The role of murine complement C3 during acute infection by pathogenic and non pathogenic lepstospires in vivo

• Grant number: 18/14916-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Immunochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Lourdes Isaac
• Grantee: Natália Rossi Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leptospirosis is one of the most important zoonoses on the world and is considered a neglected disease that affects mainly developing countries in tropical regions. It is usually transmitted through rodent-contaminated urine and affects approximately one million individuals annually. Acute infection can lead to symptoms such as kidney failure, pulmonary hemorrhage and jaundice, with a mortality ranging from 5 to 15%. The Complement System participates in both innate and acquired immunity and contributes to the elimination of pathogenic bacteria from the organism, including leptospires, but the contribution of the C3 component of the Complement System in the control of this infection is still poorly studied. Employing a murine model with wild and C3 deficient mice we wish to determine the load of leptospires in blood and other organs and tissues after several periods of infection with Leptospira interrogans serovar Kennewick type Pomona Fromm and with Leptospira biflexa serovar Patoc. Once the genomic DNA has been extracted from these samples, the presence of leptospires will be determined by qPCR after amplification of the 16SrRNA gene. The obtained results will be analyzed statistically in conjunction with data from previous experiments already carried out in the laboratory, but not yet published.