scholarly journals Experiencing a Natural Disaster Accelerates Aging of the Immune System

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 679-679
Author(s):  
Marina Watowich ◽  
Kenneth Chiou ◽  
Michael Montague ◽  
Melween Martínez ◽  
James Higham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Human Lifespan ◽  
Cell Gene Expression ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Extreme adverse events such as natural disasters can accelerate disease progression and promote chronic inflammation. These phenotypes also increase in prevalence with age, suggesting that experiencing adversity might accelerate aging of the immune system. Adversity can induce persistent gene regulatory changes which may mechanistically explain the immune similarities between aging and adversity. To test how immune system aging is accelerated following a natural disaster, we measured the impact of Hurricane Maria on peripheral blood immune cell gene expression in a population of free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from before (n=435) versus after (n=108) Hurricane Maria. Experiencing Hurricane Maria altered the expression of 260 genes (FDR<10%), which were primarily involved in the inflammatory response. There was significant overlap in these hurricane-affected and age-associated genes with 40% (n=104) being associated with both the hurricane and aging, more than double the expected amount (Fisher’s Exact Test OR=3.7, p=4.06 x 10–21). The effects of the hurricane and aging on gene expression were also significantly correlated (rho=0.23, p=1.33 x 10-84), suggesting that they alter similar molecular pathways in the immune system. Further, we found that animals that experienced the hurricane had a gene expression profile that was, on average, 1.6 years older than animals that did not experience the hurricane (the equivalent of 6–7 years in a human lifespan, p=0.003). Together, our results provide some of the first evidence that extreme natural disasters mechanistically accelerates aging in the immune system.

scholarly journals Do Long-Term Natural Disasters Influence Social Trust? Empirical Evidence from China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7280
Author(s):  
Yao Li ◽  
Haoyang Li ◽  
Jianqing Ruan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

The natural environment is one of the most critical factors that profoundly influences human races. Natural disasters may have enormous effects on individual psychological characteristics. Using China’s long-term historical natural disaster dataset from 1470 to 2000 and data from a household survey in 2012, we explore whether long-term natural disasters affect social trust. We find that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between long-term natural disaster frequency and social trust. We further examine the impact of long-term natural disaster frequency on social trust in specific groups of people. Social trust in neighbors and doctors is stronger where long-term natural disasters are more frequent. Our results are robust after we considering the geographical difference. The effect of long-term natural disasters remains positively significant after we divide the samples based on geographical location. Interestingly, the impact of long-term flood frequency is only significant in the South and the impact of long-term drought frequency is only significant in the North.

scholarly journals Impact of Genetic Polymorphisms on Human Immune Cell Gene Expression

Cell ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 175 (6) ◽  
pp. 1701-1715.e16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Schmiedel ◽  
Divya Singh ◽  
Ariel Madrigal ◽  
Alan G. Valdovino-Gonzalez ◽  
Brandie M. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Genetic Polymorphisms ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cell Gene Expression ◽  
Human Immune ◽  
Cell Gene

scholarly journals Germline genetic polymorphisms influence tumor gene expression and immune cell infiltration

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (50) ◽  
pp. E11701-E11710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoong Wearn Lim ◽  
Haiyin Chen-Harris ◽  
Oleg Mayba ◽  
Steve Lianoglou ◽  
Arthur Wuster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Cancer Immunotherapy ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Response To Therapy ◽  
Cell Infiltration ◽  
Cancer Type ◽  
Immune Cell Infiltration ◽  
Durable Response ◽  
The Impact

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as an effective therapy in a variety of cancers. However, a key challenge in the field is that only a subset of patients who receive immunotherapy exhibit durable response. It has been hypothesized that host genetics influences the inherent immune profiles of patients and may underlie their differential response to immunotherapy. Herein, we systematically determined the association of common germline genetic variants with gene expression and immune cell infiltration of the tumor. We identified 64,094 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) that associated with 18,210 genes (eGenes) across 24 human cancers. Overall, eGenes were enriched for their being involved in immune processes, suggesting that expression of immune genes can be shaped by hereditary genetic variants. We identified the endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 2 (ERAP2) gene as a pan-cancer type eGene whose expression levels stratified overall survival in a subset of patients with bladder cancer receiving anti–PD-L1 (atezolizumab) therapy. Finally, we identified 103 gene signature QTLs (gsQTLs) that were associated with predicted immune cell abundance within the tumor microenvironment. Our findings highlight the impact of germline SNPs on cancer-immune phenotypes and response to therapy; and these analyses provide a resource for integration of germline genetics as a component of personalized cancer immunotherapy.

scholarly journals Immunotoxicity of Xenobiotics in Fish: A Role for the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR)?

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (17) ◽  
pp. 9460
Author(s):  
Helmut Segner ◽  
Christyn Bailey ◽  
Carolina Tafalla ◽  
Jun Bo
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor ◽  
Disease Susceptibility ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Physiological Role ◽  
Immune Gene ◽  
Immune Systems ◽  
Aryl Hydrocarbon ◽  
The Impact

The impact of anthropogenic contaminants on the immune system of fishes is an issue of growing concern. An important xenobiotic receptor that mediates effects of chemicals, such as halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (HAHs) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Fish toxicological research has focused on the role of this receptor in xenobiotic biotransformation as well as in causing developmental, cardiac, and reproductive toxicity. However, biomedical research has unraveled an important physiological role of the AhR in the immune system, what suggests that this receptor could be involved in immunotoxic effects of environmental contaminants. The aims of the present review are to critically discuss the available knowledge on (i) the expression and possible function of the AhR in the immune systems of teleost fishes; and (ii) the impact of AhR-activating xenobiotics on the immune systems of fish at the levels of immune gene expression, immune cell proliferation and immune cell function, immune pathology, and resistance to infectious disease. The existing information indicates that the AhR is expressed in the fish immune system, but currently, we have little understanding of its physiological role. Exposure to AhR-activating contaminants results in the modulation of numerous immune structural and functional parameters of fish. Despite the diversity of fish species studied and the experimental conditions investigated, the published findings rather uniformly point to immunosuppressive actions of xenobiotic AhR ligands in fish. These effects are often associated with increased disease susceptibility. The fact that fish populations from HAH- and PAH-contaminated environments suffer immune disturbances and elevated disease susceptibility highlights that the immunotoxic effects of AhR-activating xenobiotics bear environmental relevance.

scholarly journals Enabling out-of-clinic human immunity studies via single-cell profiling of capillary blood

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatyana Dobreva ◽  
David Brown ◽  
Jong Hwee Park ◽  
Matt Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Immune System ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Capillary Blood ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Human Immune ◽  
Over Time

AbstractAn individual’s immune system is driven by both genetic and environmental factors that vary over time. To better understand the temporal and inter-individual variability of gene expression within distinct immune cell types, we developed a platform that leverages multiplexed single-cell sequencing and out-of-clinic capillary blood extraction to enable simplified, cost-effective profiling of the human immune system across people and time at single-cell resolution. Using the platform, we detect widespread differences in cell type-specific gene expression between subjects that are stable over multiple days.SummaryIncreasing evidence implicates the immune system in an overwhelming number of diseases, and distinct cell types play specific roles in their pathogenesis.1,2 Studies of peripheral blood have uncovered a wealth of associations between gene expression, environmental factors, disease risk, and therapeutic efficacy.4 For example, in rheumatoid arthritis, multiple mechanistic paths have been found that lead to disease, and gene expression of specific immune cell types can be used as a predictor of therapeutic non-response.12 Furthermore, vaccines, drugs, and chemotherapy have been shown to yield different efficacy based on time of administration, and such findings have been linked to the time-dependence of gene expression in downstream pathways.21,22,23 However, human immune studies of gene expression between individuals and across time remain limited to a few cell types or time points per subject, constraining our understanding of how networks of heterogeneous cells making up each individual’s immune system respond to adverse events and change over time.

scholarly journals Nutritional immunity: the impact of metals on lung immune cells and the airway microbiome during chronic respiratory disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Healy ◽  
Natalia Munoz-Wolf ◽  
Janné Strydom ◽  
Lynne Faherty ◽  
Niamh C. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Trace Metals ◽  
Lung Disease ◽  
Chronic Lung Disease ◽  
Immune Cells ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Redox Activity ◽  
Nutritional Immunity ◽  
Airway Microbiome ◽  
The Impact

AbstractNutritional immunity is the sequestration of bioavailable trace metals such as iron, zinc and copper by the host to limit pathogenicity by invading microorganisms. As one of the most conserved activities of the innate immune system, limiting the availability of free trace metals by cells of the immune system serves not only to conceal these vital nutrients from invading bacteria but also operates to tightly regulate host immune cell responses and function. In the setting of chronic lung disease, the regulation of trace metals by the host is often disrupted, leading to the altered availability of these nutrients to commensal and invading opportunistic pathogenic microbes. Similarly, alterations in the uptake, secretion, turnover and redox activity of these vitally important metals has significant repercussions for immune cell function including the response to and resolution of infection. This review will discuss the intricate role of nutritional immunity in host immune cells of the lung and how changes in this fundamental process as a result of chronic lung disease may alter the airway microbiome, disease progression and the response to infection.

scholarly journals Social history and exposure to pathogen signals modulate social status effects on gene regulation in rhesus macaques

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (38) ◽  
pp. 23317-23322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquín Sanz ◽  
Paul L. Maurizio ◽  
Noah Snyder-Mackler ◽  
Noah D. Simons ◽  
Tawni Voyles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Social History ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Expression Patterns ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Type I ◽  
Gene Expression Response ◽  
Expression Of Genes

Social experience is an important predictor of disease susceptibility and survival in humans and other social mammals. Chronic social stress is thought to generate a proinflammatory state characterized by elevated antibacterial defenses and reduced investment in antiviral defense. Here we manipulated long-term social status in female rhesus macaques to show that social subordination alters the gene expression response to ex vivo bacterial and viral challenge. As predicted by current models, bacterial lipopolysaccharide polarizes the immune response such that low status corresponds to higher expression of genes in NF-κB–dependent proinflammatory pathways and lower expression of genes involved in the antiviral response and type I IFN signaling. Counter to predictions, however, low status drives more exaggerated expression of both NF-κB– and IFN-associated genes after cells are exposed to the viral mimic Gardiquimod. Status-driven gene expression patterns are linked not only to social status at the time of sampling, but also to social history (i.e., past social status), especially in unstimulated cells. However, for a subset of genes, we observed interaction effects in which females who fell in rank were more strongly affected by current social status than those who climbed the social hierarchy. Taken together, our results indicate that the effects of social status on immune cell gene expression depend on pathogen exposure, pathogen type, and social history—in support of social experience-mediated biological embedding in adulthood, even in the conventionally memory-less innate immune system.

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