Immunomodulation by subclinical persistent infection with Helicobacter hepaticus

Recognition of polymicrobial infections is becoming important for understanding differential host responses to environmental exposures, vaccines, as well as therapeutics. Citrobacter rodentium is a well-characterized model of infectious colitis with particular usefulness for modeling human diarrheal disease or inflammatory bowel disease. Infection with Helicobacter hepaticus is subclinical and persistent in C57BL/6 mice, but causes disease in susceptible strains and immunodeficient mice. To test the hypothesis that subclinical persistent infection modulates the host response to diarrheal disease a polymicrobial mouse model utilizing H. hepaticus and C. rodentium was developed and characterized. Concurrent infection has been shown to modulate disease outcome through several mechanisms including: cross-reactivity between viral antigens; shifting T cell response from Th1 to Th2 by helminth infection; and induction of regulatory T cells that suppress host response. In this new model of polymicrobial infection, a new paradigm in which persistent infection prolonged the course of acute colitis associated with a deviation from Thl-biased disease to Th17 was observed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Biological Engineering Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• McBee, Megan Earley

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Schauer.

• Biological Engineering Division.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/39916
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/39916

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39916