Towards the Establishment of a Porcine Model to Study Human Amebiasis

BACKGROUND: Entamoeba histolytica is an important parasite of the human intestine. Its life cycle is monoxenous with two stages: (i) the trophozoite, growing in the intestine and (ii) the cyst corresponding to the dissemination stage. The trophozoite in the intestine can live as a commensal leading to asymptomatic infection or as a tissue invasive form producing mucosal ulcers and liver abscesses. There is no animal model mimicking the whole disease cycle. Most of the biological information on E. histolytica has been obtained from trophozoite adapted to axenic culture. The reproduction of intestinal amebiasis in an animal model is difficult while for liver amebiasis there are well-described rodent models. During this study, we worked on the assessment of pigs as a new potential model to study amebiasis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first co-cultured trophozoites of E. histolytica with porcine colonic fragments and observed a disruption of the mucosal architecture. Then, we showed that outbred pigs can be used to reproduce some lesions associated with human amebiasis. A detailed analysis was performed using a washed closed-jejunal loops model. In loops inoculated with virulent amebas a severe acute ulcerative jejunitis was observed with large hemorrhagic lesions 14 days post-inoculation associated with the presence of the trophozoites in the depth of the mucosa in two out four animals. Furthermore, typical large sized hepatic abscesses were observed in the liver of one animal 7 days post-injection in the portal vein and the liver parenchyma. CONCLUSIONS: The pig model could help with simultaneously studying intestinal and extraintestinal lesion development

A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data for ocean colour satellite applications – version three

A global in situ data set for validation of ocean colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) is presented. This version of the compilation, starting in 1997, now extends to 2021, which is important for the validation of the most recent satellite optical sensors such as Sentinel 3B OLCI and NOAA-20 VIIRS. The data set comprises in situ observations of the following variables: spectral remote-sensing reflectance, concentration of chlorophyll-a, spectral inherent optical properties, spectral diffuse attenuation coefficient, and total suspended matter. Data were obtained from multi-project archives acquired via open internet services or from individual projects acquired directly from data providers. Methodologies were implemented for homogenization, quality control, and merging of all data. Minimal changes were made on the original data, other than conversion to a standard format, elimination of some points, after quality control and averaging of observations that were close in time and space. The result is a merged table available in text format. Overall, the size of the data set grew with 148 432 rows, with each row representing a unique station in space and time (cf. 136 250 rows in previous version; Valente et al., 2019). Observations of remote-sensing reflectance increased to 68 641 (cf. 59 781 in previous version; Valente et al., 2019). There was also a near tenfold increase in chlorophyll data since 2016. Metadata of each in situ measurement (original source, cruise or experiment, principal investigator) are included in the final table. By making the metadata available, provenance is better documented and it is also possible to analyse each set of data separately. The compiled data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.941318 (Valente et al., 2022)

Le point sur l'épidémiologie et la physiopathologie des encéphalopathies spongiformes des ruminants

National audienceThe bovine spongiform encephalopathy epidemic resulted from cattle feeding with contaminated meat and bone meal (MBM). The recycling of infected carcases into MBM amplified the dissemination of the infectious agent, The origin of the disease and the nature of the agent - infectious protein, virus, ... - as web as the possibility of its transmission to humans remain unknown, Most of the current knowledge about spongiform encephalopathies, including the physiopathology of BSE, has been extrapolated from results of many year studies of scrapie in sheep. But some differences exist between diseases according to the host species. One of these differences is the absence of infection in lymphoid tissue of cattle whereas it has been showed to be one of the main features of the disease in sheep, It can then be postulated that dissemination of the agent could occur mainly by the nervous route in the bovine, whereas lymphoid system is likely to be an important and early replication site in sheep, Origin of neuronal death, which could explain symptoms encountered in these conditions, is still poorly understood, PrP, a normal protein found at the membrane of numerous cell types, accumulates in its pathological isoform, PrPsc, in the central nervous system and is strongly involved in the pathological process, since its presence and its genetic polymorphism considerably influences the progress of infection, But PrP is probably not the only protein involved in the transmission and the spread of the agent in the infected host.L’épidémie d’encéphalopathie spongiforme bovine (ESB) résulte de la consommation par les bovins de farines de viandes et d’os contaminées. En recyclant l’agent infectieux, ces farines ont permis d’amplifier la dissémination d’une maladie dont l’origine et l’agent responsable demeurent inconnus. Les hypothèses sur la nature protéique ou/et virale de l’agent sont évoquées, ainsi que l’éventualité d’une transmission à l’homme. Une grande partie de nos connaissances des encéphalopathies spongiformes résulte des études réalisées de longue date sur la tremblante des ovins. En particulier, l’idée que l’on peut se faire de la physiopathologie de l’infection des bovins est en grande partie extrapolée à partir du résultat d’infections expérimentales réalisées chez le mouton. Toutefois, la contamination des tissus lymphoïdes périphériques, qui est la règle au cours de la phase de dissémination dans l’organisme de l’agent de la tremblante, semble absente dans le cas de la maladie bovine. Il est donc possible que ce type de tissus, considéré comme infectieux en matière de tremblante, le soit peu au cours de la phase préclinique dans le cas de l’ESB. L’atteinte du système nerveux central des bovins pourrait alors résulter d’une dissémination empruntant les voies nerveuses. Les mécanismes conduisant à la mort neuronale responsable des symptômes observés restent mal connus. La protéine PrP, protéine normale de la membrane de nombreux types cellulaires, et qui s’accumule sous sa forme pathologique PrPSC au niveau des lésions est indispensable au processus pathologique. Son polymorphisme influence considérablement le devenir de l’infection, mais elle ne peut être tenue pour seule responsable de la transmission de la maladie

Tissue distribution of pathological prion protein and infectivity in orally BSE infected goats of different genotypes

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KDM1A inactivation causes hereditary food-dependent Cushing syndrome

International audiencePURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the genetic cause of food-dependent Cushing syndrome (FDCS) observed in patients with primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH) and adrenal ectopic expression of the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor. Germline ARMC5 alterations have been reported in about 25% of PBMAH index cases but are absent in patients with FDCS. METHODS: A multiomics analysis of PBMAH tissues from 36 patients treated by adrenalectomy was performed (RNA sequencing, single-nucleotide variant array, methylome, miRNome, exome sequencing). RESULTS: The integrative analysis revealed 3 molecular groups with different clinical features, namely G1, comprising 16 patients with ARMC5 inactivating variants; G2, comprising 6 patients with FDCS with glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor ectopic expression; and G3, comprising 14 patients with a less severe phenotype. Exome sequencing revealed germline truncating variants of KDM1A in 5 G2 patients, constantly associated with a somatic loss of the KDM1A wild-type allele on 1p, leading to a loss of KDM1A expression both at messenger RNA and protein levels (P = 1.2 × 10(-12) and P < .01, respectively). Subsequently, KDM1A pathogenic variants were identified in 4 of 4 additional index cases with FDCS. CONCLUSION: KDM1A inactivation explains about 90% of FDCS PBMAH. Genetic screening for ARMC5 and KDM1A can now be offered for most PBMAH operated patients and their families, opening the way to earlier diagnosis and improved management

A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data for ocean-colour satellite applications - version two

A global compilation of in situ data is useful to evaluate the quality of ocean-colour satellite data records. Here we describe the data compiled for the validation of the ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI). The data were acquired from several sources (including, inter alia, MOBY, BOUSSOLE, AERONET-OC, SeaBASS, NOMAD, MERMAID, AMT, ICES, HOT, GeP&CO) between 1997 and 2017. Observations of the following variables were compiled: spectral remote-sensing reflectances, concentrations of chlorophyll-a, spectral inherent optical properties, spectral diffuse attenuation coefficients and total suspended matter. The data were from multi-project archives acquired via open internet services or from individual projects, acquired directly from data providers. Methodologies were implemented for homogenisation, quality control and merging of all data. No changes were made to the original data, other than averaging of observations that were close in time and space, elimination of some points after quality control and conversion to a standard format. The final result is a merged table designed for validation of satellite-derived ocean-colour products and available in text format. Metadata of each in situ measurement (original source, cruise or experiment, principal investigator) were propagated throughout the work and made available in the final table. By making the metadata available, provenance is better documented and it is also possible to analyse each set of data separately. This paper also describes the changes that were made to the compilation in relation to the previous version