University of Georgia
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Category: publications

Towards a comprehensive research and development plan to support the control, elimination and eradication of neglected tropical diseases

Donna Huber on November 11, 2020

To maximise the likelihood of success, global health programmes need repeated, honest appraisal of their own weaknesses, with research undertaken to address any identified gaps. There is still much to be learned to optimise work against neglected tropical diseases. To facilitate that learning, a comprehensive research and development plan is required. Here, we discuss how …

The nucleocytosolic O-fucosyltransferase Spindly affects protein expression and virulence in Toxoplasma gondii

Donna Huber on November 9, 2020

Once considered unusual, nucleocytoplasmic glycosylation is now recognized as a conserved feature of eukaryotes. While in animals O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) modifies thousands of intracellular proteins, the human pathogen Toxoplasma gondii transfers a different sugar, fucose, to proteins involved in transcription, mRNA processing and signaling. Knockout experiments showed that TgSPY, an ortholog of plant SPINDLY and paralog of host OGT, …

Diagnostics and the neglected tropical diseases roadmap: setting the agenda for 2030

Donna Huber on November 9, 2020

Accurate and reliable diagnostic tools are an essential requirement for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) programmes. However, the NTD community has historically underinvested in the development and improvement of diagnostic tools, potentially undermining the successes achieved over the last 2 decades. Recognizing this, the WHO, in its newly released draft roadmap for NTD 2021-2030, has identified …

A modified drug regimen clears active and dormant trypanosomes in mouse models of Chagas disease

Donna Huber on October 28, 2020

A major contributor to treatment failure in Chagas disease, caused by infection with the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is that current treatment regimens do not address the drug insensitivity of transiently dormant T. cruzi amastigotes. Here, we demonstrated that use of a currently available drug in a modified treatment regimen of higher individual doses, given less frequently over …

Signaling pathways involved in environmental sensing in Trypanosoma cruzi

Donna Huber on October 9, 2020

Trypanosoma cruzi is a unicellular parasite and the etiologic agent of Chagas disease. The parasite has a digenetic life cycle alternating between mammalian and insect hosts, where it faces a variety of environmental conditions to which it must adapt in order to survive. The adaptation to these changes is mediated by signaling pathways that coordinate …

Glycomics, Glycoproteomics and Glycogenomics: an Inter-Taxa Evolutionary Perspective

Donna Huber on September 29, 2020

Glycosylation is a highly diverse set of co- and post-translational modification of proteins. For mammalian glycoproteins, glycosylation is often site-, tissue- and species-specific, and diversified by microheterogeneity. Multitudinous biochemical, cellular, physiological and organismic effects of their glycans have been revealed, either intrinsic to the carrier proteins or mediated by endogenous reader proteins with carbohydrate recognition …

Assessing the Beneficial Effects of the Immunomodulatory Glycan LNFPIII on Gut Microbiota and Health in a Mouse Model of Gulf War Illness

Donna Huber on September 27, 2020

The microbiota's influence on host (patho) physiology has gained interest in the context of Gulf War Illness (GWI), a chronic disorder featuring dysregulation of the gut-brain-immune axis. This study examined short- and long-term effects of GWI-related chemicals on gut health and fecal microbiota and the potential benefits of Lacto-N-fucopentaose-III (LNFPIII) treatment in a GWI model. …

Discovery of repurposing drug candidates for the treatment of diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae

Donna Huber on September 24, 2020

Diseases caused by pathogenic free-living amoebae include primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (Naegleria fowleri), granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (Acanthamoeba spp.), Acanthamoeba keratitis, and Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis (Balamuthia mandrillaris). Each of these are difficult to treat and have high morbidity and mortality rates due to lack of effective therapeutics. Since repurposing drugs is an ideal strategy for orphan diseases, …

Resistance to some, but not other dimeric lindenane sesquiterpenoid esters is mediated by mutations in a Plasmodium falciparum esterase

Donna Huber on September 24, 2020

Unique lindenane sesquiterpenoid dimers from Chloranthecae spp. were recently identified with promising in vitro antiplasmodial activity and potentially novel mechanisms of action. To gain mechanistic insights to this new class of natural products, in vitro selection of Plasmodium falciparum resistance to the most active antiplasmodial compound, chlorajaponilide C, was explored. In all selected resistant clones, …

Comparative sequences of the Wolbachia genomes of drug-sensitive and resistant isolates of Dirofilaria immitis

Donna Huber on September 15, 2020

The recent identification of isolates of D. immitis with confirmed resistance to the macrocyclic lactone preventatives presents an opportunity for comparative genomic studies using these isolates, and examining the genetic diversity within and between them. We studied the genomes of Wolbachia endosymbionts of five isolates of D. immitis maintained at the University of Georgia. Missouri and Georgia-2 are maintained as drug …