Characterization of virulence factors in shigellosis
- Funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Total publications:0 publications
Grant number: 5R21AI178051-02
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Key facts
Disease
ShigellosisStart & end year
20232025Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$198,039Funder
National Institutes of Health (NIH)Principal Investigator
PROFESSOR HERVE AGAISSEResearch Location
United States of AmericaLead Research Institution
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIAResearch Priority Alignment
N/A
Research Category
Clinical characterisation and management
Research Subcategory
Disease pathogenesis
Special Interest Tags
N/A
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Not Applicable
Vulnerable Population
Not applicable
Occupations of Interest
Not applicable
Abstract
Abstract The intestinal pathogen Shigella flexneri is the causative agent of bacillary dysentery (bloody diarrhea) and is responsible for more than 250 million cases of dysentery annually, resulting in more than 200,000 deaths. A major challenge in combating bacillary dysentery has been the lack of a small-animal model that recapitulates the symptoms observed in infected individuals. Our group has recently developed a unique model of bacillary dysentery in infant rabbits. In this model, animals infected with S. flexneri experience massive epithelial cell fenestration, vascular lesions, immune cell infiltration, and bloody diarrhea. While the bacterial factors supporting S. flexneri intracellular infection have been chiefly determined using tissue culture systems, we know very little about the virulence determinants leading to pathogenesis in infected individuals. In this application, we propose to use the infant rabbit model in conjunction with Transposon-sequencing approaches to identify and characterize the bacterial factors supporting bacillary dysentery.