chronic infection
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyAn Important Role for CD4+ T Cells in Adaptive Immunity to Toxoplasma gondii in Mice Lacking the Transcription Factor Batf3Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread parasite of animals that causes zoonotic infections in humans. Although healthy individuals generally control the infection with only moderate symptoms, it causes serious illness in newborns and those with compromised immune systems such as HIV-infected AIDS patients. Because rodents are natural hosts for...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologySuccinylated Wheat Germ Agglutinin Colocalizes with the Toxoplasma gondii Cyst Wall Glycoprotein CST1Chronic Toxoplasma gondii infection is maintained in the central nervous system by thick-walled cysts. If host immunity wanes, cysts recrudesce and cause severe and often lethal toxoplasmic encephalitis. Currently, there are no therapies to eliminate cysts, and little biological information is available regarding cyst structure(s). Here, we investigated cyst wall...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyToxoplasma gondii Parasitophorous Vacuole Membrane-Associated Dense Granule Proteins Regulate Maturation of the Cyst WallToxoplasma gondii establishes chronic infection in humans by forming thick-walled cysts that persist in the brain. Once host immunity wanes, cysts reactivate to cause severe, and often lethal, toxoplasmic encephalitis. There is no available therapy to eliminate cysts or to prevent their reactivation. Furthermore, how the cyst membrane and cyst wall structures develop...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyToxoplasma gondii Intravacuolar-Network-Associated Dense Granule Proteins Regulate Maturation of the Cyst Matrix and Cyst WallToxoplasma gondii establishes chronic infection in humans by forming thick-walled cysts that persist in the brain. If host immunity wanes, cysts reactivate to cause severe, and often lethal, toxoplasmic encephalitis. There is no available therapy to eliminate cysts or to prevent their reactivation. Moreover, how the vital and characteristic cyst matrix and cyst wall...
Research Article | Therapeutics and PreventionVitamin E Increases Antimicrobial Sensitivity by Inhibiting Bacterial Lipocalin Antibiotic BindingBacteria exposed to stress mediated by sublethal antibiotic concentrations respond by adaptive mechanisms leading to an overall increase of antibiotic resistance. One of these mechanisms involves the release of bacterial proteins called lipocalins, which have the ability to sequester antibiotics in the extracellular space before they reach bacterial cells. We speculated that interfering with lipocalin-mediated antibiotic binding could...
Research Article | Therapeutics and PreventionA High-Throughput Screening Approach To Repurpose FDA-Approved Drugs for Bactericidal Applications against Staphylococcus aureus Small-Colony VariantsConventional antibiotics fail to successfully treat chronic osteomyelitis, endocarditis, and device-related and airway infections. These recurring infections are associated with the emergence of SCV, which are recalcitrant to conventional antibiotics. Studies have investigated antibiotic therapies to treat SCV-related infections but have had little success, emphasizing the need to identify novel antimicrobial drugs. However, drug...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyImpact of Engineered Expression of Mitochondrial Association Factor 1b on Toxoplasma gondii Infection and the Host Response in a Mouse ModelThe parasite Toxoplasma gondii currently infects approximately one-third of the world’s population and causes life-threatening toxoplasmosis in individuals with undeveloped or weakened immune systems. Current treatments are unable to cure T. gondii infection, leaving infected individuals with slow-...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyHuman Norovirus Evolution in a Chronically Infected HostThe norovirus genogroup II genotype 4 (GII.4) variants have approximately 5% divergence in capsid amino acid identity and have dominated over the past decade. The precise reason(s) for the GII.4 emergence and persistence in the human population is still unknown, but some studies have suggested that chronically infected patients might generate novel variants that can cause new epidemics. We examined GII.4 noroviruses isolated from an...