Transcriptional memory-like imprints and enhanced functional activity in gamma delta T cells following resolution of malaria infection

Gamma delta T cells play an essential role in the immune response to many pathogens, including Plasmodium. However, long-lasting effects of infection on the gamma delta T cell population still remain inadequately understood. This study focused on assessing molecular and functional changes that persist in the gamma delta T cell population following resolution of malaria infection. We investigated transcriptional changes and memory-like functional capacity of malaria pre-exposed gamma delta T cells using a Plasmodium chabaudi infection model. We show that multiple genes associated with effector function (chemokines, cytokines and cytotoxicity) and antigen-presentation were upregulated in P. chabaudi-exposed gamma delta T cells compared to gamma delta T cells from naive mice. This transcriptional profile was positively correlated with profiles observed in conventional memory CD8(+) T cells and was accompanied by enhanced reactivation upon secondary encounter with Plasmodium-infected red blood cells in vitro. Collectively our data demonstrate that Plasmodium exposure result in "memory-like imprints" in the gamma delta T cell population and also promotes gamma delta T cells that can support antigen-presentation during subsequent infections

"One shudders to think what might happen to German Jewry" : Vancouver newspapers and Canadian attitudes towards Nazi antisemitism, 1933-1935

This thesis explores the attitudes and responses of Canadians to the Nazis’ antisemitism during the early years of the Third Reich, using Vancouver and the Vancouver press as a point of focus. In addition to providing greater understanding of the public response to Nazi Germany during this period, this research also carries larger implications regarding how attitudes towards the Third Reich may reflect broader notions of Canadian identity and Canadian Jewish identity. In particular, this study demonstrates that responses to Nazi Germany were fundamentally shaped by Canada’s longstanding ties to Great Britain. Vancouverites shaped their response to the Nazis from a pro-British, anti-fascist standpoint, rejecting the Nazis’ antisemitism as symbolic of the barbarity of fascism itself. Because their condemnation stemmed from this anti-fascist position, Vancouverites did not have to reconcile their opposition to the Nazis with their own racism. Vancouver Jewry, however, were forced to lead a schizophrenic existence, caught between their ethnic obligations and their identity as Canadian citizens. Within the community, Canadian Jews expressed fears about the pervasive antisemitism in Canada and upheld the persecution of their brethren in Nazi Germany as a possible portent of their own future; outwardly, though, Canadian Jewry expressed a confident Canadianness and ignored the problem of domestic antisemitism, ensuring that their appeals for public and government support were visibly rooted in an obligation to intervene in Germany not as Jews, but as Canadians defending basic democratic principles.Arts, Faculty ofHistory, Department ofGraduat

Transcriptional Memory-Like Imprints and Enhanced Functional Activity in gamma delta T Cells Following Resolution of Malaria Infection

γδ T cells play an essential role in the immune response to many pathogens, including Plasmodium. However, long-lasting effects of infection on the γδ T cell population still remain inadequately understood. This study focused on assessing molecular and functional changes that persist in the γδ T cell population following resolution of malaria infection. We investigated transcriptional changes and memory-like functional capacity of malaria pre-exposed γδ T cells using a Plasmodium chabaudi infection model. We show that multiple genes associated with effector function (chemokines, cytokines and cytotoxicity) and antigen-presentation were upregulated in P. chabaudi-exposed γδ T cells compared to γδ T cells from naïve mice. This transcriptional profile was positively correlated with profiles observed in conventional memory CD8+ T cells and was accompanied by enhanced reactivation upon secondary encounter with Plasmodium-infected red blood cells in vitro. Collectively our data demonstrate that Plasmodium exposure result in "memory-like imprints" in the γδ T cell population and also promotes γδ T cells that can support antigen-presentation during subsequent infections