhesus macaques to serve as a non-human primate model for oral manifestations of HIV disease. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the tongue mucosa that occur during chronic SIV infection.
Project description:Aging of population is a great challenge of healthcare. In china, the number of the elderly is rapidly growing, and it was estimated that there will be approximately 400 million citizens above 65 years old in 2050.Study on the changes of brain during aging may help elucidate the mechanism of the pathological process, and hence prevent or treat these neurological diseases.Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and human have a genetic homology of 95%, and their anatomy structures or physiological process are highly similar, which make rhesus macaque one of the most important nonhuman primate models.Thus, the comparison between the change of protein profile during aging in human and rhesus macaque is still necessary, and the characteristics of proteins that are conservative or divergent are of interest.The aim of the(our) study is to identify the conservative changes of pathways during aging, and to reveal the potential difference between human and rhesus macaque so that relevant studies based on primate models can be interpreted more accurately.
Project description:A majority of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have inadequate access to antiretroviral therapy and ultimately develop debilitating oral infections that often correlate with disease progression. Our study evaluates the potential of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected rhesus macaques to serve as a non-human primate model for oral manifestations of HIV disease. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the dorsal tongue epithelium that occur during chronic SIV infection.
Project description:A majority of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have inadequate access to antiretroviral therapy and ultimately develop debilitating oral infections that often correlate with disease progression. Our study evaluates the potential of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infected rhesus macaques to serve as a non-human primate model for oral manifestations of HIV disease. Microarrays were used to characterize changes in gene expression in the dorsal tongue epithelium that occur during chronic SIV infection. Epithelial cells were laser microdissected from dorsal tongue tissue sections from healthy uninfected macaques and macaques with chronic stage SIV infection and used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:Non-human primate (NHP)-based model systems are highly relevant for biomedical research. However, only few NHP cell lines are available and the generation of additional cell lines is an urgent need to help in the refinement and replacement of these models. Using lentiviral transduction of c-Fos, we established cell lines from the brain of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Transcriptome analysis revealed that these cell lines are closely related to astrocytes, which was confirmed by Western blot detecting expression of the astrocyte marker glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) demonstrated that major pathways of the interferon (IFN) system are intact. Using retroviral pseudotypes we found that the cell lines are susceptible to entry driven by the glycoproteins of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and to a lesser extent influenza A virus (IAV). Finally, these cells supported growth of Zika virus (ZIKV) and Papiine alphaherpesvirus 2 (PaHV2). In summary, we developed IFN-responsive cell lines from the rhesus macaque brain that allowed entry driven by several viral glycoproteins and were permissive to infection with ZIKV and a primate simplexvirus. These cell lines will be useful for efforts to analyze neurotropic viral infections in rhesus macaque models.