Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Deciphering The Role of Serum Amyloid A (SAA) Family of Proteins in Asthma and Bacterial Infections

Mahesh, Meenakshi (2024) MOBN02 20232
Degree Projects in Molecular Biology
Popular Abstract
Infection, Asthma and Serum Amyloid A Proteins

The challenges posed in healthcare by inflammatory diseases like Asthma and Bacterial Infections are numerous due to complex defense mechanisms by the host immune system. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people globally causing wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. However, bacterial infections start as an acute inflammation but it progresses to severe infections that can lead to sepsis. Sepsis cases are highly prevalent in intensive care units and have a very high mortality rate. It causes immune dysregulation that can result in multiple organ failure and ultimately death. To develop therapeutic solutions, several biomarkers are discovered and here we will... (More)
Infection, Asthma and Serum Amyloid A Proteins

The challenges posed in healthcare by inflammatory diseases like Asthma and Bacterial Infections are numerous due to complex defense mechanisms by the host immune system. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people globally causing wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. However, bacterial infections start as an acute inflammation but it progresses to severe infections that can lead to sepsis. Sepsis cases are highly prevalent in intensive care units and have a very high mortality rate. It causes immune dysregulation that can result in multiple organ failure and ultimately death. To develop therapeutic solutions, several biomarkers are discovered and here we will look at one of the potential proteins called Serum Amyloid A (SAA) proteins.

At the start of inflammation, a response is initiated as a defense mechanism to the infection or trauma. There are many proteins that play a role in the inflammatory responses out of which we are focussing on SAA proteins. The levels of Serum Amyloid A proteins rise 1000 fold during an inflammation, trauma or injury. There are four different proteins in the SAA family which are SAA1, SAA2, SAA3 and SAA4. The SAA1 and SAA2 are the major proteins produced during inflammatory responses whereas SAA4 is constitutively produced. The SAA3 gene does not function in humans but the SAA3 proteins are produced in mice. The increase in these proteins are seen in asthma and bacterial infections but the exact role of these proteins has not been elucidated yet.

The current study aims to understand the role of these SAA proteins in an immune response when an allergen triggers asthma and when bacteria causes infections. Additionally, the inflammatory properties of the different SAA genes are also tested. We used mice that lacked SAA genes and also the wildtype mice to see if the absence of SAA can cause consequences. The experiments were conducted separately for asthma and infection studies. For the asthma model, the allergen Ovalbumin that is commonly used to trigger an asthmatic response was injected into the mice that initiates an asthmatic immune response whereas for the infection model, the Gram negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its cell wall component Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used. The results show that the absence of SAA proteins can result in immune dysregulation leading to further problems. To see if these proteins have inflammatory properties, various cell culture experiments were performed which revealed that SAA1 has proinflammatory (cause inflammation) and SAA2 and SAA4 has anti-inflammatory properties (reduce inflammation). There were no changes in the SAA3 levels and also the inflammatory properties of the corresponding gene could not be determined. Overall, the study points towards SAA proteins being a mediator in an immune response to inflammatory diseases and more studies need to be conducted to see if these can be used as potential drug targets.

Master’s Project in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, 45 Credits 2023-2024, Department of Biology, Lund University

Supervisor: Praveen Papareddy, Division of Infection Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Mahesh, Meenakshi
supervisor
organization
course
MOBN02 20232
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9176220
date added to LUP
2024-10-07 13:37:24
date last changed
2024-10-07 13:37:24
@misc{9176220,
  author       = {{Mahesh, Meenakshi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Deciphering The Role of Serum Amyloid A (SAA) Family of Proteins in Asthma and Bacterial Infections}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}