Project description:Mouse infection with the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta leads to a less severe DNBS-colitis. Increased Th2 and regulatory cytokine production in the spleen is a hallmark of Hymenolepis diminuta infection, therefore we hypothesized that given this microenvironment, splenic adaptive cells acquire an anti-inflammatory phenotype. We tested the ability of putative splenic regulatory B cells generated by Hymenolepis diminuta infection to down-regulate intestinal inflammation. We found that unlike splenic B cells from uninfected mice, splenic B cells from Hymenolepis diminuta -infected animals ameliorated chemically-induced colitis.
Project description:Mouse infection with the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta leads to a less severe DNBS-colitis. Increased Th2 and regulatory cytokine production in the spleen is a hallmark of Hymenolepis diminuta infection, therefore we hypothesized that given this microenvironment, splenic adaptive cells acquire an anti-inflammatory phenotype. We tested the ability of putative splenic regulatory B cells generated by Hymenolepis diminuta infection to down-regulate intestinal inflammation. We found that unlike splenic B cells from uninfected mice, splenic B cells from Hymenolepis diminuta -infected animals ameliorated chemically-induced colitis. Splenic B cells were magnetically isolated and also purified by cell sorting from 7 days-infected animals and B cells from uninfected animals were used as control.
Project description:Genomic assembly of cestode Hymenolepis diminuta, as part of the 50 Helminth Genomes Initiative sequencing of the parasitic worms that have the greatest impact on human, agricultural and veterinary disease and cause significant global health issues particularly in the developing world, or those used as model organisms.
Project description:Hymenolepis spp. (H. diminuta, H. nana and H. microstoma) are rodent-hosted tapeworms (Platyhelminthes: Cestoda) that have been used as laboratory and teaching models since the 1950s, and consequently much of our understanding of the basic physiology, biochemistry and anatomy of tapeworms in general stems from research using these species. As representatives of the order Cyclophyllidea, they are closely related to species with significant medical and economic importance such as Taenia and Echinococcus spp., but unlike these may be maintained in vivo using only laboratory mice and flour beetles (n.b. Echinoccous spp. are hosted by foxes and Taenia spp. are hosted by pigs or cows). This effort brings a classical laboratory model into the genomic age, allowing researchers in silico access to its genome and expressed gene transcripts and thereby greatly expediting research directed at understanding the genetic basis of tapeworm biology.
Project description:Cestodiases are common parasitic diseases of animals and humans. As cestodes have complex lifecycles, hexacanth larvae, metacestodes (including cysticercoids), and adults produce proteins allowing them to establish invasion and to survive in the hostile environment of the host. Hymenolepis diminuta is the most commonly used model cestode in experimental parasitology. The aims of the present study were to perform a comparative proteomic analysis of two consecutive developmental stages of H. diminuta (cysticercoid and adult) and to distinguish proteins which might be characteristic for each of the stages from those shared by both stages. Somatic proteins of H. diminuta were isolated from 6-week-old cysticercoids and adult tapeworms. Cysticercoids were obtained from experimentally infected beetles, Tenebrio molitor, whereas adult worms were collected from experimentally infected rats. Proteins were separated by GeLC-MS/MS (one dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry). Additionally protein samples were digested in-liquid and identified by LC-MS/MS. The identified proteins were classified according to molecular function, cellular components and biological processes. Our study showed a number of differences and similarities in the protein profiles of cysticercoids and adults; 233 cysticercoid and 182 adult proteins were identified. From these proteins, 131 were present only in the cysticercoid and 80 only in the adult stage samples. Both developmental stages shared 102 proteins; among which six represented immunomodulators and one is a potential drug target. In-liquid digestion and LC-MS/MS complemented and confirmed some of the GeLC-MS/MS identifications. Possible roles and functions of proteins identified with both proteomic approaches are discussed.
Project description:This first comprehensive report from Punjab province of India relates to patho-physiological alterations alongwith morpho-molecular characterisation and risk assessment of natural infections of Hymenolepis diminuta and Hymenolepis nana in 291commensal rodents including house rat, Rattus rattus (n=201) and lesser bandicoot rat, Bandicota bangalensis (n=90). Small intestine of 53.61 and 64.95 % rats was found infected with H. diminuta and H. nana, respectively with a concurrent infection rate of 50.86 %. There was no association between male and female rats and H. diminuta and H. nana infections (ᵡ2 = 0.016 and 0.08, respectively, d.f.= 1, P>0.05), while the host age had significant effect on prevalence of H. diminuta and H. nana (ᵡ2 = 28.12 and 7.18, respectively, d.f.= 1, P≤0.05) infection. Examination of faecal samples and intestinal contents revealed globular shaped eggs of H. diminuta without polar filaments (76.50 ± 3.01μm x 67.62 ± 2.42 μm), while smaller sized oval eggs of H. nana were with 4 - 8 polar filaments (47.87 ± 1.95 μm x 36.12 ± 3.05 μm). Cestode infection caused enteritis, sloughing of intestinal mucosa, necrosis of villi and inflammatory reaction with infiltration of mononuclear cells in the mucosa and submucosa. Morphometric identification of the adult cestodes recovered from the intestinal lumen was confirmed by molecular characterisation based on nuclear ITS-2 loci which showed a single band of 269 bp and 242 bp for H. diminuta and H. nana, respectively. Pairwise alignment of the ITS-2 regions showed 99.46 % similarity with sequences of H. diminuta from USA and 100 % similarity with sequences of H. nana from Slovakia, Kosice.