Nathan C. Peters
National Institutes of Health
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Featured researches published by Nathan C. Peters.
Science | 2008
Nathan C. Peters; Jackson G. Egen; Nagila Secundino; Alain Debrabant; Nicola Kimblin; Shaden Kamhawi; Phillip G. Lawyer; Michael P. Fay; Ronald N. Germain; David L. Sacks
Infection with the obligate intracellular protozoan Leishmania is thought to be initiated by direct parasitization of macrophages, but the early events following transmission to the skin by vector sand flies have been difficult to examine directly. Using dynamic intravital microscopy and flow cytometry, we observed a rapid and sustained neutrophilic infiltrate at localized sand fly bite sites. Invading neutrophils efficiently captured Leishmania major (L.m.) parasites early after sand fly transmission or needle inoculation, but phagocytosed L.m. remained viable and infected neutrophils efficiently initiated infection. Furthermore, neutrophil depletion reduced, rather than enhanced, the ability of parasites to establish productive infections. Thus, L.m. appears to have evolved to both evade and exploit the innate host response to sand fly bite in order to establish and promote disease.
Science | 2009
Natalia S. Akopyants; Nicola Kimblin; Nagila Secundino; Rachel Patrick; Nathan C. Peters; Phillip G. Lawyer; Deborah E. Dobson; Stephen M. Beverley; David L. Sacks
Genetic exchange has not been shown to be a mechanism underlying the extensive diversity of Leishmania parasites. We report here evidence that the invertebrate stages of Leishmania are capable of having a sexual cycle consistent with a meiotic process like that described for African trypanosomes. Hybrid progeny were generated that bore full genomic complements from both parents, but kinetoplast DNA maxicircles from one parent. Mating occurred only in the sand fly vector, and hybrids were transmitted to the mammalian host by sand fly bite. Genetic exchange likely contributes to phenotypic diversity in natural populations, and analysis of hybrid progeny will be useful for positional cloning of the genes controlling traits such as virulence, tissue tropism, and drug resistance.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | 2008
Nicola Kimblin; Nathan C. Peters; Alain Debrabant; Nagila Secundino; Jackson G. Egen; Phillip G. Lawyer; Michael P. Fay; Shaden Kamhawi; David L. Sacks
Leishmaniasis is transmitted between mammalian hosts by the bites of bloodsucking vector sand flies. The dose of parasites transmitted to the mammalian host has never been directly determined. We developed a real-time PCR-based method to determine the number of Leishmania major parasites inoculated into the ears of living mice during feeding by individual infected flies (Phlebotomus duboscqi). The number of parasites transmitted varied over a wide range in the 58 ears in which Leishmania were detected and demonstrated a clear bimodal distribution. Most of the infected mice were inoculated with a low dose of <600 parasites. One in four received a higher dose of >1,000 and up to 100,000 cells. High-dose transmission was associated with a heavy midgut infection of >30,000 parasites, incomplete blood feeding, and transmission of a high percentage of the parasite load in the fly. To test the impact of inoculum size on infection outcome, we compared representative high- (5,000) and low- (100) dose intradermal needle infections in the ears of C57BL/6 mice. To mimic natural transmission, we used sand fly-derived metacyclic forms of L. major and preexposed the injection site to the bites of uninfected flies. Large lesions developed rapidly in the ears of mice receiving the high-dose inoculum. The low dose resulted in only minor pathology but a higher parasite titer in the chronic phase, and it established the host as an efficient long-term reservoir of infection back to vector sand flies.
PLOS Pathogens | 2009
Nathan C. Peters; Nicola Kimblin; Nagila Secundino; Shaden Kamhawi; Phillip G. Lawyer; David L. Sacks
Numerous experimental vaccines have been developed to protect against the cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis caused by infection with the obligate intracellular protozoan Leishmania, but a human vaccine still does not exist. Remarkably, the efficacy of anti-Leishmania vaccines has never been fully evaluated under experimental conditions following natural vector transmission by infected sand fly bite. The only immunization strategy known to protect humans against natural exposure is “leishmanization,” in which viable L. major parasites are intentionally inoculated into a selected site in the skin. We employed mice with healed L. major infections to mimic leishmanization, and found tissue-seeking, cytokine-producing CD4+ T cells specific for Leishmania at the site of challenge by infected sand fly bite within 24 hours, and these mice were highly resistant to sand fly transmitted infection. In contrast, mice vaccinated with a killed vaccine comprised of autoclaved L. major antigen (ALM)+CpG oligodeoxynucleotides that protected against needle inoculation of parasites, showed delayed expression of protective immunity and failed to protect against infected sand fly challenge. Two-photon intra-vital microscopy and flow cytometric analysis revealed that sand fly, but not needle challenge, resulted in the maintenance of a localized neutrophilic response at the inoculation site, and removal of neutrophils following vector transmission led to increased parasite-specific immune responses and promoted the efficacy of the killed vaccine. These observations identify the critical immunological factors influencing vaccine efficacy following natural transmission of Leishmania.
Immunological Reviews | 2006
Nathan C. Peters; David L. Sacks
Summary: Leishmania are digenetic protozoan parasites that are inoculated into the skin by vector sand flies, are taken up by macrophages, and produce a spectrum of chronic diseases in their natural reservoir and susceptible human hosts. During the early establishment of infection in the skin and lymphoid organs, Leishmania produce multiple effects on macrophage and dendritic cell functions that inhibit their innate anti‐microbial defenses and impair their capacity to initiate T‐helper 1 cell immunity. In addition, the skin is a site preconditioned for early parasite survival by virtue of a high frequency of steady‐state, natural CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) that function to suppress the generation of unneeded immune responses to infectious and non‐infectious antigens to which the skin is regularly exposed. In murine models of infection, antigen‐induced CD25+/−Foxp3−interleukin (IL)‐10+ Treg cells act during the effector phase of the immune response to control immunopathology and may also delay or prevent healing. Finally, following resolution of infection in healed mice, CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs function in an IL‐10‐dependent manner to prevent sterile cure and establish a long‐term state of functional immune privilege in the skin.
PLOS Pathogens | 2012
Flávia L. Ribeiro-Gomes; Nathan C. Peters; Alain Debrabant; David L. Sacks
Neutrophils and dendritic cells (DCs) converge at localized sites of acute inflammation in the skin following pathogen deposition by the bites of arthropod vectors or by needle injection. Prior studies in mice have shown that neutrophils are the predominant recruited and infected cells during the earliest stage of Leishmania major infection in the skin, and that neutrophil depletion promotes host resistance to sand fly transmitted infection. How the massive influx of neutrophils aimed at wound repair and sterilization might modulate the function of DCs in the skin has not been previously addressed. The infected neutrophils recovered from the skin expressed elevated apoptotic markers compared to uninfected neutrophils, and were preferentially captured by dermal DCs when injected back into the mouse ear dermis. Following challenge with L. major directly, the majority of the infected DCs recovered from the skin at 24 hr stained positive for neutrophil markers, indicating that they acquired their parasites via uptake of infected neutrophils. When infected, dermal DCs were recovered from neutrophil depleted mice, their expression of activation markers was markedly enhanced, as was their capacity to present Leishmania antigens ex vivo. Neutrophil depletion also enhanced the priming of L. major specific CD4+ T cells in vivo. The findings suggest that following their rapid uptake by neutrophils in the skin, L. major exploits the immunosuppressive effects associated with the apoptotic cell clearance function of DCs to inhibit the development of acquired resistance until the acute neutrophilic response is resolved.
Cellular Microbiology | 2009
Nathan C. Peters; David L. Sacks
The dynamic process of pathogen transmission by the bite of an insect vector combines several biological processes that have undergone extensive co‐evolution. Whereas the host response to an insect bite is only occasionally confronted with the parasitic pathogens that competent vectors might transmit, the transmitted parasites will always be confronted with the acute, wound‐healing response that is initiated by the bite itself. Invariably, this response involves neutrophils. In the case of Leishmania, infection is initiated in the skin following the bite of an infected sand fly, suggesting that Leishmania must possess some means to survive their early encounter with recruited neutrophils at the bite site. Here, we review the literature regarding the impact of neutrophils on the outcome of infection with Leishmania, with special attention to the role of the sand fly bite.
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases | 2011
Carlos Henrique Nery Costa; Nathan C. Peters; Sandra Regina Maruyama; Eldo Cardoso de Brito; Isabel Kinney Ferreira de Miranda Santos
The International Symposium on Leishmaniasis Vaccines, held in Olinda, Brazil, on March 9–11, 2009, congregated international experts who conduct research on vaccines against the leishmaniases. The questions that were raised during that meeting and the ensuing discussions are compiled in this report and may assist in guiding a research agenda. A group to further discussion on issues raised in this policy platform has been set up at http://groups.google.com/group/leishvaccines-l.
Infection and Immunity | 2005
Khaled S. Tabbara; Nathan C. Peters; Farhat Afrin; Susana Mendez; Sylvie Bertholet; Yasmine Belkaid; David L. Sacks
ABSTRACT Numerous experimental vaccines have been developed with the goal of generating long-term cell-mediated immunity to the obligate intracellular parasite Leishmania major, yet inoculation with live, wild-type L. major remains the only successful vaccine in humans. We examined the expression of immunity at the site of secondary, low-dose challenge in the ear dermis to determine the kinetics of parasite clearance and the early events associated with the protection conferred by vaccination with live L. major organisms in C57BL/6 mice. Particular attention was given to the route of vaccination. We observed that the rapidity, strength, and durability of the memory response following subcutaneous vaccination with live parasites in the footpad are even greater than previously appreciated. Antigen-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-producing T cells infiltrate the secondary site by 1.5 weeks, and viable parasites are cleared as early as 2.5 weeks following rechallenge, followed by a rapid drop in IFN-γ+ CD4+ cell numbers in the site. In comparison, intradermal vaccination with live parasites in the ear generates immunity that is delayed in effector cell recruitment to the rechallenge site and in the clearance of parasites from the site. This compromised immunity was associated with a rapid recruitment of interleukin-10 (IL-10)-producing CD4+ T cells to the rechallenge site. Treatment with anti-IL-10-receptor or anti-CD25 antibody enhanced early parasite clearance in ear-vaccinated mice, indicating that chronic infection in the skin generates a population of regulatory cells capable of influencing the level of resistance to reinfection. A delicate balance of effector and regulatory T cells may be required to optimize the potency and durability of vaccines against Leishmaniasis and other intracellular pathogens.
PLOS Pathogens | 2014
Nathan C. Peters; Antonio J. Pagán; Phillip G. Lawyer; Timothy W. Hand; Eric Henrique Roma; Lisa Stamper; Audrey Romano; David L. Sacks
In contrast to the ability of long-lived CD8+ memory T cells to mediate protection against systemic viral infections, the relationship between CD4+ T cell memory and acquired resistance against infectious pathogens remains poorly defined. This is especially true for T helper 1 (Th1) concomitant immunity, in which protection against reinfection coincides with a persisting primary infection. In these situations, pre-existing effector CD4 T cells generated by ongoing chronic infection, not memory cells, may be essential for protection against reinfection. We present a systematic study of the tissue homing properties, functionality, and life span of subsets of memory and effector CD4 T cells activated in the setting of chronic Leishmania major infection in resistant C57Bl/6 mice. We found that pre-existing, CD44+CD62L−T-bet+Ly6C+ effector (TEFF) cells that are short-lived in the absence of infection and are not derived from memory cells reactivated by secondary challenge, mediate concomitant immunity. Upon adoptive transfer and challenge, non-dividing Ly6C+ TEFF cells preferentially homed to the skin, released IFN-γ, and conferred protection as compared to CD44+CD62L−Ly6C− effector memory or CD44+CD62L+Ly6C− central memory cells. During chronic infection, Ly6C+ TEFF cells were maintained at high frequencies via reactivation of TCM and the TEFF themselves. The lack of effective vaccines for many chronic diseases may be because protection against infectious challenge requires the maintenance of pre-existing TEFF cells, and is therefore not amenable to conventional, memory inducing, vaccination strategies.