Immunopathogenesis of Nocardia infections

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

Investigators

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Abstract

To date, we have successfully developed a mouse model of pulmonary nocardiosis. We have developed several novel Nocardia reporter strains that will be useful to the broader research community. We have utilized these reporter strains to study the immune response to Nocardia in vitro and in vivo. Using this model, we have determined the contribution of various immune and stromal cell types to the phagocytosis and killing of Nocardia in normal individuals. We have also utilized a mouse model of chronic granulomatous disease (a condition which is associated with an increased risk of nocardiosis in humans) to understand the critical cellular and molecular mechanisms that are required for host defense against Nocardia. We are currently in the process of further characterizing the mechanistic basis for susceptibility to nocardiosis in chronic granulomatous disease and we are also studying alveolar macrophage transplantation and GM-CSF supplementation as potential non-antibiotic therapies to treat Nocardia infections.