Innate BALB/c Enteric Epithelial Responses to Trichinella spiralis: Inducible Expression of a Novel Goblet Cell Lectin, Intelectin-2, and Its Natural Deletion in C57BL/10 Mice

Abstract

Infection of mice with the nematode parasite Trichinella spiralis induces changes in the proteome of the jejunal epithelium, including substantial up-regulation of a novel variant of interlectin. In this study we sequence this novel lectin, termed intelectin-2, and compare expression levels during T. spiralis infection of resistant (BALB/c) with susceptible (C57BL/10) mouse strains. Intelectin-2 was cloned and sequenced from BALB/c mRNA extracted on day 14 of infection, and was found to have 91% amino acid identity with intelectin (within our study termed intelectin-1). Intelectin-2 transcripts were up-regulated early (day 3) during infection with T. spiralis in BALB/c mice, suggesting an innate response, and levels remained high through to day 14 (time of parasite rejection). Immunohistochemistry of jejunal sections with a rabbit polyclonal Ab to Xenopus laevis 35-kDa cortical granule lectin (XL35; 68% identity with intelectin-2) followed a similar pattern, with intense labeling of goblet and Paneth cells at day 14. However, intelectin-2 transcripts and protein were absent, and immunohistochemistry negative when C57BL/10 mice were infected with T. spiralis. Genomic PCR and Southern blotting confirmed that the intelectin-2 gene is absent from the C57BL/10 genome. The presence of intelectin-2 in resistant BALB/c mice, its absence from the susceptible C57BL/10 strain and the kinetics of its up-regulation during T. spiralis infection suggest that this novel lectin may serve a protective role in the innate immune response to parasite infection.

Intelectin gene from the grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella: cDNA cloning, tissue expression, and immunohistochemical localization

“…In uninfected BALB/c mice, mRNA for intelectin 1 was expressed at high levels in the gut, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caecum, colon and spleen, but was not detected in significant amounts in other organs, including the heart. By contrast, intelectin 2 expression in uninfected mice was confined to the ileum [9]. In healthy grass carp, intelectin transcripts were detected in almost all examined organs except liver.…”

“…The two cDNA sequences of human intelectin showed 85% identity to each other at the deduced amino acid level [10]. Mouse intelectin 2 gene encodes a 313 amino acid protein, having 91% identity with mouse intelectin 1 [9]. The expression of The total RNA and protein were extracted, respectively, from grass carp brain, liver, intestine, spleen, heart, trunk kidney, head kidney, and gill.…”

“…Pemberton et al [9] reported intelectin 2 in the BALB/c and 129/SvEv strains, which plays an important role in the innate immune response to parasite infection. Human intelectin genes have two different transcripts, and human intelectin gene (HL-1) is a new type of lectin recognizing galactofuranosyl residues of pathogens, and plays a role in the recognition of bacteria-specific components [7].…”

Nippostrongylus brasiliensis: Identification of intelectin-1 and -2 as Stat6-dependent genes expressed in lung and intestine during infection

“…Among the Stat6-dependent genes that were induced in lung and intestine during infection were IgA, calcium activated chloride channel 3, small proline rich proteins 2 and intelectin-2, which has recently been identified as a gene induced by nematode infection in the small intestine (Table 1) (Komiya, 1998;Pemberton, 2004b). Two intelectin genes have been described in mouse and man with high homology to a Xenopus oocyte granule lectin (Lee, 2001;Pemberton, 2004a;Suzuki, 2001b). Since human intelectin has been described to bind galactofuranose sugars present in cell walls of bacteria, fungi and protozoan parasites and therefore might play a role in immune defense, its mouse homolog was chosen here for further investigation (Daffe, 1990;Latge, 1994;Suzuki, 2001a;Suzuki, 2002;Tsuji, 2001).…”

Structure in parasite component communities in wild rodents: predictability, stability, associations and interactions .... or pure randomness?

“…The latter can be pathogenic for the host and come at a cost (Castro, Olson and Baker, 1967 ;Mercer et al 2000), but it is during this effector phase that worms can be expelled from the host. We have been arguing for some time about whether a magic bullet exists within the complex array of effectors (Pemberton et al 2004 ;Anthony et al 2006 ;Artis, 2006 ;Artis et al 2004), but the fact is that once unleashed some components of the response to intestinal helminths, whether effective journals.cambridge.org against the triggering species or not, can be detrimental to other species. Five broad categories of such interactions arising from this immune interaction can be envisaged.…”