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- Engström, Patrik, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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A comparative study of RNA and DNA as internal gene expression controls early in the developmental cycle of Chlamydia pneumoniae
- 2010
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Ingår i: FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology. - 0928-8244 .- 1574-695X. ; 58:2, s. 244-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many microbial pathogens invade and proliferate within host cells and the molecular mechanism underlying this behavior is currently being revealed for several bacterial species. Testing clinically relevant antibacterial compounds and elucidating their effects on gene expression requires adequate controls, especially when studying genetically intractable organisms such as Chlamydia spp., for which various gene fusions cannot be constructed. Until now, relative mRNA levels in Chlamydia have been measured using different internal gene expression controls, including 16S rRNA, mRNAs, and DNA. Here, we compared the advantages and disadvantages of various internal expression controls during the early phase of Chlamydia pneumoniae development. The relative abundance of target mRNAs varied using the different internal control RNAs. This was partly due to variation in the transcript stability of the RNA species. Also, seven out of nine of the analyzed RNAs increased fivefold or more between 2 and 14 h postinfection, while the amount of DNA and number of cells remained essentially unaltered. Our results suggest that RNA should not be used as a gene expression control during the early phase of Chlamydia development, and that intrinsic bacterial DNA is preferable for that purpose because it is stable, abundant, and its relative amount is generally correlated with bacterial numbers.
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| 5. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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A novel and simple method for laboratory diagnosis of relapsing Fever borreliosis.
- 2008
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Ingår i: The Open Microbiology Journal. - : Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.. - 1874-2858. ; 2, s. 10-2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Relapsing fever caused by Borrelia bacteria is often obscured by malaria and incorrectly treated. Here a novel method for diagnosis is presented. The method is cheap, simple and requires minimal laboratory material. Despite its simplicity, the method shows surprisingly high sensitivity, detecting concentrations less than 10 bacteria/ml blood.
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| 6. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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A novel animal model of Borrelia recurrentis louse-borne relapsing fever borreliosis using immunodeficient mice
- 2009
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Ingår i: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. - : PLoS, Public Library of Science. - 1935-2727 .- 1935-2735. ; 3:9, s. e522-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) borreliosis is caused by Borrelia recurrentis, and it is a deadly although treatable disease that is endemic in the Horn of Africa but has epidemic potential. Research on LBRF has been severely hampered because successful infection with B. recurrentis has been achieved only in primates (i.e., not in other laboratory or domestic animals). Here, we present the first non-primate animal model of LBRF, using SCID (-B, -T cells) and SCID BEIGE (-B, -T, -NK cells) immunocompromised mice. These animals were infected with B. recurrentis A11 or A17, or with B. duttonii 1120K3 as controls. B. recurrentis caused a relatively mild but persistent infection in SCID and SCID BEIGE mice, but did not proliferate in NUDE (-T) and BALB/c (wild-type) mice. B. duttonii was infectious but not lethal in all animals. These findings demonstrate that the immune response can limit relapsing fever even in the absence of humoral defense mechanisms. To study the significance of phagocytic cells in this context, we induced systemic depletion of such cells in the experimental mice by injecting them with clodronate liposomes, which resulted in uncontrolled B. duttonii growth and a one-hundred-fold increase in B. recurrentis titers in blood. This observation highlights the role of macrophages and other phagocytes in controlling relapsing fever infection. B. recurrentis evolved from B. duttonii to become a primate-specific pathogen that has lost the ability to infect immunocompetent rodents, probably through genetic degeneration. Here, we describe a novel animal model of B. recurrentis based on B- and T-cell-deficient mice, which we believe will be very valuable in future research on LBRF. Our study also reveals the importance of B-cells and phagocytes in controlling relapsing fever infection.
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| 7. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Complications of pregnancy and transplacental transmission of relapsing-fever borreliosis
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Infectious Diseases. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0022-1899 .- 1537-6613. ; 194:10, s. 1367-1374
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Relapsing-fever borreliosis caused by Borrelia duttonii is a common cause of complications of pregnancy, miscarriage, and neonatal death in sub-Saharan Africa. We established a murine model of gestational relapsing fever infection for the study of the pathological development of these complications. We demonstrate that B. duttonii infection during pregnancy results in intrauterine growth retardation, as well as placental damage and inflammation, impaired fetal circulation, and decreased maternal hemoglobin levels. We show that spirochetes frequently cross the maternal-fetal barrier, resulting in congenital infection. Furthermore, we compared the severity of infection in pregnant and nonpregnant mice and show that pregnancy has a protective effect. This model closely parallels the consequences of human gestational infection, and our results provide insight into the mechanisms behind the complications of pregnancy that have been reported in human relapsing-fever infection.
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| 8. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Current issues in relapsing fever
- 2009
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Ingår i: Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. - : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - 0951-7375 .- 1473-6527. ; 22:5, s. 443-449
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Relapsing fever has the highest incidence of any bacterial disease in Africa and a massive epidemic potential due to current political turmoil in the Horn of Africa. This review focuses on recent advances in diagnostics, molecular biology and host-pathogen interactions. RECENT FINDINGS: Complete relapsing fever genomes have recently been published, and the first site-specific genetic knockout complementation has been performed. Relapsing fever has gone from being a neglected disease to garnering interest in aspects such as tissue invasion, membrane biochemistry and complement evasion. Relapsing fever symptoms are variable, and the disease is commonly misdiagnosed as, for example, malaria. Although relapsing fever is considered a transient disease, it persists as a residual infection in the brain, which can be reactivated on immunosuppression. Therefore, single-dose antibiotic treatment should be avoided. Instead, treatment should cover a longer period, similar to the recommended regime for Lyme disease. Relapsing fever is a common cause of pregnancy complications such as intrauterine growth retardation and placental damage with spirochaetes crossing the maternal-foetal barrier, resulting in congenital infection. SUMMARY: Although relapsing fever remains a big problem, recently described host-pathogen interactions, diagnostics and molecular biology advances such as completed genome sequences and the dawn of genetic tools have brought relapsing fever research into the 21st century.
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| 9. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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First Record of Lyme Disease Borrelia in the Arctic
- 2007
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Ingår i: Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. - : Mary Ann Liebert Inc. - 1530-3667 .- 1557-7759. ; 7:3, s. 453-456
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The epidemiology and ecology of Lyme disease is very complex, and its reported geographical distribution is constantly increasing. Furthermore, the involvement of birds in long distance dispersal and their role as reservoir hosts is now well established. In this study, we have shown that sea birds in the Arctic region of Norway carry Ixodes uriae ticks infected with Lyme disease Borrelia garinii spirochetes. Interestingly, DNA sequencing showed that these isolates are closely related to B. garinii previously isolated from birds, as well as from clinical specimens in northern Europe.
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| 10. |
- Larsson, Christer, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Persistent brain infection and disease reactivation in relapsing fever borreliosis
- 2006
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Ingår i: Microbes and infection. - : Elsevier. - 1286-4579 .- 1769-714X. ; 8:8, s. 2213-2219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Relapsing fever, an infection caused by Borrelia spirochetes, is generally considered a transient, self-limiting disease in humans. The present study reveals that murine infection by Borrelia duttonii can be reactivated after an extended time as a silent infection in the brain, with no bacteria appearing in the blood and spirochete load comparable to the numbers in an infected tick. The host cerebral gene expression pattern is indistinguishable from that of uninfected animals, indicating that persistent bacteria are not recognized by the immune system nor cause noticeable tissue damage. Silent infection can be reactivated by immunosuppression, inducing spirochetemia comparable to that of initial densities. B. duttonii has never been found in any host except man and the tick vector. We therefore propose the brain to be a possible natural reservoir of the spirochete. The view of relapsing fever as an acute disease should be extended to include in some cases prolonged persistence, a feature characteristic of the related spirochetal infections Lyme disease and syphilis.
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