Detecting specific infections in children through host responses: a paradigm shift

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Infectious Diseases
• Genomics

Background:

• Current infectious disease diagnosis relies heavily on pathogen detection.
• A comprehensive analysis of the host's immune response offers an alternative diagnostic strategy.
• Understanding host response is crucial for optimal patient classification and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the diagnostic and management value of transcriptome analyses of blood leukocytes in infectious diseases.
• To highlight the potential of host response profiling as a complementary diagnostic tool.
• To explore the utility of transcriptomics in classifying disease severity.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing studies utilizing transcriptome analysis of blood leukocytes.
• Focus on microarray-based gene expression profiling.
• Validation of transcriptional signatures across diverse infectious agents and patient cohorts.

Main Results:

• Pathogen-specific transcriptional signatures identified in blood leukocytes for various viral and bacterial infections.
• Validated signatures for numerous diseases including malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, and HIV.
• Transcriptome analysis aids in understanding disease pathogenesis and objective patient classification by severity.

Conclusions:

• Blood transcriptome analyses are reproducible and valuable for studying host immune responses in clinical settings.
• Combining pathogen detection with host response assessment offers novel insights into disease dynamics.
• This integrated approach enhances understanding of host-pathogen interactions and clinical manifestations.