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Heesters, Balthasar

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Heesters

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Balthasar

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Heesters, Balthasar

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2013 - 20152

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.3c2b286c-b11a-447a-adda-df1ec424416f

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    Bacteria activate sensory neurons that modulate pain and inflammation
    (2013) Chiu, Isaac; Heesters, Balthasar; Ghasemlou, Nader; Von Hehn, Christian A.; Zhao, Fan; Tran, Johnathan; Wainger, Brian; Strominger, Amanda; Muralidharan, Sriya; Horswill, Alexander R.; Wardenburg, Juliane Bubeck; Hwang, Sun Wook; Carroll, Michael; Woolf, Clifford
    Summary Nociceptor sensory neurons are specialized to detect potentially damaging stimuli, protecting the organism by initiating the sensation of pain and eliciting defensive behaviors. Bacterial infections produce pain by unknown molecular mechanisms, although they are presumed secondary to immune activation. Here we demonstrate that bacteria directly activate nociceptors, and that the immune response mediated through TLR2, MyD88, T cells, B cells, and neutrophils/monocytes is not necessary for Staphylococcus aureus induced pain in mice. Mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia parallels live bacterial load rather than tissue swelling or immune activation. Bacteria induce calcium flux and action potentials in nociceptor neurons, in part via bacterial N-formylated peptides and the pore-forming toxin alpha-hemolysin through distinct mechanisms. Specific ablation of Nav1.8-lineage neurons, which include nociceptors, abrogated pain during bacterial infection, but concurrently increased local immune infiltration and lymphadenopathy of the draining lymph node. Thus, bacterial pathogens produce pain by directly activating sensory neurons that modulate inflammation, an unsuspected role for the nervous system in host-pathogen interactions.
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    Follicular Dendritic Cells Retain Infectious HIV in Cycling Endosomes
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Heesters, Balthasar; Lindqvist, Madelene; Vagefi, Parsia A.; Scully, Eileen P; Schildberg, Frank; Altfeld, Marcus; Walker, Bruce; Kaufmann, Daniel E.; Carroll, Michael
    Despite the success of antiretroviral therapy (ART), it does not cure Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and discontinuation results in viral rebound. Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) are in direct contact with CD4+ T cells and they retain intact antigen for prolonged periods. We found that human FDC isolated from patients on ART retain infectious HIV within a non-degradative cycling compartment and transmit infectious virus to uninfected CD4 T cells in vitro. Importantly, treatment of the HIV+ FDC with a soluble complement receptor 2 purges the FDC of HIV virions and prevents viral transmission in vitro. Our results provide an explanation for how FDC can retain infectious HIV for extended periods and suggest a therapeutic strategy to achieve cure in HIV-infected humans.