Alvarez Rojas Cristian A, Scheerlinck Jean-Pierre, Ansell Brendan R E, Hall Ross S, Gasser Robin B, Jex Aaron R
Centre for Animal Biotechnology, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
PLoS One. 2016 Jul 20;11(7):e0159194. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159194. eCollection 2016.
Fasciola hepatica is a parasitic trematode that infects a wide range of mammalian hosts, including livestock and humans, in temperate and tropical regions globally. This trematode causes the disease fascioliasis, which consists of an acute phase (≤ 12 weeks) during which juvenile parasites migrate through the host liver tissues, and a chronic phase (> 12 weeks) following the establishment of adult parasites in the liver bile ducts. Few studies have explored the progression of the host response over the course of Fasciola infection in the same animals. In this study, we characterized transcriptomic changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected from sheep at three time points over the first eight weeks of infection relative to uninfected controls. In total, 183 and 76 genes were found to be differentially transcribed at two and eight weeks post-infection respectively. Functional and pathway analysis of differentially transcribed genes revealed changes related to T-cell activation that may underpin a Th2-biased immune response against this parasite. This first insight into the dynamics of host responses during the early stages of infection improves the understanding of the pathogenesis of acute fascioliasis, informs vaccine development and presents a set of PBMC markers with diagnostic potential.
肝片吸虫是一种寄生性吸虫，在全球温带和热带地区感染包括家畜和人类在内的多种哺乳动物宿主。这种吸虫会引发肝片吸虫病，该病包括急性期（≤12周），在此期间幼虫寄生虫在宿主肝脏组织中迁移，以及成虫寄生虫在肝脏胆管中定植后的慢性期（>12周）。很少有研究探讨同一动物在肝片吸虫感染过程中宿主反应的进展情况。在本研究中，我们对感染后前八周内三个时间点从绵羊采集的外周血单核细胞（PBMC）相对于未感染对照的转录组变化进行了表征。总共发现分别在感染后两周和八周时有183个和76个基因发生差异转录。对差异转录基因的功能和通路分析揭示了与T细胞活化相关的变化，这些变化可能是针对这种寄生虫的以Th2为主的免疫反应的基础。对感染早期宿主反应动态的这一初步了解增进了对急性肝片吸虫病发病机制的理解，为疫苗开发提供了信息，并提出了一组具有诊断潜力的PBMC标志物。
