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Xue-Jie Yu, M.D., Ph.D.
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Research Interests:
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Ehrlichiae are obligatory intracellular, Gram-negative bacteria. Human ehrlichioses are tick-borne new emerging diseases. Ehrlichiae cause persistent infection in their natural hosts. My research interest is to study the pathogenesis of rickettsial diseases using molecular
biological methods. I am interested in mechanisms of immune evasion utilized by Ehrlichia. Ehrlichia may evade the host immune system by antigenic variation or immune modulation. We have characterized two immunodominant surface proteins of E. chaffeensis: P120 and P28. We have demonstrated that P120 is a glycoprotein and showed evidence of the protein as adhesin. P28 is encoded by a gene family that consists of 22 alleles in a single organism. Both P120 and P28 are varied among isolates of E. chaffeensis. We are analyzing the roles and mechanisms of these proteins in the immune evasion. We are also evaluating the protection of the P120 and P28 in animals to develop a vaccine against ehrlichioses.
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