Page 44 - COMP Magazine - Winter 2018
P. 44
Research: Links to Brain & Gut By Michelle Steinauer, PhD
Faculty, staff and students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest worked in partnership
with researchers at Oregon State University over the summer to characterize how worm parasites affect behavior.
Recent research has shown that the brain and the gut are linked and that the bacteria in the gut (i.e. the microbiome)
can have a large impact on anxiety, mood, and learning. Worm parasites, like schistosome flukes, are common in
people worldwide and are likely to have a large impact on gut inflammation and the microbiome. Thus, the parasites
could also impact behavior. An interprofessional team including COMP-Northwest students Britney Hyun and
Thomas Maehara found that schistosome infection in a mouse model increases obsessive-compulsive behavior and
reduces early spatial learning and memory. These findings are consistent with behaviors observed in school children
that are infected with this parasite. The research team is seeking grant funding to characterize the changes in the
microbiome associated with infection, and to determine how gut permeability and inflammation correlate with
behavioral changes. We would like to extend these findings to human infection, microbiome, and behavior in Kenya, an
area endemic to schistosomiasis and where the Principal Investigator, Dr. Steinauer, has an ongoing study aimed to
understand environmental transmission of this parasite. Student support included a Summer Research Fellowship
from Western University of Health Sciences awarded to OMS II Hyun and National Institutes of Health
Apprenticeships awarded to OMS II Hyun and Maehara. n
Importance of Vaccines
Vaccines are an important prevention strategy for infectious disease. Unfortunately, in many cases, there is an
opportunity for vaccine escape. This can happen when pathogens change their structure so that the antibodies induced
by the vaccine, no longer recognize the pathogen. Horizontal gene transfer among pathogen species is one way that
pathogens can change a vaccine target. Schistosome parasites that infect over 200 million people worldwide, share
genes with sister species that infect wildlife. Thus, there is a concern that vaccines developed for the human-infecting
schistosomes will be thwarted by the transfer of genes from the wildlife parasite into the human-infecting parasite.
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest students, Janyne Mallender and Thomas Maehara
characterized the DNA and protein sequences of an important vaccine target called tetraspanin-2 in a rodent parasite
that shares genes with an important human pathogen. They found distinct differences between the protein amino acid
sequences, suggesting that vaccine escape is a possibility and should be considered in vaccination strategies. The team is
seeking grant funding to further characterize the entire protein including alternative splicing patterns with a
bioinformatics approach, and perform vaccine efficacy trials in mice to determine whether the vaccine will protect
against the rodent parasite and if horizontal gene transfer can lead to vaccine escape in a model system. Student
support for this project included a Summer Research Fellowship from Western University of Health Sciences
awarded to Mallender. n
Faculty, staff and students from the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest worked in partnership
with researchers at Oregon State University over the summer to characterize how worm parasites affect behavior.
Recent research has shown that the brain and the gut are linked and that the bacteria in the gut (i.e. the microbiome)
can have a large impact on anxiety, mood, and learning. Worm parasites, like schistosome flukes, are common in
people worldwide and are likely to have a large impact on gut inflammation and the microbiome. Thus, the parasites
could also impact behavior. An interprofessional team including COMP-Northwest students Britney Hyun and
Thomas Maehara found that schistosome infection in a mouse model increases obsessive-compulsive behavior and
reduces early spatial learning and memory. These findings are consistent with behaviors observed in school children
that are infected with this parasite. The research team is seeking grant funding to characterize the changes in the
microbiome associated with infection, and to determine how gut permeability and inflammation correlate with
behavioral changes. We would like to extend these findings to human infection, microbiome, and behavior in Kenya, an
area endemic to schistosomiasis and where the Principal Investigator, Dr. Steinauer, has an ongoing study aimed to
understand environmental transmission of this parasite. Student support included a Summer Research Fellowship
from Western University of Health Sciences awarded to OMS II Hyun and National Institutes of Health
Apprenticeships awarded to OMS II Hyun and Maehara. n
Importance of Vaccines
Vaccines are an important prevention strategy for infectious disease. Unfortunately, in many cases, there is an
opportunity for vaccine escape. This can happen when pathogens change their structure so that the antibodies induced
by the vaccine, no longer recognize the pathogen. Horizontal gene transfer among pathogen species is one way that
pathogens can change a vaccine target. Schistosome parasites that infect over 200 million people worldwide, share
genes with sister species that infect wildlife. Thus, there is a concern that vaccines developed for the human-infecting
schistosomes will be thwarted by the transfer of genes from the wildlife parasite into the human-infecting parasite.
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest students, Janyne Mallender and Thomas Maehara
characterized the DNA and protein sequences of an important vaccine target called tetraspanin-2 in a rodent parasite
that shares genes with an important human pathogen. They found distinct differences between the protein amino acid
sequences, suggesting that vaccine escape is a possibility and should be considered in vaccination strategies. The team is
seeking grant funding to further characterize the entire protein including alternative splicing patterns with a
bioinformatics approach, and perform vaccine efficacy trials in mice to determine whether the vaccine will protect
against the rodent parasite and if horizontal gene transfer can lead to vaccine escape in a model system. Student
support for this project included a Summer Research Fellowship from Western University of Health Sciences
awarded to Mallender. n
