Early indicators of exposure to biological threat agents using host gene profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells
Open Access
- 30 July 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 8 (1), 104
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-8-104
Abstract
Effective prophylaxis and treatment for infections caused by biological threat agents (BTA) rely upon early diagnosis and rapid initiation of therapy. Most methods for identifying pathogens in body fluids and tissues require that the pathogen proliferate to detectable and dangerous levels, thereby delaying diagnosis and treatment, especially during the prelatent stages when symptoms for most BTA are indistinguishable flu-like signs. To detect exposures to the various pathogens more rapidly, especially during these early stages, we evaluated a suite of host responses to biological threat agents using global gene expression profiling on complementary DNA arrays. We found that certain gene expression patterns were unique to each pathogen and that other gene changes occurred in response to multiple agents, perhaps relating to the eventual course of illness. Nonhuman primates were exposed to some pathogens and the in vitro and in vivo findings were compared. We found major gene expression changes at the earliest times tested post exposure to aerosolized B. anthracis spores and 30 min post exposure to a bacterial toxin. Host gene expression patterns have the potential to serve as diagnostic markers or predict the course of impending illness and may lead to new stage-appropriate therapeutic strategies to ameliorate the devastating effects of exposure to biothreat agents.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Study of proinflammatory responses induced by Yersinia pestis in human monocytes using cDNA arraysGenes & Immunity, 2007
- Modeling of SEB-induced host gene expression to correlate in vitro to in vivo responsesBiosensors and Bioelectronics, 2004
- Stereotyped and specific gene expression programs in human innate immune responses to bacteriaProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2002
- Viral Replication and Host Gene Expression in Alveolar Macrophages Infected with Ebola Virus (Zaire Strain)Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2002
- Bioterrorism-Related Inhalational Anthrax: The First 10 Cases Reported in the United StatesEmerging Infectious Diseases, 2001
- Gene expression patterns of breast carcinomas distinguish tumor subclasses with clinical implicationsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2001
- Evidence for a vesicle-mediated maintenance of store-operated calcium channels in a human embryonic kidney cell lineCell Calcium, 2000
- Thrombin Stimulates Pertussis Toxin-Sensitive and -Insensitive GTPase Activitiesand ADP-Ribosylation of Gi in Human Neuroblastoma SH-EPPharmacology, 2000
- Structure-Function Analysis of Bacillus anthracis Edema Factor by Using Monoclonal AntibodiesBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 1994
- Evaluation of Serologic Tests for Diagnosis of Anthrax after an Outbreak of Cutaneous Anthrax in ParaguayThe Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1989