Szczotko Magdalena, Antunes Sandra, Domingos Ana, Dmitryjuk Małgorzata
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Oczapowskiego 1A, Olsztyn, 10-719, Poland.
Global Health and Tropical Medicine (GHTM), Associate Laboratory in Translation and Innovation Towards Global Health (LA-REAL), Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL), Rua da Junqueira 100, Lisbon, 1349-008, Portugal.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 22;15(1):2869. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87506-6.
Multicellular animals need to control the spread of invading pathogens. This is a particular challenge for blood-feeding vectors such as ticks, which ingest large amounts of blood potentially laden with harmful microorganisms. Ticks have a basic innate immune system and protect themselves from infection through innate immune responses involving pathways such as Janus kinase (JAK) or the signalling transducer activator of transcription (STAT). Direct antimicrobial defence occurs through the rapid synthesis of numerous antimicrobial agents including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The tick Ixodes ricinus is one of the main vectors of the Lyme disease pathogen, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Data suggest that the JAK/STAT signalling pathway controls the expression of AMPs and regulates the infection of the pathogen in the tick body. The innate immune system during the off-host period keeps the level of spirochete infection in check. Spirochetes may influence the innate immune response in ticks. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the expression of the genes related to the JAK/STAT pathway and selected AMPs in questing ticks in which B. burgorferi s.l. was detected. In the ticks infected with spirochetes, overexpression of genes related to the JAK/STAT signalling pathway was observed in the case of STAM and SOCS genes. AMPs genes such as def1, ric, lzs were overexpressed with different expression patterns. The results obtained suggest that AMPs may be involved in infection management in ticks.
多细胞动物需要控制入侵病原体的传播。对于蜱虫等吸血媒介来说，这是一项特殊挑战，因为蜱虫会摄取大量可能携带有害微生物的血液。蜱虫拥有基本的先天免疫系统，并通过涉及诸如 Janus 激酶（JAK）或信号转导子和转录激活子（STAT）等途径的先天免疫反应来保护自己免受感染。直接的抗菌防御通过快速合成多种抗菌剂来实现，包括抗菌肽（AMPs）。蓖麻硬蜱是莱姆病病原体——伯氏疏螺旋体狭义种的主要传播媒介之一。数据表明，JAK/STAT 信号通路控制抗菌肽的表达，并调节病原体在蜱虫体内的感染。在非寄生期，先天免疫系统会控制螺旋体感染的水平。螺旋体可能会影响蜱虫的先天免疫反应。因此，本研究的目的是分析在检测到伯氏疏螺旋体狭义种的觅食蜱中，与 JAK/STAT 通路相关的基因以及选定的抗菌肽的表达情况。在感染螺旋体的蜱虫中，观察到 STAM 和 SOCS 等与 JAK/STAT 信号通路相关的基因出现过表达。抗菌肽基因如 def1、ric、lzs 以不同的表达模式出现过表达。所获得的结果表明，抗菌肽可能参与蜱虫的感染管理。
