Papers by Meagan Rippee-Brooks
Vaccines, 2021
The saliva of hematophagous arthropods contains a group of active proteins to counteract host res... more The saliva of hematophagous arthropods contains a group of active proteins to counteract host responses against injury and to facilitate the success of a bloodmeal. These salivary proteins have significant impacts on modulating pathogen transmission, immunogenicity expression, the establishment of infection, and even disease severity. Recent studies have shown that several salivary proteins are immunogenic and antibodies against them may block infection, thereby suggesting potential vaccine candidates. Here, we discuss the most relevant salivary proteins currently studied for their therapeutic potential as vaccine candidates or to control the transmission of human vector-borne pathogens and immune responses against different arthropod salivary proteins.
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2021
The Asian “tiger mosquito” Aedes albopictus is currently the most widely distributed disease-tran... more The Asian “tiger mosquito” Aedes albopictus is currently the most widely distributed disease-transmitting mosquito in the world. Its geographical expansion has also allowed the expansion of multiple arboviruses like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, to higher latitudes. Due to the enormous risk to global public health caused by mosquitoes species vectors of human disease, and the challenges in slowing their expansion, it is necessary to develop new and environmentally friendly vector control strategies. Among these, host-associated microbiome-based strategies have emerged as promising options. In this study, we performed an RNA-seq analysis on dissected abdomens of Ae. albopictus females from Manhattan, KS, United States fed with sugar and human blood containing either normal or heat-inactivated serum, to evaluate the effect of heat inactivation on gene expression, the bacteriome transcripts and the RNA virome of this mosquito species. Our results showed at least 600 genes with modifie...
Bacterial co-infections with influenza A virus (IAV) are extremely serious and life-threatening. ... more Bacterial co-infections with influenza A virus (IAV) are extremely serious and life-threatening. However, there exists limited understanding about the importance of fungal infections with IAV. Clinical case reports indicate that fungal co-infections do occur and suggest the IAV pandemic of 2009 had a propensity to predispose patients to secondary fungal infections more than previous IAV strains. IAV-fungal co-infections are marked by high mortality rates of 47 to 61% in previously healthy individuals between the ages of 20 and 60. Yet, the variables involved in this co-infection remain undetermined. I achieved effective recapitulation of this co-infection using a C57Bl/6 murine (mouse) model which resulted in similar morbidity and mortality rates seen in humans. Here, I proposed that an exacerbated immune response during infection with IAV and the opportunistic saprophytic ubiquitous fungal pathogen, Aspergillus fumigatus, induces the development of more severe pneumonia. I explored the possible mechanisms regulating inflammation at the cellular level. To do this, a cellular model was designed using primary mouse bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs) infected first with IAV and later coinfected with A. fumigatus. Our in vitro data indicated that IAV and fungal co-infections synergistically enhanced immune cell signaling and pro-inflammatory cytokine production through the caspase-1 containing inflammasome. Through various immunological techniques, I established that, during co-infection, AIM2 mediated maturation of caspase-1 facilitates the observed increase in production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Interestingly, enhanced caspase-1 maturation is not due to increased NLRP3 inflammasome priming. NLRP3 expression actually diminishes over the course of infection, which could be explained through increased proteasomal degradation of NLRP3 through dysregulated DAPK1 signaling.
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Papers by Meagan Rippee-Brooks