The 14th International Workshops on Opportunistic Protists (IWOP 14)

Abstract

The 14th International Workshops on Opportunistic Protists (IWOP-14) was held August 10-12, 2017 in Cincinnati, OH, USA. The IWOP meetings focus on opportunistic protists (OIs); for example, free-living amoebae, Pneumocystis spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Toxoplasma, the Microsporidia, and kinetoplastid flagellates. The highlights of Pneumocystis spp. research included the reports of primary homothallism for mating; a potential requirement for sexual replication in its life cycle; a new antigen on the surface of small asci; roles for CLRs, Dectin-1, and Mincle in host responses; and identification of MSG families and mechanisms used for surface variation. Studies of Cryptosporidia spp. included comparative genomics, a new cryopreservation method; the role of mucin in attachment and invasion, and epidemiological surveys illustrating species diversity in animals. One of the five identified proteins in the polar tube of Microsporidia, PTP4, was shown to play a role in host infection. Zebrafish were used as a low cost vertebrate animal model for an evaluation of potential anti-toxoplasma drugs. Folk medicine compounds with anti-toxoplasma activity were presented, and reports on the chronic toxoplasma infection provided evidence for increased tractability for the study of this difficult life cycle stage. Escape from the parasitophorus vacuole and cell cycle regulation were the topics of the study in the acute phase.

Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis–Associated Lung Disease: Characterization and Risk Factors

“…Taken together, our findings indicate that this entity has distinct clinical and immunologic features, clearly distinguishable from other disorders including known causes of PAP, and represents an uncharacterized inflammatory ILD. Some of the patients and results of these studies have been previously reported .…”

Decreased SLC26A3 expression and function in intestinal epithelial cells in response to Cryptosporidium parvum infection

“…Cryptosporidiosis has increasingly been recognized as an alarming global health problem. In the United States alone, 750,000 cases of cryptosporidiosis have been reported to occur annually (10). Stunted growth and associated high mortality and morbidity have also been reported in two recent multicenter studies [The Global Enteric Multicenter Study (GEMS) (21) and a global network study of malnutrition and enteric diseases (MAL-ED) (27)] that recognized this neglected parasite as one of the four major diarrheal pathogens in infants.…”