Cutaneous Immunoprofiles of Three Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia Cases
Na Jia, Hongbo Liu, Yuan-Chun Zheng, Wenqiang Shi, Ran Wei, Yan-Li Chu, Nianzhi Ning, Bao‐Gui Jiang, Rui-Ruo Jiang, Tao Li, Qiu-Bo Huo, Cai Bian, Xiong Liu, Yi Sun, Lian‐Feng Li, Qian Wang, Wei Wei, Ya-Wei Wang, Frans Jongejan, Jia‐Fu Jiang, Ju-Liang Song, Hui Wang, Wu‐Chun Cao
Abstract
Spotted fever group rickettsia (SFGR) can cause mild to fatal illness. The early interaction between the host and rickettsia in skin is largely unknown, and the pathogenesis of severe rickettsiosis remains an important topic. A surveillance of SFGR infection by PCR of blood and skin biopsy specimens followed by sequencing and immunohistochemical (IHC) detection was performed on patients with a recent tick bite between 2013 and 2016. Humoral and cutaneous immunoprofiles were evaluated in different SFGR cases by serum cytokine and chemokine detection, skin IHC staining, and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq).