Project description:Prior aerosol exposure to F. tularensis subsp. tularensis, but not the live attenuated strain (LVS) of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica or F. novicida, significantly antagonized the transcriptional response in the lungs of infected mice exposed to aerosolized TLR4 ligand E. coli LPS.
Project description:We demonstrated recently that both constitutive and FAS-triggered apoptosis of human neutrophils are profoundly impaired by Francisella tularensis, but how this is achieved is largely unknown. To test the hypothesis that changes in neutrophil gene expression contribute to this phenotype, we used human oligonucleotide microarrays to identify differentially regulated genes in cells infected with F. tularensis strain LVS compared with uninfected controls. In order to examine the effect of F. tularensis on the neutrophil transcriptome, we performed microarray expression analysis on human neutrophils treated with F. tularensis subsp. holarctica live vaccine strain (LVS).
Project description:Secretion of outer membrane vesicles (OMV) presents an important phenomenon in Gram-negative bacteria and they play multiple roles in their lifestyle including virulence and host-pathogen interaction. Francisella tularensis secretes unusually shaped tubular OMV filled with immunoreactive material and virulence factors. Mice were immunized with OMV isolated from Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica, fully virulent strain FSC200. Their sera were then used for detection of immunoreactive proteins.