Projekt
Model-driven treatment of chronic Staphylococcus aureus infection
Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is considered one of the most hazardous human pathogens worldwide because of its ability to evade the immune system, resist multidrug antibiotics, and hijack the immune regulatory machinery. These evasive strategies lead to chronic and recurrent infections. Many studies have documented that during chronic infections Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSCs) exert immunosuppressive mechanisms by inhibiting T cell activity. Our mathematical model describes MDSC-mediated T cell suppression during S. aureus chronic infections and explains how the chronic steady steady can be disturbed. The model suggests four perturbation strategies to break escape from the stable state of the chronic infection and end up with full eradication of bacteria. The model suggested boosting the T cell response as a viable therapeutic strategy, which proved effective in subsequent experiments, leading to complete clearance of chronic S. aureus in mice.
SIMM members
Haralampos Hatzikirou, Sahamoddin Khailaie, Gang Zhao, Michael Meyer-Hermann
HZI collaborators
Eva Medina
Beteiligte Gruppen
- System-Immunologie- Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer-Hermann
Geldgeber / Förderer
BMBF - Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung