Mucosal Immunity

The secret ingredient in breast milk Descrier “Babies are born without a fully developed intestinal mucosa, and need interaction with bacteria to basically jump start their immune system,” says Lisa Funkhouser, who co-authored a paper with Seth...

From molecules to physiology (Interesting paper from Epistem’s inflammation senior scientist on the link between peridontal infection and RA http://t.co/fyQdNYL17G)...

Study suggests why circumcised men are less likely to become infected with HIV HealthCanal.com Circumcision reduces the amount of mucosal tissue exposed to vaginal secretions during heterosexual intercourse and thus may reduce the potential...

Disease detection in historical samples currently relies on DNA extraction and amplification, or immunoassays.

These techniques only establish pathogen presence rather than active disease. We report the first use of shotgun proteomics to detect the protein expression profile of buccal swabs and cloth samples from two 500-year-old Andean mummies.

The profile of one of the mummies is consistent with immune system response to severe pulmonary bacterial infection at the time of death. Presence of a probably pathogenic Mycobacterium sp. in one buccal swab was confirmed by DNA amplification, sequencing, and phylogenetic analyses. Our study provides positive evidence of active pathogenic infection in an ancient sample for the first time. The protocol introduced here is less susceptible to contamination than DNA-based or immunoassay-based studies.

In scarce forensic samples, shotgun proteomics narrows the range of pathogens to detect using DNA assays, reducing cost. This analytical technique can be broadly applied for detecting infection in ancient samples to answer questions on the historical ecology of specific pathogens, as well as in medico-legal cases when active pathogenic infection is suspected.