Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0043167 (pertussis)
 19,595 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pertussis disease, characterized by severe and prolonged coughing episodes, can progress to a critical stage with pulmonary inflammation and death in young infants. However, there are currently no effective treatments for pertussis. We previously studied the role of pertussis toxin (PT), an important Bordetella pertussis virulence factor, in lung transcriptional responses to B. pertussis infection in mouse models. One of the genes most highly upregulated in a PT-dependent manner encodes an epithelial transporter of bicarbonate, chloride, and thiocyanate, named pendrin, that contributes to asthma pathology. In this study, we found that pendrin expression is upregulated at both gene and protein levels in the lungs of B. pertussis-infected mice. Pendrin upregulation is associated with PT production by the bacteria and with interleukin-17A (IL-17A) production by the host. B. pertussis-infected pendrin knockout (KO) mice had higher lung bacterial loads than infected pendrin-expressing mice but had significantly reduced levels of lung inflammatory pathology. However, reduced pathology did not correlate with reduced inflammatory cytokine expression. Infected pendrin KO mice had higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines than infected pendrin-expressing mice, suggesting that these inflammatory mediators are less active in the airways in the absence of pendrin. In addition, treatment of B. pertussis-infected mice with the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide reduced lung inflammatory pathology without affecting pendrin synthesis or bacterial loads. Together these data suggest that PT contributes to pertussis pathology through the upregulation of pendrin, which promotes conditions favoring inflammatory pathology. Therefore, pendrin may represent a novel therapeutic target for treatment of pertussis disease.
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PMID:Epithelial anion transporter pendrin contributes to inflammatory lung pathology in mouse models of Bordetella pertussis infection. 2506 81

Whooping cough, or pertussis, incidence has reached levels not seen since the 1950s. Previous studies have shown that antibiotics fail to improve the course of disease unless diagnosed early. Early diagnosis is complicated by the non-diagnostic presentation of disease early in infection. This review focuses on previous attempts at developing novel host-directed therapies for the treatment of pertussis. In addition, two novel approaches from our group are discussed. Manipulation of the signaling pathway of sphingosine-1-phosphate, a lipid involved in many immune processes, has shown great promise, but is in its infancy. Pendrin, a host epithelial anion exchanger upregulated in the airways with B. pertussis infection, appears to drive mucus production and dysregulation of airway surface liquid pH and salinity. In addition to detailing these potential new therapeutic targets, the need for greater focus on the neonatal model of disease is highlighted.
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PMID:Novel therapies for the treatment of pertussis disease. 2639 2