Project description:Vaccine research today is focused on using safer, highly purified or recombinant antigens with poor immunogenicity, which has created a need for potent adjuvants. Rational design of effective and safe mucosal adjuvants for human use necessitates a thorough understanding of the mode of action of successful candidate adjuvants. We used microarray to comprehend the molecular signatures of mucosal adjuvants in the mouse vagina. The adjuvants studied, CpG-ODN and α-GalCer have previously been shown to be potent mucosal adjuvants in mice when administrered together with a glycoprotein from HSV-2. Two individual experiments were performed, called ES1 and ES2, each experiment contained 4 groups of mice. All mice were pre-treated with progesteron (DP) before intravaginally recieveing either CpG ODN, alpha-GalCer or their respective buffers, PBS and PBS/Tween. Vaginas were excised at 3 different time-points; 4h, 24h and 48h following adjuvant delivery.
Project description:National screening programs use dried blood specimens to detect abnormal metabolism or aberrant protein function in infants shortly after birth, thus identifying disorders that are not clinically evident in the newborn period. Gut microbiota metabolites and immunological acute phase proteins are capable of revealing potential immune aberrations. Microbial metabolites interact with xenobiotic receptors (i.e., aryl hydrocarbon and pregnane-X) and maintain gastrointestinal tissue health, supported by acute-phase proteins, functioning as sensors of microbial immunomodulation and homeostasis. The delivery mode (vaginal or cesarean section) shapes the microbial colonization, which substantially modulates both the immune system's response and mucosal homeostasis.
This study profiled microbial metabolites of the kynurenine and tryptophan pathway and acute phase proteins in 134 neonatal dried blood specimens. We newly established neonatal blood levels of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor microbial ligands (indole-3-aldehyde, indole-3-butyric acid, and indole-3-acetamide) on the second day of life. Furthermore, we observed divergent microbial metabolic profiles in neonates born vaginally or via cesarean section, hypothesizing potential microbial immunomodulatory influence. In summary, these findings suggest the supportive role of human gut microbiota in developing and maintaining immune system homeostasis.
Project description:The mammalian gastrointestinal tract contains a diverse ecosystem of microbial species collectively making up the gut microbiome. Emerging evidence highlights a critical relationship between gut microbiota and neurocognitive development. Consumption of unhealthy yet palatable dietary factors associated with obesity and metabolic dysfunction (e.g., saturated fat, added sugar) produces microbiota dysbiosis and negatively impacts neurocognitive function, particularly when consumed during early life developmental periods. Here we explore whether excessive early life consumption of added sugars negatively impacts neurocognitive development via the gut microbiome. Using a rodent model of habitual sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption during the adolescent stage of development, we first show that excessive early life sugar intake impairs hippocampal-dependent memory function when tested during adulthood while preserving other neurocognitive domains. Gut microbiome genomic sequencing analyses reveal that early life SSB consumption alters the abundance of various bacterial populations, including elevations in operational taxonomic units within the genus Parabacteroides (P. distasonis and P. johnsonii) whose abundance negatively correlated with memory task performance. Additional results reveal that in vivo Parabacteroides enrichment of cultured P. distasonis and P. johnsonii bacterial species in adolescent rats severely impairs memory function during adulthood. Hippocampus transcriptome analyses identify gene expression alterations in neurotransmitter synaptic signaling, intracellular kinase signaling, metabolic function, neurodegenerative disease, and dopaminergic synaptic signaling-associated pathways as potential mechanisms linking microbiome outcomes with memory impairment. Collectively these results identify microbiota dysbiosis as a mechanism through which early life unhealthy dietary patterns negatively impact neurocognitive outcomes.
Project description:Vaccine research today is focused on using safer, highly purified or recombinant antigens with poor immunogenicity, which has created a need for potent adjuvants. Rational design of effective and safe mucosal adjuvants for human use necessitates a thorough understanding of the mode of action of successful candidate adjuvants. We used microarray to comprehend the molecular signatures of mucosal adjuvants in the mouse vagina. The adjuvants studied, CpG-ODN and α-GalCer have previously been shown to be potent mucosal adjuvants in mice when administrered together with a glycoprotein from HSV-2.
Project description:To better understand how Tritrichomonas arnold colonization impacts the reovirus-mediated proinflammatory response in mesenteric lymph nodes, we examined the transcriptional profile of mesenteric lymph nodes For RNA-sequencing single cell suspension of mesenteric lymph nodes were lysed in RLT buffer (Qiagen) and RNA was isolated
Project description:We discovered that colonization of the gut with the human bile acid 7'-dehydroxylating bacteria Clostridia scindens provided immunity to the parasite E. histolytica in a murine model, increased granulocyte monocyte progenitors, and that adoptive marrow transplant from C. scindens colonized mice into naive mice could recapitualte this protection.
Project description:The trillions of microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract are an underexplored aspect of pharmacology. Despite numerous examples of microbial effects on drug efficacy and toxicity, there is often an incomplete understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Here, we dissect the inactivation of the commonly prescribed cardiac glycoside, digoxin, by Eggerthella lenta. Whole genome transcriptional profiling, comparative genomics, and culture-based assays revealed a cytochrome-encoding operon up-regulated by digoxin, absent in non-metabolizing E. lenta strains, and predictive of the efficiency of digoxin inactivation by the human gut microbiome. Digoxin inactivation was further enhanced by microbial interactions and inhibited by arginine. Pharmacokinetic studies using gnotobiotic mice revealed that increasing dietary protein reduces the in vivo metabolism of digoxin by E. lenta, with significant changes to drug concentration in the urine and serum. These results emphasize the importance of viewing pharmacology from the perspective of both our human and microbial genomes. RNA-Seq analysis of Eggerthella lenta cultured with or without digoxin.
Project description:To better understand how Tritrichomonas arnold colonization impacts the reovirus-mediated proinflammatory response in dietary antigen-presenting dendtric cells (cDC1), we examined the transcriptional profile of mesenteric lymph node-derived cDC1. For RNA-sequencing on CD103+ CD11b- CD8a+ DCs, 1,000 CD103+ CD11b- CD8a+ DCs were FACS sorted into a 96-well plate