Publications
189 results found
Georgiadou A, Lee HJ, Walther M, et al., 2019, Modelling pathogen load dynamics to elucidate mechanistic determinants of host-Plasmodium falciparum interactions, Nature Microbiology, Vol: 4, Pages: 1592-1602, ISSN: 2058-5276
During infection, increasing pathogen load stimulates both protective and harmful aspects of the host response. The dynamics of this interaction are hard to quantify in humans, but doing so could improve understanding of mechanisms of disease and protection. We sought to model the contributions of parasite multiplication rate and host response to observed parasite load in individual subjects with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, using only data obtained at the time of clinical presentation, and then to identify their mechanistic correlates. We predicted higher parasite multiplication rates and lower host responsiveness in severe malaria cases, with severe anemia being more insidious than cerebral malaria. We predicted that parasite growth-inhibition was associated with platelet consumption, lower expression of CXCL10 and type-1 interferon-associated genes, but increased cathepsin G and matrix metallopeptidase 9 expression. We found that cathepsin G and matrix metallopeptidase 9 directly inhibit parasite invasion into erythrocytes. Parasite multiplication rate was associated with host iron availability and higher complement factor H levels, lower expression of gametocyte-associated genes but higher expression of translation-associated genes in the parasite. Our findings demonstrate the potential of using explicit modelling of pathogen load dynamics to deepen understanding of host-pathogen interactions and identify mechanistic correlates of protection.
Borghini L, Png E, Binder A, et al., 2019, Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease, Scientific Reports, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2045-2322
Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA – a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection – under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes.
Teng H, Minh DC, Hall MB, et al., 2019, Chiron: translating nanopore raw signal directly into nucleotide sequence using deep learning (vol 7, giy037, 2018), GIGASCIENCE, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2047-217X
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- Citations: 2
Middeldorp CM, Felix JF, Mahajan A, et al., 2019, The Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia: design, results and future prospects, European Journal of Epidemiology, Vol: 34, Pages: 279-300, ISSN: 0393-2990
The impact of many unfavorable childhood traits or diseases, such as low birth weight and mental disorders, is not limited to childhood and adolescence, as they are also associated with poor outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease. Insight into the genetic etiology of childhood and adolescent traits and disorders may therefore provide new perspectives, not only on how to improve wellbeing during childhood, but also how to prevent later adverse outcomes. To achieve the sample sizes required for genetic research, the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) and EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology (EAGLE) consortia were established. The majority of the participating cohorts are longitudinal population-based samples, but other cohorts with data on early childhood phenotypes are also involved. Cohorts often have a broad focus and collect(ed) data on various somatic and psychiatric traits as well as environmental factors. Genetic variants have been successfully identified for multiple traits, for example, birth weight, atopic dermatitis, childhood BMI, allergic sensitization, and pubertal growth. Furthermore, the results have shown that genetic factors also partly underlie the association with adult traits. As sample sizes are still increasing, it is expected that future analyses will identify additional variants. This, in combination with the development of innovative statistical methods, will provide detailed insight on the mechanisms underlying the transition from childhood to adult disorders. Both consortia welcome new collaborations. Policies and contact details are available from the corresponding authors of this manuscript and/or the consortium websites.
Zhang P, Raju J, Ullah MA, et al., 2019, Phase I Trial of Inducible Caspase 9 T Cells in Adult Stem Cell Transplant Demonstrates Massive Clonotypic Proliferative Potential and Long-term Persistence of Transgenic T Cells, CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH, Vol: 25, Pages: 1749-1755, ISSN: 1078-0432
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- Citations: 14
Bainomugisa A, Pandey S, Donnan E, et al., 2019, Cross-Border Movement of Highly Drug-Resistant <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> from Papua New Guinea to Australia through Torres Strait Protected Zone, 2010-2015, EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES, Vol: 25, Pages: 406-415, ISSN: 1080-6040
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- Citations: 17
Pitt ME, Minh DC, Butler MS, et al., 2019, Octapeptin C4 and polymyxin resistance occur via distinct pathways in an epidemic XDR Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258 isolate, JOURNAL OF ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY, Vol: 74, Pages: 582-593, ISSN: 0305-7453
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- Citations: 11
Halliday A, Jain P, Hoang L, et al., 2019, Validation of new technologies for the diagnostic evaluation of active tuberculosis (VANTDET), Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation, ISSN: 2050-4365
Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease for which new diagnostic tests are desperately needed. Objective: To validate promising new technologies (namely whole blood transcriptomics, proteomics, flow cytometry and qRT-PCR) and existing signatures for detection of active TB in samples obtained from individuals suspected of active TB. Design: Four sub-studies, each of which used the samples from biobank collected as part of the IDEA study, which was a prospective cohort of patients recruited with suspected TB. Setting: secondary care Participants: Adults (aged ≥ 16 years old) presenting as inpatients or outpatients at 12 NHS hospital trusts in London, Slough, Oxford, Leicester and Birmingham with suspected active TB. Interventions: New tests using either: genome-wide gene expression microarray (transcriptomics); SELDI TOF/ LC-MS (proteomics), flow cytometry, qRT-PCR. Main outcome measures: Area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity, were calculated to determine diagnostic accuracy. Positive and negative predictive values were calculated in some cases. A decision tree model was developed to calculate the incremental costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of changing from current practice to using the novels tests. Results: The project and 4 sub-studies which assessed the previous published signatures measured using each of the new technologies, and a health economic analysis where the best performing tests were evaluated for cost effectiveness. The diagnostic accuracy of the transcriptomic tests ranged from AUC=0.81-0.84 for detecting all TB in our cohort. The performance for detecting culture confirmed TB or pulmonary TB (PTB) was better than for highly probable TB or extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) respectively, but not high enough to be clinically useful. None of the previously described serum proteomic signatures for active TB provided good diagnostic accuracy, not did the candidate rule-out tests. Four of six previously described cell
Lu J, Wang Y, Li J, et al., 2018, Triclosan at environmentally relevant concentrations promotes horizontal transfer of multidrug resistance genes within and across bacterial genera, ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL, Vol: 121, Pages: 1217-1226, ISSN: 0160-4120
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- Citations: 154
Shao H, Zhou C, Minh DC, et al., 2018, Ongoing human chromosome end extension revealed by analysis of BioNano and nanopore data, SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2045-2322
Wu S, Lau KH, Cao Q, et al., 2018, Genome sequences of two diploid wild relatives of cultivated sweetpotato reveal targets for genetic improvement, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, Vol: 9
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- Citations: 97
Wright V, Herberg J, Kaforou M, et al., 2018, Diagnosis of Kawasaki disease using a minimal whole blood gene expression signature, JAMA Pediatrics, Vol: 172, Pages: 1-10, ISSN: 2168-6203
Importance There is no diagnostic test for Kawasaki disease (KD). Diagnosis is based on clinical features shared with other febrile conditions, frequently resulting in delayed or missed treatment and an increased risk of coronary artery aneurysms. Objective To identify a whole blood gene expression signature that distinguishes children with KD in the first week of illness from other febrile conditions.Design Case-control discovery study groups comprising training, test, and validation groups of children with KD or comparator febrile illness. Setting Hospitals in the UK, Spain, Netherlands and USA.Participants The training and test discovery group comprised 404 children with infectious and inflammatory conditions (78 KD, 84 other inflammatory diseases, 242 bacterial or viral infections) and 55 healthy controls. The independent validation group included 130 febrile children and 102 KD patients, including 72 in the first 7 days of illness.Exposures Whole blood gene expression was evaluated using microarrays, and minimal transcript sets distinguishing KD were identified using a novel variable selection method (Parallel Deterministic Model Search).Main outcomes and measures The ability of transcript signatures - implemented as Disease Risk Scores - to discriminate KD cases from controls, was assessed by Area Under the Curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity at the optimal cut-point according to Youden’s index. Results A 13-transcript signature identified in the discovery training set distinguished KD from other infectious and inflammatory conditions in the discovery test set with AUC, sensitivity, and specificity (95% confidence intervals (CI)) of 96.2% (92.5-99.9), 81.7% (60.0-94.8), and 92.1% (84.0-97.0), respectively. In the validation set, the signature distinguished KD from febrile controls with AUC, sensitivity, and specificity (95% CI) of 94.6% (91.3-98.0), 85.9% (76.8-92.6), and 89.1% (83.0-93.7) respectively. The signature was applied to clinically defin
De Silva M, Sebert S, Alves AC, et al., 2018, Genetic architecture of early growth phenotypes gives insights into their link with later obesity, Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Lu J, Jin M, Son HN, et al., 2018, Non-antibiotic antimicrobial triclosan induces multiple antibiotic resistance through genetic mutation, ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL, Vol: 118, Pages: 257-265, ISSN: 0160-4120
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- Citations: 104
Ganesamoorthy D, Minh DC, Duarte T, et al., 2018, GtTR: Bayesian estimation of absolute tandem repeat copy number using sequence capture and high throughput sequencing, BMC BIOINFORMATICS, Vol: 19, ISSN: 1471-2105
Shao H, Ganesamoorthy D, Duarte T, et al., 2018, nplnv: accurate detection and genotyping of inversions using long read sub-alignment, BMC Bioinformatics, Vol: 19, ISSN: 1471-2105
BackgroundDetection of genomic inversions remains challenging. Many existing methods primarily target inzversions with a non repetitive breakpoint, leaving inverted repeat (IR) mediated non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) inversions largely unexplored.ResultWe present npInv, a novel tool specifically for detecting and genotyping NAHR inversion using long read sub-alignment of long read sequencing data. We benchmark npInv with other tools in both simulation and real data. We use npInv to generate a whole-genome inversion map for NA12878 consisting of 30 NAHR inversions (of which 15 are novel), including all previously known NAHR mediated inversions in NA12878 with flanking IR less than 7kb. Our genotyping accuracy on this dataset was 94%. We used PCR to confirm the presence of two of these novel inversions. We show that there is a near linear relationship between the length of flanking IR and the minimum inversion size, without inverted repeats.ConclusionThe application of npInv shows high accuracy in both simulation and real data. The results give deeper insight into understanding inversion.
Bainomugisa A, Duarte T, Lavu E, et al., 2018, A complete high-quality MinION nanopore assembly of an extensively drug-resistant <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> Beijing lineage strain identifies novel variation in repetitive PE/PPE gene regions, MICROBIAL GENOMICS, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2057-5858
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- Citations: 32
Lee HJ, Georgiadou A, Walther M, et al., 2018, Integrated pathogen load and dual transcriptome analysis of systemic host-pathogen interactions in severe malaria, Science Translational Medicine, Vol: 10, Pages: 1-17, ISSN: 1946-6234
The pathogenesis of infectious diseases depends on the interaction of host and pathogen. In Plasmodium falciparum malaria, host and parasite processes can be assessed by dual RNA-sequencing of blood from infected patients. Here we performed dual transcriptome analyses on samples from 46 malaria-infected Gambian children to reveal mechanisms driving the systemic pathophysiology of severe malaria. Integrating these transcriptomic data with estimates of parasite load and detailed clinical information allowed consideration of potentially confounding effects due to differing leukocyte proportions in blood, parasite developmental stage, and whole-body pathogen load. We report hundreds of human and parasite genes differentially expressed between severe and uncomplicated malaria, with distinct profiles associated with coma, hyperlactatemia, and thrombocytopenia. High expression of neutrophil granule-related genes was consistently associated with all severe malaria phenotypes. We observed severity-associated variation in the expression of parasite genes which determine cytoadhesion to vascular endothelium, rigidity of infected erythrocytes, and parasite growth rate. Up to 99% of human differential gene expression in severe malaria was driven by differences in parasite load, whereas parasite gene expression showed little association with parasite load. Co-expression analyses revealed interactions between human and P. falciparum, with prominent co-regulation of translation genes in severe malaria between host and parasite. Multivariate analyses suggested that increased expression of granulopoiesis and interferon-γ related genes, together with inadequate suppression of type-1 interferon signalling, best explained severity of infection. These findings provide a framework for understanding the contributions of host and parasite to the pathogenesis of severe malaria and identifying targets for adjunctive therapy.
Martinón-Torres F, Salas A, Rivero-Calle I, et al., 2018, Life-threatening infections in children in Europe (the EUCLIDS Project): a prospective cohort study, Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, Vol: 2, Pages: 404-414, ISSN: 2352-4642
Background: Sepsis and severe focal infections represent a substantial disease burden in children admitted to hospital. We aimed to understand the burden of disease and outcomes in children with life-threatening bacterial infections in Europe. Methods: The European Union Childhood Life-threatening Infectious Disease Study (EUCLIDS) was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study done in six countries in Europe. Patients aged 1 month to 18 years with sepsis (or suspected sepsis) or severe focal infections, admitted to 98 participating hospitals in the UK, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, and the Netherlands were prospectively recruited between July 1, 2012, and Dec 31, 2015. To assess disease burden and outcomes, we collected demographic and clinical data using a secured web-based platform and obtained microbiological data using locally available clinical diagnostic procedures. Findings: 2844 patients were recruited and included in the analysis. 1512 (53·2%) of 2841 patients were male and median age was 39·1 months (IQR 12·4–93·9). 1229 (43·2%) patients had sepsis and 1615 (56·8%) had severe focal infections. Patients diagnosed with sepsis had a median age of 27·6 months (IQR 9·0–80·2), whereas those diagnosed with severe focal infections had a median age of 46·5 months (15·8–100·4; p < 0·0001). Of 2844 patients in the entire cohort, the main clinical syndromes were pneumonia (511 [18·0%] patients), CNS infection (469 [16·5%] ), and skin and soft tissue infection (247 [8·7%]). The causal microorganism was identified in 1359 (47·8%) children, with the most prevalent ones being Neisseria meningitidis (in 259 [9·1%] patients), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (in 222 [7·8%]), Streptococcus pneumoniae (in 219 [7·7%] ), and group A streptococcus (in 162 [5·7%]). 1070 (37·6%) patients required admis
Lee HJ, Georgiadou A, Otto T, et al., 2018, Transcriptomic studies in malaria – a paradigm for investigation of systemic host-pathogen interactions, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, Vol: 82, ISSN: 1092-2172
Transcriptomics, the analysis of genome-wide RNA expression, is a common approach to investigate host and pathogen processes in infectious diseases. Technical and bioinformatic advances have permitted increasingly thorough analysis of the association of RNA expression with fundamental biology, immunity, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and prognosis. Transcriptomic approaches can now be used to realize a previously unattainable goal, simultaneous study of RNA expression in host and pathogen, in order to better understand their interactions. This exciting prospect is not without challenges, especially as focus moves from interactions in vitro under tightly controlled conditions to tissue-and systemic-level interactions in animal models and natural and experimental infections in humans. Here we review the contribution of transcriptomic studies to the understanding of malaria, a parasitic disease which has exerted a major influence on human evolution and continues to cause a huge global burden of disease. We consider malaria as a paradigm for transcriptomic assessment of systemic host-pathogen interaction in humans, because much of the direct host-pathogen interaction occurs within the blood–a readily sampled compartment of the body. We illustrate lessons learned from transcriptomic studies of malaria, and how these may guide studies of host-pathogen interaction in other infectious diseases. We propose that the potential of transcriptomic studies to improve understanding of malaria as a disease remains partly untapped because of limitations in study design rather than as a consequence of technological constraints. Further advances will require integration of transcriptomic data with analytical approaches from other scientific disciplines including epidemiology and mathematical modelling.
Teng H, Minh DC, Hall MB, et al., 2018, Chiron: translating nanopore raw signal directly into nucleotide sequence using deep learning, GIGASCIENCE, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2047-217X
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- Citations: 84
Minh DC, Ganesamoorthy D, Zhou C, et al., 2018, Simulating the dynamics of targeted capture sequencing with CapSim, BIOINFORMATICS, Vol: 34, Pages: 873-874, ISSN: 1367-4803
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- Citations: 7
Pitt ME, Elliott AG, Minh DC, et al., 2018, Multifactorial chromosomal variants regulate polymyxin resistance in extensively drug-resistant <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, MICROBIAL GENOMICS, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2057-5858
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- Citations: 51
Bainomugisa A, Lavu E, Hiashiri S, et al., 2018, Multi-clonal evolution of multi-drug-resistant/extensively drug-resistant <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> in a high-prevalence setting of Papua New Guinea for over three decades, MICROBIAL GENOMICS, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2057-5858
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- Citations: 25
von Both U, Berk M, Agapow P-M, et al., 2018, Mycobacterium tuberculosis Exploits a Molecular Off Switch of the Immune System for Intracellular Survival, Scientific Reports, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2045-2322
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) survives and multiplies inside human macrophages by subversion of immune mechanisms. Although these immune evasion strategies are well characterised functionally, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show that during infection of human whole blood with M. tuberculosis, host gene transcriptional suppression, rather than activation, is the predominant response. Spatial, temporal and functional characterisation of repressed genes revealed their involvement in pathogen sensing and phagocytosis, degradation within the phagolysosome and antigen processing and presentation. To identify mechanisms underlying suppression of multiple immune genes we undertook epigenetic analyses. We identified significantly differentially expressed microRNAs with known targets in suppressed genes. In addition, after searching regions upstream of the start of transcription of suppressed genes for common sequence motifs, we discovered novel enriched composite sequence patterns, which corresponded to Alu repeat elements, transposable elements known to have wide ranging influences on gene expression. Our findings suggest that to survive within infected cells, mycobacteria exploit a complex immune “molecular off switch” controlled by both microRNAs and Alu regulatory elements.
Georgiadou A, Bretscher M, Lee H, et al., 2018, COMBINING RNA-SEQUENCING AND MATHEMATICAL MODELLING TO IDENTIFY MECHANISTIC CORRELATES OF PROTECTION IN MALARIA, 67th Annual Meeting of the American-Society-of-Tropical-Medicine-and-Hygiene (ASTHM), Publisher: AMER SOC TROP MED & HYGIENE, Pages: 27-27, ISSN: 0002-9637
Zhou C, Duarte T, Silvestre R, et al., 2018, Insights into population structure of East African sweetpotato cultivars from hybrid assembly of chloroplast genomes., Gates Open Res, Vol: 2
Background: The chloroplast (cp) genome is an important resource for studying plant diversity and phylogeny. Assembly of the cp genomes from next-generation sequencing data is complicated by the presence of two large inverted repeats contained in the cp DNA. Methods: We constructed a complete circular cp genome assembly for the hexaploid sweetpotato using extremely low coverage (<1×) Oxford Nanopore whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data coupled with Illumina sequencing data for polishing. Results: The sweetpotato cp genome of 161,274 bp contains 152 genes, of which there are 96 protein coding genes, 8 rRNA genes and 48 tRNA genes. Using the cp genome assembly as a reference, we constructed complete cp genome assemblies for a further 17 sweetpotato cultivars from East Africa and an I. triloba line using Illumina WGS data. Analysis of the sweetpotato cp genomes demonstrated the presence of two distinct subpopulations in East Africa. Phylogenetic analysis of the cp genomes of the species from the Convolvulaceae Ipomoea section Batatas revealed that the most closely related diploid wild species of the hexaploid sweetpotato is I. trifida. Conclusions: Nanopore long reads are helpful in construction of cp genome assemblies, especially in solving the two long inverted repeats. We are generally able to extract cp sequences from WGS data of sufficiently high coverage for assembly of cp genomes. The cp genomes can be used to investigate the population structure and the phylogenetic relationship for the sweetpotato.
Son HN, Duarte TPS, Coin LJM, et al., 2017, Real-time demultiplexing Nanopore barcoded sequencing data with npBarcode, BIOINFORMATICS, Vol: 33, Pages: 3988-3990, ISSN: 1367-4803
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- Citations: 5
Hemingway C, Berk M, Anderson ST, et al., 2017, Childhood tuberculosis is associated with decreased abundance of T cell gene transcripts and impaired T cell function., PLoS ONE, Vol: 12, ISSN: 1932-6203
The WHO estimates around a million children contract tuberculosis (TB) annually with over 80 000 deaths from dissemination of infection outside of the lungs. The insidious onset and association with skin test anergy suggests failure of the immune system to both recognise and respond to infection. To understand the immune mechanisms, we studied genome-wide whole blood RNA expression in children with TB meningitis (TBM). Findings were validated in a second cohort of children with TBM and pulmonary TB (PTB), and functional T-cell responses studied in a third cohort of children with TBM, other extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) and PTB. The predominant RNA transcriptional response in children with TBM was decreased abundance of multiple genes, with 140/204 (68%) of all differentially regulated genes showing reduced abundance compared to healthy controls. Findings were validated in a second cohort with concordance of the direction of differential expression in both TBM (r2 = 0.78 p = 2x10-16) and PTB patients (r2 = 0.71 p = 2x10-16) when compared to a second group of healthy controls. Although the direction of expression of these significant genes was similar in the PTB patients, the magnitude of differential transcript abundance was less in PTB than in TBM. The majority of genes were involved in activation of leucocytes (p = 2.67E-11) and T-cell receptor signalling (p = 6.56E-07). Less abundant gene expression in immune cells was associated with a functional defect in T-cell proliferation that recovered after full TB treatment (p<0.0003). Multiple genes involved in T-cell activation show decreased abundance in children with acute TB, who also have impaired functional T-cell responses. Our data suggest that childhood TB is associated with an acquired immune defect, potentially resulting in failure to contain the pathogen. Elucidation of the mechanism causing the immune paresis may identify new treatment and prevention strategies.
Shimizu C, Kim J, Eleftherohorinou H, et al., 2017, Genetic Variants in HLA-C and Class I Pathway Genes Influence Susceptibility to Kawasaki Disease, 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Publisher: Wiley, ISSN: 2326-5205
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