From septicemia to sepsis 3.0 – from Ignaz Semmelweis to Louis Pasteur
Publication date: Available online 27 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Jean-Marc Cavaillon, Fabrice ChrétienAbstractSepsis remains a contemporary threat, and its frequency remains high amongst an aging population. Its definition has been regularly revisited, but the impact of the translational research studying it remains very modest compared to the results seen after the introduction of hygiene and the use of antibiotics. In the past, the main forms of sepsis were hospital gangrene (also known as nosocomial fever or putrid fever) that affected the wounded, and puerperal fever that affected women shortly ...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 28, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Studying fungal pathogens of humans and fungal infections: fungal diversity and diversity of approaches
Publication date: Available online 27 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Guilhem Janbon, Jessica Quintin, Fanny Lanternier, Christophe d’EnfertAbstractSeminal work by Louis Pasteur revealed the contribution of fungi – yeasts and microsporidia to agroindustry and disease in animals, respectively. More than 150 years later, the impact of fungi on human health and beyond is an ever-increasing issue, although often underestimated. Recent studies estimate that fungal infections, especially those caused by Candida, Cryptococcus and Aspergillus species, kill more than one million people annually. Indeed, these ...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 28, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Duclaux, Chamberland, Roux, Grancher, and Metchnikoff: the five musketeers of Louis Pasteur
Publication date: Available online 28 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Jean-Marc Cavaillon, Sandra LegoutAbstractThe Institut Pasteur was created thanks to worldwide generosity with the aim to welcome and treat rabies patients, to provide a place for scientific research and to offer new teaching programs in microbiology. Louis Pasteur invited his main collaborators, who had accompanied him during his previous investigations at École Normale Supérieure, to join him in his new institute. They contributed to the principle discoveries of Pasteur, such as the fight against spontaneous generation, the identifi...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 28, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Novel mechanistic insights into physiological signaling pathways mediated by mycobacterial Ser/Thr protein kinases
Publication date: Available online 26 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Marco Bellinzoni, Anne Marie Wehenkel, Rosario Durán, Pedro M. AlzariAbstractProtein phosphorylation is known to be one of the keystones of signal sensing and transduction in all living organisms. Once thought to be essentially confined to the eukaryotic kingdoms, reversible phosphorylation on serine, threonine and tyrosine residues, has now been shown to play a major role in many prokaryotes, where the number of Ser/Thr protein kinases (STPKs) equals or even exceeds that of two component systems. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiolo...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 28, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
The IL-23/IL-17 pathway in human chronic inflammatory diseases – new insight from genetics and targeted therapies
Publication date: Available online 25 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Elisabetta Bianchi, Lars RoggeAbstractChronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, spondyloarthritis and psoriasis cause significant morbidity and are a considerable burden for the patients in terms of pain, impaired function and diminished quality of life, as well as for society, because of the associated high health-care costs, and loss of productivity. Our limited understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms involved in these diseases currently hinders early diagnosis and the development of mo...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 26, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Intracellular parasitism, the driving force of evolution of Legionella pneumophila and the genus Legionella
Publication date: Available online 25 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Laure Gomez-Valero, Carmen BuchrieserAbstractLegionella pneumophila is an intracellular pathogen that causes a severe pneumonia called Legionnaires’ disease that is often fatal when not promptly diagnosed and treated. Legionella parasitize aquatic protozoa with which it co-evolved over an evolutionary long time. The close relationship between hosts and pathogens, their co-evolution, led to molecular interactions such as the exchange of genetic material through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Genome sequencing of L. pneumophila and of ...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 26, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Trypanosoma cruzi extracellular amastigotes selectively trigger the PI3K/Akt and Erk pathways during HeLa cell invasion
Publication date: Available online 24 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Bianca Lima Ferreira, Éden Ramalho Ferreira, Alexis Bonfim-Melo, Renato Arruda Mortara, Diana BahiaAbstractCell invasion by Trypanosoma cruzi extracellular amastigotes involves different signaling pathways to induce phagocytosis-like mechanisms. Previous works indicated that PI3K/Akt, Src and Erk might be involved in EA invasion; however, participation of these molecules in this process remains elusive. Here, we observed that EA activated Akt, Erk but not Src. Interference of EA invasion with specific inhibitors corroborated this obser...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 25, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Yersinia pestis and plague: an updated view on evolution, virulence determinants, immune subversion, vaccination and diagnostics
Publication date: Available online 25 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Christian Demeure, Olivier Dussurget, Guillem Mas Fiol, Anne-Sophie Le Guern, Cyril Savin, Javier Pizarro-CerdáAbstractPlague is a vector-borne disease caused by Yersinia pestis. Transmitted by fleas from rodent reservoirs, Y. pestis emerged less than 6000 years ago from an enteric bacterial ancestor through events of gene gain and genome reduction. It is a highly remarkable model for the understanding of pathogenic bacteria evolution, and a major concern for public health as highlighted by recent human outbreaks. A complex set of viru...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 25, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
130th Anniversary of Institut Pasteur: Celebrating Science
Publication date: Available online 25 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Marie-Lise Gougeon, Maxime Schwartz, Thomas Brunner, David M. Ojcius (Source: Microbes and Infection)
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 25, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Beneficial microbiota. Probiotics and pharmaceutical products in functional nutrition and medicine
Publication date: Available online 21 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Galina Novik, Victoria SavichAbstractThe article is mainly devoted to such representatives of gut microbiota as lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria, with minor accent on less frequently used or new probiotic microorganisms. Positive effects in treatment and prevention of diseases by different microbial groups, their metabolites and mechanisms of action, management and market of probiotic products are considered. (Source: Microbes and Infection)
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 22, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Apathetic Pathogens
Publication date: Available online 18 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Sophia Häfner (Source: Microbes and Infection)
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 19, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Host poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) in acute and chronic bacterial infections
Publication date: Available online 15 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Moona Miettinen, Madhukar Vedantham, Arto T. PulliainenAbstractProtein ADP-ribosylation is a reversible post-translational modification, which alters protein activity, localization, interactome or stability, leading to perturbation of cell signaling. This review summarizes the emerging data indicating that host cell ADP-ribosylating enzymes, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), influence the course of a bacterial infection, in parallel to ADP-ribosylating bacterial toxins. Host cell PARP targeting could be an efficient therapeutic appr...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 16, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against sporotrichosis. Feasibility and prospects
Publication date: Available online 13 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Damiana Téllez-Martínez, Alexander Batista-Duharte, Deivys Leandro Portuondo, Iracilda Zeppone CarlosAbstractSporotrichosis is an emergent subcutaneous mycosis of humans and some animals caused by dimorphic fungi of the genus Sporothrix. The disease occurs worldwide but is endemic or hyperendemic in tropical and subtropical areas. The epidemiology of the disease is changing dramatically, and it is now considered an important zoonosis with high morbidity rates, principally in Brazil, and an opportunistic infection in immunocompromised ...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 13, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Autophagic Induction modulates Splenic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell mediated immune response in Cerebral Malarial infection model
Publication date: Available online 8 June 2019Source: Microbes and InfectionAuthor(s): Anirban Sengupta, Tarun Keswani, Samrat Sarkar, Soubhik Ghosh, Saikat Mukherjee, Arindam BhattacharyyaAbstractSplenic plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) possess the capability to harbor live replicative Plasmodium parasite. Isolated splenic pDC from infected mice causes malaria when transferred to naïve mice. Incomplete autophagic degradation might cause poor antigen processing and poor immune response. Induction of autophagic flux by rapamycin treatment led to better prognosis by boosting pDC centered immune response against the pathog...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 8, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
Direct correlation between Th1 and Th17 responses in immunity to Brucella infection
This study aimed to evaluate the peripheral distributions of Th1 and Th17 cells and serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-17A and IL-22 cytokines in brucellosis patients. One hundred patients (36 acute, 41 under-treatment and 23 relapsed) and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included. The frequencies of Th1 and Th17 cells were determined by flow cytometric analysis. Serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-17A and IL-22 were measured by multi-analyte flow assay. Increased frequencies of Th1 and Th17 cells were observed in acute and relapsed brucellosis versus under-treatment patients and healthy controls (P<0.05). The mean serum l...
Source: Microbes and Infection - June 8, 2019 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research
