Parasitology

Biography

Biography: Zhiyue Lv

Abstract

The rat lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a food-borne nematode parasite, is the primary cause of human eosinophilic meningitis, meningoencephalitis and other neurological disorders in many tropical and subtropical regions. Genome-scale investigation of permissive hosts (rat) and non-permissive hosts (mouse and human) for A. cantonensis revealed CCL8, a non-permissive host-specific eosinophil chemotactic chemokine, with an extremely high-level expression in central nerve sysytem (CNS) of A. cantonensis infected mice. Here, we aim to determine the effects of CCL8 on mouse and rat models infected with A. cantonensis. Blocking of CCL8 by injection of anti-CCL8 monoclonal antibodies markedly reduced eosinophil infiltration in peripheral blood and brain of mice infected by A. cantonensis, and the larvae migrated into the pulmonary artery of the infected mice after administration of monoclonal antibodies. In addition, cerebral stereotaxis and microinjection of the infected rats with mouse CCL8 significantly increased eosinophil counts in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of the treated rats, and obviously inhibited larval migration from the rat brain to lung. Moreover, hamster, another mammal with deletion of CCL8 gene, could served as an permissive host for A. cantonensis. In summary, a deletion of CCL8 contributes to larvae migration from brain to lung and adult development of A. cantonensis in permissive hosts and determines host- A. cantonensis adaption, which demonstrates a novel potential drug target for angiostrongyliasis and enriches a comprehensive understanding of host-parasite coevolution.