{"title":"Nutrition Metabolism and Infections","authors":"Fang Yang, Yi Yang, L. Zeng, Yiwei Chen, G. Zeng","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000061","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Infection and nutrition are intricately interacted and further influence human health. Infections are a worldwide health problem and malnutrition plays a significant role in the emergence of infection. Growing evidence suggests that the optimization of dietary nutrients intake is crucial in maintaining systemic immunity and may help improve resistance to infections. In this review, we explore a wide range of topics including interactions between nutrients and various infectious diseases. We also discuss the role of diet-induced gut microbiota in the infection-nutrition cycle and review how dietary-microbiome crosstalk may affect disease development and progression, which may provide an attractive option to the design of a diet leading to favorable outcomes in the future. We will also present evidence and propose mechanisms of nutrients that may specifically modulate host immunity and metabolism to infectious pathogens and also cover its influence on nutrition, focusing on immuno-nutrients. We provide representative nutrients in the present review based on their intensive studies and wide acceptance of their immuno-modulating properties. Moreover, the efficacy and translational cost of their plausible utility to be anti-infective nutrients are also reviewed. Finally, we highlight the current progress and challenges to gain a better understanding of the research into microbiota, infectious diseases, and nutrition with an emphasis on future research directions.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48042371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Macrophage-Mediated Defensive Mechanisms Involving Zinc Homeostasis in Bacterial Infection","authors":"P. Na-Phatthalung, J. Min, Fudi Wang","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000058","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Zinc homeostasis in macrophages is essential for maintaining their antimicrobial functions, and a growing body of evidence indicates that both zinc depletion and excess zinc in myeloid cells decrease bacterial survival. In macrophages, maintaining intracellular and extracellular zinc levels via zinc transporter proteins, including Slc30a and Slc39a family members, plays an important role in the response to immunological signals and infection. Recently, studies have found that macrophages utilize a variety of zinc-modulating mechanisms, thus expanding our knowledge regarding the role that zinc plays in response to bacterial infection. Here, we review recent progress with respect to altered zinc metabolism in macrophages and the consequences with respect to fighting invading pathogens.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43674279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nutrition-Associated Processes Govern Fungal Pathogenicity","authors":"Xindi Gao, Yinchieh Fu, C. Ding","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000055","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Fungal pathogens present a major common threat across human communities: they cause disease and death in humans, animals, and global food crops. The development of anti-fungal therapies is hampered primarily by the lack of knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity at the host-pathogen axis. Many studies have shown that nutrition-associated processes such as autophagy and metal homeostasis play essential roles in fungal virulence during systemic infection. During infection, the host immune system often employs nutrition restriction mechanisms to limit microbial proliferation and facilitate the killing and elimination of invading pathogens. Therefore, fast sensing and adaptation to the levels of environmental nutrients are critical if the fungal pathogen is to survive, replicate, and colonize in the host. Fungal cells have evolved numerous precise mechanisms to respond to various levels of nutrient availability. Studies show that fungal cells manipulate the expression of genes involved in nutrient acquisition, autophagosome formation, toxic nutrient detoxification, or cell morphological transition to counter the anti-fungal strategies of the host. This review of the most recent studies of nutrition-related pathways focuses primarily on autophagy, metal homeostasis, and the nutrition-driven morphological switches found in two major human fungal pathogens, Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. It is a systematic comparison of the functional divergence of nutrition-related genes in the fungal pathogenicity of these evolutionarily distinct but related fungal species.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45868026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Metabolic Control of γδ T Cell Function","authors":"Ziyu Meng, Guangchao Cao, Quanli Yang, Hengwen Yang, Jianlei Hao, Z. Yin","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000054","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Metabolic change is associated with cell activities, such as signal transduction, cell differentiation, and cell cycle. In the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, abnormal activation of T cells is often accompanied by changes in their metabolism. Conversely, the changes of metabolites can also regulate the proliferation, differentiation, and function of T cells. As a bridge between innate and adaptive immune responses, γδ T cells have unique biological characteristics and functions. However, the immunometabolic mechanism of γδ T cells has been a novel field for research in recent years. In this review, we summarize the influence of metabolic pathways and nutrients on γδ T cell function, and metabolic features of γδ T cell subsets, which may provide new insights in interventions targeting γδ T cells in disease control.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46628601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuna Zhao, Chanyang Ju, K. Au, Jimmy Zhu, Baohong Zhao, Y. Shang, Xiaoyu Hu
{"title":"Engagement of TLR and Dectin-1/Syk Signaling Is Required for Activation of Notch Targets in Dendritic Cells","authors":"Yuna Zhao, Chanyang Ju, K. Au, Jimmy Zhu, Baohong Zhao, Y. Shang, Xiaoyu Hu","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000053","url":null,"abstract":"Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Abstract Pattern-recognition receptors, such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), detect a wide range of microbial products and initiate innate immune responses leading to the production of inflammatory mediators. In addition, TLR signaling also activates expression of Notch target genes that play crucial roles in suppression of TLR-triggered inflammatory responses. However, whether TLR signaling pathways engaged by other classes of pattern-recognition receptors induce expression of Notch target genes remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that zymosan, a stimulus for TLR2 and dectin-1, strongly induces expression of multiple Notch target genes in both human and murine dendritic cells. Mechanistically, induction of Notch targets by zymosan is both TLR2- and Syk-dependent through activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and the transcription factor c-Fos. Hence, our data reveals a novel mechanism that efficient induction of Notch target genes requires engagement of TLR and dectin-1/Syk signaling pathways.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49416066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of Lockdown Measures and Meteorological Parameters on the COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality Rate in Bangladesh.","authors":"Md Ashik Imran, Imad Uddin Noor, Ajit Ghosh","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000052","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000052","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a public health crisis and a global catastrophe for human societies. In the absence of a vaccine, non-pharmaceutical interventions have been implemented across the world to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Recently, several studies have articulated the influence of meteorological parameters on COVID-19 infections in several countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lockdown measures and meteorological parameters on COVID-19 daily confirmed cases and deaths in Bangladesh. Different parameters, such as case fatality rate, recovery rate, number of polymerase chain reaction tests, and percentages of confirmed cases were calculated for data covering March to September 2020. The meteorological data include daily average temperature, humidity, and wind speed, and their effects on COVID-19 data were analyzed after 0, 3, 7, and 14 days. A linear regression analysis revealed that all the studied meteorological parameters were positively correlated with the daily new cases and deaths in Bangladesh, while the highest correlations were observed for the 14 days incubation period. These results provide useful implications for the healthcare authorities to contain the pandemic in Bangladesh and beyond.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8011345/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48028209","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SARS-CoV-2 and Zoonotic Preparedness: Unknown Knowns?","authors":"Aaron Trent Irving, Susan Christina Welburn","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000051","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000051","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8011343/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46547831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Osmond C Ekwebelem, Job C. Aleke, Ekenedirichukwu S. Ofielu, Obinna V. Nnorom-Dike
{"title":"CRISPR-Cas9 System: A Revolutionary Tool in the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance: Retracted","authors":"Osmond C Ekwebelem, Job C. Aleke, Ekenedirichukwu S. Ofielu, Obinna V. Nnorom-Dike","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000049","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The rapidly evolving world of antimicrobial resistance has not only made it difficult to combat infectious diseases, but during the last decades also brought the discovery of novel antimicrobials to a standstill. In recent years, researchers discovered the potential of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated (CRISPR-Cas) system as an alternative therapeutic. Since the unearthing of CRISPR-Cas9 as an “adaptive immune system” of bacteria, the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been improved into a state-of-the-art genetic engineering tool, with an impressive ability to cause specific gene insertions and/or gene deletions, in almost all microorganisms. The emerging picture suggests that the CRISPR-Cas9 system can be exploited in a sequence-specific manner to selectively eliminate individual bacterial strains in a mixed microbial population, and/or re-sensitize bacteria to antibiotics. These findings have not only revolutionized biomedical research, but might also prove to be pivotal in creating novel alternative treatments for multidrug-resistant infections. Here, we discussed the up-to-date findings reported in this area, as well as the approaches involved in the utilization of CRISPR-Cas9 as a novel technology in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. We also highlighted recent studies that have exploited the CRISPR-Cas9 system in the context of targeting pathogenic and drug-resistant bacteria.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47978395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wenhuang Chen, Yijian Lin, Hongbo Huang, Maosheng Cai, Dongheng Lin, Milong Su, Zhijun Su, Xibin Zhuang, Xueping Yu
{"title":"A Retrospective Study of the Epidemiologic and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19 Among Hospitalized Patients in Quanzhou, China.","authors":"Wenhuang Chen, Yijian Lin, Hongbo Huang, Maosheng Cai, Dongheng Lin, Milong Su, Zhijun Su, Xibin Zhuang, Xueping Yu","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000048","DOIUrl":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000048","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout China. However, information about COVID-19 in cities and regions outside Wuhan is limited and the indicators that predict the length of hospital stay for patients with COVID-19 are unclear. Therefore, we collected clinical data from 47 patients with COVID-19 in Quanzhou City. The median age was 38 years [interquartile range (IQR): 31-50 years], and 24 (51%) were male. There were 8 mild, 36 moderate, and 3 severe/critical cases. The median interval from exposure to disease onset was 13 days (IQR: 8-18 days). The incidence of severe/critical cases was 33% (3/10) in patients with hypertension. Common symptoms included fever (83%), cough (77%), fatigue (40%), a sore, dry throat (28%), and diarrhea (21%). One patient (2%) developed respiratory distress syndrome on day 13 of inpatient treatment. Six patients had leukopenia, 17 had elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), and 8 had lymphocytopenia and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The median length of hospitalization was 22 days (IQR: 16-30 days). Dynamic monitoring of LDH, CRP, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio predicted whether length of hospitalization would exceed 21 days. Most patients presented with mild and moderate disease. Patients with hypertension were more likely to become severe or critical. Dynamic monitoring of LDH, CRP, and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio levels can help predict delayed discharge from the hospital.</p>","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8011347/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47062366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fang Li, Qi Wang, Yanhui Han, Mingyue Song, Xiaokun Cai, Timothy R. Goulette, Hang Xiao
{"title":"Dietary Pterostilbene Inhibited Colonic Inflammation in Dextran-Sodium-Sulfate-Treated Mice: A Perspective of Gut Microbiota","authors":"Fang Li, Qi Wang, Yanhui Han, Mingyue Song, Xiaokun Cai, Timothy R. Goulette, Hang Xiao","doi":"10.1097/IM9.0000000000000047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/IM9.0000000000000047","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Dietary interventions based on the use of bioactive nutraceuticals might offer an effective adjuvant therapeutic and preventive method for inflammatory bowel disease by reshaping colitis-associated bacterial dysbiosis. The current study aimed to determine the anti-inflammatory effect of pterostilbene (PTE, a methylated derivative of resveratrol) and its potential modulatory roles in gut microbiota in a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model. Our results supported our hypothesis that dietary PTE exerted protective effects against colonic inflammation; evidenced by the reduced colonic tissue damage, decreased disease activity index, and lowered production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interferon gamma, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, and IL-6 in the colon of DSS-treated mice. Moreover, α-diversity analysis indicated that dietary PTE significantly improved gut microbial evenness and diversity. Noteworthy, PTE modified gut microbiota composition toward a healthier profile by boosting the richness of Bifidobacterium and decreasing the distribution of pathogenic Bilophila and Rc4-4. Pearson correlation analysis also revealed strong associations between the shifting of gut microbiota and expression of inflammatory cytokines in the colon. Overall, our study demonstrated that dietary PTE alleviated the severity of colitis in DSS-treated mice and gut microbiota may play an indispensable role in this process mechanistically.","PeriodicalId":73374,"journal":{"name":"Infectious microbes & diseases","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45731558","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}