The Daily Bulletin Archive

Please join the Biology Department and the Great Lakes Center for the seminar “How Can We Improve Our Immunity against Infections as We Grow Older? Targeting Neutrophil Responses against Pneumococcal Pneumonia,” presented by Elsa Bou Ghanem, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in the University of Buffalo's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, on Monday, December 4, at 3:00 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 151. Attendees are welcome to arrive at 2:30 p.m. to enjoy coffee and cookies before the seminar.

Abstract
Elsa Bou Ghanem’s particular interest are polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) or neutrophil responses. PMNs are innate immune cells that are key determinants of disease following infection because their initial presence is required to control bacterial numbers, but their persistence in the lungs is detrimental to the host. PMN responses are dysregulated in aging; however, the pathways driving this are not well elucidated. Dr. Ghanem and her team found that in young hosts, resistance to infection, PMN antibacterial function as well as pulmonary recruitment and resolution following pneumococcal pneumonia is controlled by the extracellular adenosine (EAD) pathway. EAD is produced by the sequential action of two exonucleosidases, CD39 and CD73, and can signal via four known adenosine receptors, that can be pro- or anti-inflammatory. Interestingly, they found that pneumococci can modulate host inflammatory responses by targeting the expression of EAD pathway components.