Abstract:
How parasites develop and survive, and how they stimulate or modulate host immune responses are important in understanding disease pathology and for the design of new control strategies. Microarray analysis and bulk RNA sequencing have provided a wealth of data on gene expression as parasites develop through different life-cycle stages and on host cell responses to infection. These techniques have enabled gene expression in the whole organism or host tissue to be detailed, but do not take account of the heterogeneity between cells of different types or developmental stages, nor the spatial organisation of these cells. Single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) adds a new dimension to studying parasite biology and host immunity by enabling gene profiling at the individual cell level. Here we review the application of scRNA-seq to establish gene expression cell atlases for multicellular helminths and to explore the expansion and molecular profile of individual host cell types involved in parasite immunity and tissue repair. Studying host-parasite interactions in vivo is challenging and we conclude this review by briefly discussing the applications of organoids (stem-cell derived mini-tissues) to examine host-parasite interactions at the local level, and as a potential system to study parasite development in vitro. Organoid technology and its applications have developed rapidly, and the elegant studies performed to date support the use of organoids as an alternative in vitro system for research on helminth parasites.
摘要:
寄生虫如何发育和生存,以及它们如何刺激或调节宿主免疫反应对于理解疾病病理和设计新的控制策略很重要。微阵列分析和批量RNA测序提供了大量的基因表达数据,因为寄生虫在不同的生命周期阶段发展,以及宿主细胞对感染的反应。这些技术使整个生物体或宿主组织中的基因表达得以详细说明,但不考虑不同类型或发育阶段的细胞之间的异质性,也不是这些细胞的空间组织。单细胞RNA-seq(scRNA-seq)通过在单个细胞水平进行基因分析,为研究寄生虫生物学和宿主免疫增加了新的维度。在这里,我们回顾了scRNA-seq在建立多细胞蠕虫的基因表达细胞图谱中的应用,并探索了参与寄生虫免疫和组织修复的单个宿主细胞类型的扩增和分子谱。研究体内的宿主-寄生虫相互作用是具有挑战性的,我们通过简要讨论类器官(干细胞衍生的微型组织)在局部水平上检查宿主-寄生虫相互作用的应用来总结这篇综述。作为体外研究寄生虫发育的潜在系统。类器官技术及其应用发展迅速,迄今为止进行的优雅研究支持使用类器官作为研究蠕虫寄生虫的替代体外系统。