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The focus of my research is to gain an understanding about the innate immune responses to microsporidia. Microsporidia cause chronic diarrhea not only in HIV+ individuals, but also in HIV-1 seronegative individuals including travelers, children, and the elderly. Approximately 1.9 million people are projected to be infected with microsporidia, posing life-threatening loss of nutrients and liquids. Little is understood about the host responses to these obligate intracellular parasites, therefore elucidating the mechanisms of invasion/evasion is critical in developing therapeutic treatment against these eukaryotic pathogens.
Our research directives center on determining the host receptors involved in recognition of microsporidia, subsequent signaling events and the resulting chemokine and cytokine profiles generated against both pathogenic and non-pathogenic species. Current projects include comparisons of Toll-like receptor utilization by various species of microsporidia, activation of the PI3K, p38MAPK, and NF-kB signaling pathways and proteome profiling of the inflammatory mediators in human macrophages and dendritic cells. We have an additional interest in determining the effects of immunosenescence on these processes.
Fischer, J., West, J., Agochukwu, N., Suire, C., and H. Hale-Donze (2007) Induction of Host Chemotactic Response by Encephalitozoon spp. Infection and Immunity. 75:1619-1625.
Hale-Donze, H and Didier, E., (July 2007) “ Microporidioses” in Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. John Wiley &Sons Ltd., Chichester:// www.els.net [10.1002/9780470015902.a0001930].
Fischer, J., Tran, D., Juneau, R. and H. Hale-Donze (2007) Kinetics of Encephalitozoon Spp. Infection of Human Macrophages. Journal of Parasitology, in press.
Hale-Donze, H., Greenwell-Wild, T., Mizel, D., Doherty, T.M., Chatterjee, D., Orenstein, J.M., and Wahl, S.M. (2002) Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) promotes recruitment of monocyte hosts for HIV-1 and bacteria. Journal of Immunology. 169:3854-3862.
Hale-Donze, H., Wahl S. M., and R. J. Jackson. (2001) Measurement of TGF-b1 in biological fluids. Current Protocols in Immunology. 6.11.
Ashcroft, G.S., Lei, K., Jin, W., Longenecker, G., Kulkarni, A.B., Greenwell-Wild, T., Hale Donze, H., McGrady, G., Song, X-Y., and S.M. Wahl. (2000) Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) mediates non-redundant functions necessary for normal wound healing. Nature Medicine. 6:1147-1153.
Wahl, S.M., Greenwell-Wild, T., Hale-Donze, H., Moutsopoulos, N., and J.M Orenstein. (2000) Permissive factors for HIV-1 infection of macrophages. Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 68:303-310. (Cover)
Wahl, S. M., Greenwell-Wild, T., Peng, G., Hale-Donze, H., Doherty, T. M., Mizel, D., and J. M. Orenstein. (1998) Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) augments macrophage HIV-1 production and increases CCR5 expression. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A. 95:12574.
Hale Donze, H., Cummins, Jr., J. E. , Schwiebert, R. S., Kantele, A., Han, Y., Fultz, P. N., Jackson, S., and J. Mestecky. (1997) HIV-1/simian virus infection of human and nonhuman primate lymphocytes result in the migration of CD2+ T cells into the intestine of engrafted SCID mice. Journal of Immunology. 160:2506-2513.
Hale Donze, H., Cummins Jr., J. E., Schwiebert, R. S., Fultz, P. N., Jackson, S., and J. Mestecky. (1998) Human and nonhuman primate lymphocytes engrafted into SCID mice reside in unique mesenteric lymphoid structures. Journal of Immunology. 161: 1306 1312.