Toxicant Exposure Impacts Host-pathogen interactions within the Reproductive Tract

项目摘要 接触持久性环境毒物(如二恶英)是一个全球性问题，但不成比例。 影响从烧伤坑或橙剂中提取的二恶英暴露的退伍军人。接触到二恶英的人 与男性和女性生育力下降和早产风险增加有关，即使在 暴露发生在子宫内。最近的研究表明，女性退伍军人早产的风险增加 与最近的部署有关，强调需要更好的诊断和干预措施，以消除 早产风险与退伍军人遇到的独特环境应激源有关。 然而，人们对导致这种风险的潜在分子因素知之甚少。我们假设 暴露在环境毒物中会导致宿主免疫系统程序的紊乱，从而导致 对可能导致早产的炎症性侮辱(如感染)的易感性增加。 无乳链球菌或B组链球菌(GBS)是一种可导致侵入性繁殖的细菌 导致早产的呼吸道感染。我们有新的令人兴奋的数据表明女性暴露在 毒物增加了对GBS感染的易感性，导致不良妊娠结局。我们还有 强有力的数据表明，毒物暴露改变了胎盘巨噬细胞的抗微生物活性，如反应性 巨噬细胞内氧物种的产生和GBS的存活。我们也有强有力的数据支持 巨噬细胞是孕期免疫动态平衡的关键介质，也在 侵袭性GBS感染。胎盘巨噬细胞精心设计胞外陷阱以应对GBS感染 这些陷阱上装饰着基质金属蛋白酶，它们参与了细胞的降解。 妊娠组织中对维持稳定妊娠非常重要的细胞对细胞基质。这 翻译研究试图了解接触有毒物质如何改变宿主对早产的易感性 (使用侵袭性感染作为模型)，并通过调节宿主免疫促进疾病进展 系统。这一知识可能导致预防和治疗生殖道疾病的新方法。 经常导致早产、新生儿败血症、母体菌血症和胎儿死亡的感染以及 改善与毒物接触有关的生育问题。

Project Summary Exposure to persistent environmental toxicants (such as dioxin) is a global problem, but disproportionately affects Veterans who were exposed dioxin derived from burn pits or Agent Orange. Dioxin exposure has been linked to diminished fertility and an increased risk of preterm birth in both males and females, even when the exposure occurred in utero. Recent studies indicate that female Veterans have increased risk of preterm birth associated with recent deployment, underscoring the need for better diagnostics and interventions to eliminate the risk of preterm birth associated with the unique environmental stressors encountered by Veterans. However, little is known about the underlying molecular factors that contribute to this risk. We hypothesize that exposure to environmental toxicants leads to perturbations in the host immune system programme which lead to increased susceptibility to inflammatory insults (such as infection) that can lead to preterm birth. Streptococcus agalactiae or Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a bacterium that can cause invasive reproductive tract infections that lead to preterm birth. We have new and exciting data indicating females exposed to toxicant have increased susceptibility to GBS infection leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes. We also have strong data showing that toxicant exposure alters placental macrophage antimicrobial activity such as reactive oxygen species production, and GBS survival within macrophages. We also have strong data which supports that macrophages are critical mediators of immune homeostasis during pregnancy that also play a role in invasive GBS infections. Placental macrophages elaborate extracellular traps in response to GBS infectious insult and these traps are decorated with matrix metalloproteinases which are involved in the degradation of cell-to-cell matrices in gestational tissues that are important for maintaining a stable pregnancy. This translational research seeks to understand how toxicant exposure alters host susceptibility to preterm birth (using invasive infection as a model) and contributes to disease progression by modulating the host immune system. This knowledge may lead to new approaches for the prevention and treatment of reproductive tract infections which often lead to preterm birth, neonatal sepsis, maternal bacteremia, and fetal demise as well as ameliorate fertility issues associated with toxicant exposure.