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Virulence of Bordetella pertussis from an Omics Perspective
Novák, Jakub ; Šebo, Peter (advisor) ; Černý, Jan (referee) ; Novák, Petr (referee)
The Gram-negative aerobic coccobacillus Bordetella pertussis is one of the few exclusively human pathogens and the main causative agent of the respiratory infectious disease called pertussis, or whooping cough. Despite global vaccination programs, pertussis remains an important public-health burden and still accounts for over 100,000 infant deaths and over a dozen of millions of whooping cough cases every year. Substantial effort is devoted to studies on the mechanisms of action of virulence factors of B. pertussis, but the biology of interactions of B. pertussis with its human host remains largely underexplored. Evolution, genetics and adaptation of B. pertussis to the complex environment of human nasopharynx and the mechanisms enabling B. pertussis to overcome host innate and adaptive mucosal immune defenses, remain poorly understood. In such situations, unbiased exploratory omics approaches represent valuable tools for uncovering of unknown aspects of host-pathogen interactions and open the path to detailed analysis of virulence-underlying processes by mechanistic studies. In this thesis, I am presenting the results of three omics projects on B. pertussis biology that involved high-throughput proteomics. In the inital phosphoprotemics project, we analyzed the kinase signaling pathways hijacked...
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The role of the cellular prion protein in the cells of the immune system
Havlík, Martin ; Holada, Karel (advisor) ; Pačes, Jan (referee) ; Pačes, Jan (referee)
Prion protein (PrPC) is connected with the origin of transmissive spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), fatal diseases that are on the molecular level based on the conversion of the cellular form of prion protein, PrPC, into the infectious form, PrPTSE. This isoform, exhibiting increased resistance against proteases and common decontamination methods, accumulates in tissues and causes degenerative damages of the central nervous system. Potential physiological function of PrPC in cells remains unclear, though many efforts have been focused on this research area in past years. Expression of PrPC was detected especially in neurons, high levels of PrPC are also present in different types of cells of immune system. Whereas some immunocompetent cells were widely examined, the relationship of PrPC with the function of others was not studied. PrPC probably plays a role in differentiation and activation of some immune cells, participates in regulation of cytokine production and other immune processes, affects grow of CD4+ T-cell population and also takes a part in formation of secondary lymphatic organs. This bachelor thesis is focused on summarization of existing knowledge describing the role of the cellular prion protein in cells of immune system, which is important also from the point of view of diagnosis...
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