MYCOPLASMA GENITALIUM SALPINGEAL INFECTION PILOT

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 生殖支原体是一种新发现的男性和女性生殖道疾病的病因。与这种微生物相关的综合征包括尿道炎、粘液脓性宫颈炎症、盆腔炎和子宫内膜炎，可能的后遗症包括不孕不育、慢性盆腔疼痛和早产。不幸的是，没有合适的动物模型来研究这种微生物感染的发病机制和免疫生物学，并最终设计出干预策略来减少与这些疾病相关的发病率的影响。因此，我们建议评估生殖支原体在猕猴体内感染、维持和诱导免疫反应的能力，并通过改变其表面暴露的免疫优势蛋白的基因来逃避这种免疫反应。为此，我们建议评估多萝西·巴顿博士建立的输卵管袋和宫颈感染模型中生殖道支原体感染的其他生殖道病原体。除了监测这种生物在这两个地点的生存和生长外，我们还将评估生殖支原体在感染后基因组序列变化的发展。我们预计，在这个试点项目中获得的结果将作为有价值的初步数据，支持抗原变异在这种生物的持久性中所起的作用，为未来评估这种新出现的病原体的免疫发病机制的拨款提案提供强有力的初步数据。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Mycoplasma genitalium is a newly recognized cause of reproductive tract disease in men and women. Syndromes associated with this organism include urethritis, mucopurulent cervicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and endometritis, with possible sequelae that include infertility, chronic pelvic pain, and preterm birth. Unfortunately, a suitable animal model is not available to study the pathogenesis and immunobiology of infection with this organism and ultimately to devise intervention strategies to reduce the impact of the morbidity associated with these diseases. We thus propose to evaluate the ability of M. genitalium to infect, persist, and induce an immune response in Macaca nemestrina, and evade this immune response by variation in genes for its surface-exposed immunodominant proteins. To this end, we propose to assess M. genitalium infection in the well-established salpingeal pocket and cervical infection model developed by Dr. Dorothy Patton for other reproductive tract pathogens. In addition to monitoring survival and growth of this organism in these two sites, we will assess development of genome sequence changes in M. genitalium in response to infection. We anticipate that the results obtained in this pilot project will serve as valuable preliminary data supporting the role of antigenic variation in persistence of this organism, providing powerful preliminary data for future grant proposals assessing the immunopathogenesis of this emerging pathogen.