Infectious Disease
Abstract
Immunology and molecular biology of bacterial, viral and parasitic disease threats to military operations. These threats include Bartonella bacilliformis, Clostridium difficile, Escherichia coli and their Shiga toxins, Henipaviruses (Hendra & Nipah), Cedar Virus, Hepatitis A, Helicobacter pylori, HIV, HTLV-1, Leishmaniasis, Litomosoides sigmodontis, Malaria, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Shigella spp., Streptococcus, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). FY19 Accomplishments: The overall goal of this project is to develop a prototype histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) called sulforaphane (SFN) as an epigenetic, adjunctive therapy for treatment of gonorrhea. We have completed the first aim to Identify SFN-induced effectors with activity against N. gonorrhoeae (Ng) by mass spectrometry, PCR-based arrays and mechanistic studies. A manuscript will be published soon. --We have solved the first quest of the proposed research, namely whether the seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 type A and a type B influenza virus (B/Lee strain) can infect a murine lung. Of note, though our humanized DRAGA mouse proposed to be established as an influenza mouse model for human influenza viruses lacks the murine immune system and it has a fully-functional human immune system, its lungs remain 95% of murine origin (5% represented by expression of CD36 human epithelial lung cells). It was thus essential to carry out preliminary experiments to determine whether the murine lung (in our case, BALB/c mouse) can be infected with the seasonal influenza viruses mentioned above. Together, the BALB/c experiments demonstrate that (i) the murine lung ( and thus expectedly the lungs of DRAGA mouse) can be infected with all the type A and B influenza viruses tested in the lab; (ii) a primary, non-lethal infection with H3N2 seasonal viruses can fully protect against a secondary infection with a highly infectious H1N1 virus.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2021
- Source ID
- ca7b09f31d1d45241de87a06430d410f