TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zoran, Tamara
A1  - Seelbinder, Bastian
A1  - White, Philip Lewis
A1  - Price, Jessica Sarah
A1  - Kraus, Sabrina
A1  - Kurzai, Oliver
A1  - Linde, Joerg
A1  - Häder, Antje
A1  - Loeffler, Claudia
A1  - Grigoleit, Goetz Ulrich
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Panagiotou, Gianni
A1  - Loeffler, Juergen
A1  - Schäuble, Sascha
T1  - Molecular profiling reveals characteristic and decisive signatures in patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation suffering from invasive pulmonary aspergillosis
JF  - Journal of Fungi
N2  - Despite available diagnostic tests and recent advances, diagnosis of pulmonary invasive aspergillosis (IPA) remains challenging. We performed a longitudinal case-control pilot study to identify host-specific, novel, and immune-relevant molecular candidates indicating IPA in patients post allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT). Supported by differential gene expression analysis of six relevant in vitro studies, we conducted RNA sequencing of three alloSCT patients categorized as probable IPA cases and their matched controls without Aspergillus infection (66 samples in total). We additionally performed immunoassay analysis for all patient samples to gain a multi-omics perspective. Profiling analysis suggested LGALS2, MMP1, IL-8, and caspase-3 as potential host molecular candidates indicating IPA in investigated alloSCT patients. MMP1, IL-8, and caspase-3 were evaluated further in alloSCT patients for their potential to differentiate possible IPA cases and patients suffering from COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) and appropriate control patients. Possible IPA cases showed differences in IL-8 and caspase-3 serum levels compared with matched controls. Furthermore, we observed significant differences in IL-8 and caspase-3 levels among CAPA patients compared with control patients. With our conceptual work, we demonstrate the potential value of considering the human immune response during Aspergillus infection to identify immune-relevant molecular candidates indicating IPA in alloSCT patients. These human host candidates together with already established fungal biomarkers might improve the accuracy of IPA diagnostic tools.
KW  - host response
KW  - invasive pulmonary aspergillosis
KW  - alloSCT patients
KW  - galectin-2
KW  - caspase-3
KW  - matrix metallopeptidase-1
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-262105
SN  - 2309-608X
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Häder, Antje
A1  - Schäuble, Sascha
A1  - Gehlen, Jan
A1  - Thielemann, Nadja
A1  - Buerfent, Benedikt C.
A1  - Schüller, Vitalia
A1  - Hess, Timo
A1  - Wolf, Thomas
A1  - Schröder, Julia
A1  - Weber, Michael
A1  - Hünniger, Kerstin
A1  - Löffler, Jürgen
A1  - Vylkova, Slavena
A1  - Panagiotou, Gianni
A1  - Schumacher, Johannes
A1  - Kurzai, Oliver
T1  - Pathogen-specific innate immune response patterns are distinctly affected by genetic diversity
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Innate immune responses vary by pathogen and host genetics. We analyze quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and transcriptomes of monocytes from 215 individuals stimulated by fungal, Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. We identify conserved monocyte responses to bacterial pathogens and a distinct antifungal response. These include 745 response eQTLs (reQTLs) and corresponding genes with pathogen-specific effects, which we find first in samples of male donors and subsequently confirm for selected reQTLs in females. reQTLs affect predominantly upregulated genes that regulate immune response via e.g., NOD-like, C-type lectin, Toll-like and complement receptor-signaling pathways. Hence, reQTLs provide a functional explanation for individual differences in innate response patterns. Our identified reQTLs are also associated with cancer, autoimmunity, inflammatory and infectious diseases as shown by external genome-wide association studies. Thus, reQTLs help to explain interindividual variation in immune response to infection and provide candidate genes for variants associated with a range of diseases.
KW  - antimicrobial responses
KW  - immunogenetics
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-357441
VL  - 14
ER  -