Susceptibility and Innate Resistance: Mass Spectrometry Derived Study of Immune Response to Coccidioidal Infection

摘要

Coccidioides spp. are primary fungal pathogens that can cause life-threatening disease in otherwise healthy humans. The majority of patients with illness due to coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever) suffer from pneumonia that lasts from weeks to many months. Interestingly, individual susceptibility to infection by Coccidioides spp. varies widely in humans and other mammals. Proteins associated with the immune response were compared amongst three strains of mice displaying various degrees of susceptibility. This study utilizes mass spectrometric techniques to characterize the proteins presented during the immune response in lethally infected susceptible mice, moderately susceptible mice, and innately resistant mice. The resulting protein profiles will provide insight on acquired immunity through vaccination.