NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
Microbiology & Immunology
Tenured Associate Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, a highly ranked tertiary institution, with a global outlook. Experienced in leading teams at laboratory, Department and School levels as Principal Investigator, Head of Department and Vice-Dean (Graduate Studies) respectively. Expertise in higher education include curriculum design and implementation, contemporary pedagogical strategies, with a focus on microbiology, immunology and enterprise-related topics. A globally-recognized leader in parasitology research, particularly on single-cell eukaryotes and their role on the gut microbiome, and on the cell biology and drug studies on malaria parasites. Possess a passion for nurturing the next generation of biomedical leaders through impactful research and high quality educational initiatives.

Moderator of 1 Session

02. Parasites of humans
Session Type
02. Parasites of humans
Date
08/22/2022
Session Time
17:00 - 18:30
Room
Auditorium 11

Presenter of 1 Presentation

02. Parasites of humans

EXPERIMENTAL INFECTIONS WITH TWO DIFFERENT BLASTOCYSTIS SUBTYPES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT MICROBIOME FEATURES AND PATHOBIOLOGICAL OUTCOMES (ID 688)

Session Type
02. Parasites of humans
Date
08/22/2022
Session Time
17:00 - 18:30
Room
Auditorium 11
Lecture Time
18:10 - 18:15
Onsite or Pre-Recorded
Onsite

Abstract

Introduction

The associations between Blastocystis and gut microbiota have been extensively studied, but no study so far has examined the influence of different subtypes (STs) of Blastocystis on gut microbiota under experimentally controlled conditions. Furthermore, whether Blastocystis-altered gut microbiota affects the development of intestinal inflammatory diseases remains to be determined.

Methods

In this study, we first investigated the effect of ST4, a common subtype in Europe, and ST7, a rare pathogenic subtype in humans, on the intestinal microbiota in normal healthy mice, and then explored the role of Blastocystis-altered gut microbiome in the development of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in antibiotic treated wild type and Rag1-/- mice.

Results

We showed that ST4 infection increased the bacterial diversity and abundance of Clostridia, whereas ST7 infection showed opposite effects. Transplantation of ST4-altered microbiota was able to prevent DSS-induced colitis by enhancing the Treg response (increased Foxp3 and IL-10) in the colon lamina propria of recipient mice, while ST7-altered microbiota exacerbated the severity of the colitis by inducing Th1 cell differentiation (increased IFN-γ, and TNF-α). Furthermore, the protective or exacerbating effects of Blastocystis-altered gut microbiota on colitis are adaptive immune cell dependent.

Conclusions

Our data showed that ST4 and ST7 infections are associated with strikingly different microbiome features, and these alterations have significantly different effects on the severity of DSS-induced colitis. This study supports accumulating evidence that clinical outcomes of Blastocystis infection is subtype dependent.

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