Authors

R Shears³; G Plahe⁴; A Mousley¹; L Atkinson¹; RK Grencis²; KJ Else²;  ¹ Queen's University Belfast, UK;  ² University of Manchester, UK;  ³ Manchester Metropolitan University, UK;  ⁴ Manchester Metropolitan Univeristy, UK

Discussion

Host defence peptides (HDPs) are those with antimicrobial and/or immunomodulatory activity that helminths use to modulate their environment to promote survival within the host. Computational HDP prediction pipelines have identified 183 HDP-like peptides encoded by Trichuris (whipworm) species, which include T. trichiura, the causative agent of the neglected tropical disease, trichuriasis, T. muris, a naturally-occurring mouse parasite which also represents a tractable laboratory model for human trichuriasis, and T. suis, which infects pigs and is an economic concern for the livestock industry. Trichuris speciesreside within the colon and caecum of their mammalian hosts and are therefore live in close contact with the gastrointestinal microbiota and immune cells, both of which Trichuris is known manipulate to promote its own survival. Our unpublished data suggest that at least 10 of the 23 HDP-like peptides tested (prioritised based on their similarity to HDP-like peptides from other nematode species) have antimicrobial properties, while 3 induced significantly higher IL-6 production from classically activated macrophage-like cells compared to sham stimulation and a further 2 induced higher IL-10 production. Future work will identify and characterise HDPs in homogenates and host-facing biofluids collected from the mouse and human whipworm species and assess their potential as vaccine candidates.