Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba ubiquitous in nature, with worldwide distribution. Although it is capable of living and proliferating without invading hosts, it can occasionally cause opportunistic as well as non opportunistic diseases in humans. Dissecting the immunology of Acanthamoeba infections has been always considered problematic due to the very low incidence despite the high exposure rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Acanthamoeba on the activation of resting macrophages. Towards this purpose bone marrow derived macrophages were co-cultured with either a laboratory strain, named Neff, or a clinical isolate of A. castellanii. Acanthamoeba was found to induce a pro-inflammatory macrophage phenotype following exposure to Neff strain, characterized by significant production of TNF-α, IL-12 and IL-6 from macrophages. In comparison the clinical isolate induced IL-12 and IL-6 to a significantly lesser degree than the Neff strain (p
| Date of Award | 17 Jun 2015 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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