Transcriptome analysis of the host immune responses to Sarcoptes scabiei

Scabies is a human skin disease due to the burrowing ectoparasite Sarcoptes scabiei resulting in intense itching and inflammation and manifesting as skin allergy. Little is known about the specific scabies molecules and genes involved in the host inflammatory and immunologic responses. We interrogated the transcriptome profiles of skin biopsies using next generation sequencing and a combined clustering and pathway mapping approach which will enable us in the identification of key signaling events in the host immune and inflammatory responses to S. scabiei infestation. With the comprehensive analysis of RNA-seq results, it has been found that the immune response of host inhibits S. scabiei immune pathway, proliferation and metabolism signaling pathways, out of which the signaling pathway seems to be the main pathway in innate immune response of S. scabiei. The analysis of immune pathway, hydrolase and allergen will contribute to the research of S. scabiei pathogenesis, diagnosis and development of vaccines. Overall design: The skin biopsies were collected from two groups of 08 participating individuals: Ordinary scabies (OS) subjects (“OS” n = 05) and subjects naïve to scabies and allergy with no known exposure to scabies or allergy (“naive” n = 03).

疥疮（Scabies）是由掘穴性体外寄生虫疥螨（Sarcoptes scabiei）感染引发的人类皮肤疾病，临床表现为剧烈瘙痒与炎症反应，本质为皮肤过敏反应。目前学界对介导宿主炎症与免疫应答的疥疮特异性分子及相关基因的认知仍较为匮乏。本研究采用下一代测序技术对皮肤活检组织的转录组图谱进行分析，并结合联合聚类与通路映射的分析方法，旨在明确宿主针对疥螨感染的免疫与炎症应答中的关键信号事件。通过对RNA测序（RNA-seq）结果的全面分析，我们发现宿主免疫应答可抑制疥螨的免疫通路、增殖与代谢信号通路，其中该信号通路被认为是疥螨固有免疫应答中的核心通路。针对免疫通路、水解酶与过敏原的相关分析，将有助于推动疥螨感染的发病机制、诊断方法及疫苗开发相关研究。总体实验设计：本研究从8名受试个体的两组样本中采集皮肤活检组织：普通疥疮（Ordinary scabies, OS）组（"OS"，n=5），以及未接触过疥疮与过敏原、无已知疥疮或过敏暴露史的未致敏组（"naive"，n=3）。