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Immunometabolic Circuits in Infection for Advancing Host Directed Therapies
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Disentangling the interaction among host resources, the immune system and pathogens
Clayton E Cressler1, William A Nelson, Troy Day
1Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada.
Ecology Letters
|December 20, 2013
Summary
Pathogen and immune system interactions are not just predator-prey; they compete for host resources. This competition explains diverse pathogen load patterns, challenging prior disease outcome theories.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Immunology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Traditional models view host-pathogen dynamics as predator-prey interactions.
- These models often overlook the shared need for host resources by both the immune system and pathogens.
- This oversight limits understanding of disease progression and severity.
Discussion:
- This study introduces novel theoretical models examining the energetic interplay between immune responses and pathogens.
- Models explore scenarios ranging from independent resource acquisition to direct resource competition.
- Analysis reveals how varying within-host resource availability impacts pathogen load differently across these scenarios.
Key Insights:
- Pathogen load can increase, decrease, or exhibit a peak at intermediate resource levels, depending on the competitive landscape.
- Empirical evidence across diverse studies supports all three observed patterns of pathogen load.
- Existing theories fail to account for these resource-competition-driven dynamics.
Outlook:
- Future research should integrate resource competition into epidemiological and immunological models.
- Understanding resource dynamics is crucial for predicting disease outcomes and developing interventions.
- This framework offers new avenues for investigating host-pathogen co-evolution and disease ecology.
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