Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis is one of the most debilitating tropical diseases with the potential to cause morbidity and mortality in infected populations unless well controlled. Current control measures are limited to treatment with praziquantel. A rather alarming situation given i) the inability of the drug to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
Other Authors: Brombacher, Frank
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Pathology 2018
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613340541386752
access_status_str Open Access
author Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
author2 Brombacher, Frank
author_browse Brombacher, Frank
Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
author_facet Brombacher, Frank
Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
author_sort Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
collection Thesis
description Schistosomiasis is one of the most debilitating tropical diseases with the potential to cause morbidity and mortality in infected populations unless well controlled. Current control measures are limited to treatment with praziquantel. A rather alarming situation given i) the inability of the drug to directly target the pathogenic eggs, ii) the emergence of praziquantel-resistant schistosomes, iii) the persistence of tissue fibro-proliferative destruction caused by the trapped parasite eggs, even after treatment. Intestinal and liver immunopathology are pathognomonic of schistosomiasis and generally result from the host inadequate Th2 and or Th17 responses to the egg-derived antigens. Failure to control these immune responses causes the most of the detriment to the infected host, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms which might help prevent excessive immune responsiveness and the ensuing immunopathology. A Basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like 2 (BATF2) which belongs to a family of transcription factors critical in the control of inflammatory responses has gained enormous momentum recently as a potential target to immune deregulation during cancer and infectious diseases. We reasoned that an eventual BATF2 influence on the host immune response during schistosomiasis might unveil its anti-disease potency and greatly facilitate the quest for a novel control strategy against the immunopathology during schistosomiasis. Addressing this in our present study, BATF2-deficient mice were used and characterized for immunological and physiological parameters during steady state and Schistosomiasis. Although the liver showed a reduced pro-fibrotic response, there was a notable increase of several pro-fibrotic cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-ƴ, TGF-β and IL-13) Which further translated into an elevated level of granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis in the gut of S. mansoni infected BATF-2-deficient mice when compared to the liver tissues of BATF2-deficient mice and both livers and intestines of infected littermate controls indicating that BATF2 appears to have a tissue-specific role on the regulation of fibrogranulomatous inflammation during schistosomiasis. Therefore, BATF2 has a critical, and hitherto unappreciated, role in mediating the regulation of gut fibrogranulomatous response so as to promote host survival during schistosomiasis.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26898
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:33.896Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2018
publishDateRange 2018
publishDateSort 2018
publisher Department of Pathology
publisherStr Department of Pathology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/26898 The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor Brombacher, Frank Nono, Justin Komguep Clinical Science Immunology Schistosomiasis is one of the most debilitating tropical diseases with the potential to cause morbidity and mortality in infected populations unless well controlled. Current control measures are limited to treatment with praziquantel. A rather alarming situation given i) the inability of the drug to directly target the pathogenic eggs, ii) the emergence of praziquantel-resistant schistosomes, iii) the persistence of tissue fibro-proliferative destruction caused by the trapped parasite eggs, even after treatment. Intestinal and liver immunopathology are pathognomonic of schistosomiasis and generally result from the host inadequate Th2 and or Th17 responses to the egg-derived antigens. Failure to control these immune responses causes the most of the detriment to the infected host, highlighting the need for a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms which might help prevent excessive immune responsiveness and the ensuing immunopathology. A Basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like 2 (BATF2) which belongs to a family of transcription factors critical in the control of inflammatory responses has gained enormous momentum recently as a potential target to immune deregulation during cancer and infectious diseases. We reasoned that an eventual BATF2 influence on the host immune response during schistosomiasis might unveil its anti-disease potency and greatly facilitate the quest for a novel control strategy against the immunopathology during schistosomiasis. Addressing this in our present study, BATF2-deficient mice were used and characterized for immunological and physiological parameters during steady state and Schistosomiasis. Although the liver showed a reduced pro-fibrotic response, there was a notable increase of several pro-fibrotic cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-ƴ, TGF-β and IL-13) Which further translated into an elevated level of granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis in the gut of S. mansoni infected BATF-2-deficient mice when compared to the liver tissues of BATF2-deficient mice and both livers and intestines of infected littermate controls indicating that BATF2 appears to have a tissue-specific role on the regulation of fibrogranulomatous inflammation during schistosomiasis. Therefore, BATF2 has a critical, and hitherto unappreciated, role in mediating the regulation of gut fibrogranulomatous response so as to promote host survival during schistosomiasis. 2018-01-23T12:03:42Z 2018-01-23T12:03:42Z 2017 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Med) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26898 eng application/pdf Department of Pathology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Clinical Science
Immunology
Mpotje, Thabo Rantanta Victor
The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
title_full The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
title_fullStr The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
title_full_unstemmed The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
title_short The role of BATF2 during of experimental murine Schistosomiasis
title_sort role of batf2 during of experimental murine schistosomiasis
topic Clinical Science
Immunology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26898
work_keys_str_mv AT mpotjethaborantantavictor theroleofbatf2duringofexperimentalmurineschistosomiasis
AT mpotjethaborantantavictor roleofbatf2duringofexperimentalmurineschistosomiasis