Project description:Brugia pahangi is a parasitic nematode that is closely related to B. malayi and Wuchereria bancrofti. B. malayi and W. bancrofti are responsible for lymphatic filariasis, affecting around 120 million people in 73 countries worldwide.This project aims to undertake high-throughput sequencing of Brugia pahangi transcriptome. The objective is to use transcriptomics to support gene finding and to recognize genes expressed in given life stages.
Project description:To observe the global changes in the lymphatic endothelial cells upon exposure to filarial antigens or parasites, LECs were stimulated for 24, 48, and 72hrs and the expression profiles were carried out. Human filarial parasites Brugia malayi and Wuchereria bancrofti habitat the lymphatics and cause lymphatic dilatation and lymphedema. In order to evaluate the effect of various stage specific effects on the lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) and understand how they modulate the lymphatic dysfunction, LECs were stimulated in antigens derived from the Brugia malayi. These are preliminary time course data towards understanding how the filarial antigens induce lymphangiogenesis.
Project description:The filarial nematodes Brugia malayi, Wuchereria bancrofti and Onchocerca volvulus cause elephantiasis, dermatitis and blindness, resulting in severe morbidity in developing countries. 1.3 billion people are at risk of infection. Targeting the essential Wolbachia endobacteria of filarial nematodes with doxycycline has proven to be an effective therapy, resulting in a block in embryogenesis and worm development, and macrofilaricidal effects. However, doxycycline is contraindicated for a large portion of the at-risk population. To identify new targets for anti-wolbachial therapy, understanding the molecular basis of the Wolbachia-filaria symbiosis is required. We performed cross-species hybridization by using the Brugia malayi microarray to identify differentially expressed genes in the rodent filaria Litomosoides sigmodontis after depletion of Wolbachia which therefore might have a role in symbiosis.