# Schistosome antigen induced modulation of metabolism

> **NIH NIH R21** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2022 · $190,625

## Abstract

Project Summary
Globally, parasitic helminth infections inversely correlate with metabolic diseases, such as diabetes,
atherosclerosis, and obesity, but the parasite factors that are capable of modulating metabolic disease are
currently unknown. Diabetic patients are twice as likely as non-diabetic individuals to develop cardiovascular
disease, with more than 65% of diabetic patients dying from cardiovascular complications, thus there is a
critical need for identifying novel compounds capable of modulating insulin resistance, obesity, and
atherosclerosis in this population. Recent evidence has suggested that inflammation driven by macrophages is
associated with both obesity and insulin resistance, while atherosclerosis is accepted to be driven by lipid-
dependent chronic myeloid inflammation. Our laboratory has recently identified that Schistosoma mansoni
infection modulates the metabolic transcriptome of the myeloid lineage, and that this modulation is correlated
with protection from the development of insulin resistance, diabetes, and atherosclerosis in the ApoE-/- high fat
diet mouse model. Our lab and others have established that in vivo metabolic protection is dependent on
exposure to egg antigens, but the antigens sufficient to confer protection are unknown. To fill these current
knowledge gaps, we propose to perform proteomic analysis and screening to identify the antigens sufficient to
modulate macrophage metabolism. We will first 1) identify pools of antigens sufficient to modulate mature bone
marrow derived macrophage metabolism, and then 2) determine the subset of antigens sufficient to program
bone marrow precursors to generate immunomodulated macrophages in vivo. The data generated from these
studies will lay the foundation for future studies on understanding the role of helminth induced macrophages in
the long-term regulation of whole-body metabolism.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10415199
- **Project number:** 5R21AI156657-02
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Keke Celeste Fairfax
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $190,625
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-06-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10415199

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10415199, Schistosome antigen induced modulation of metabolism (5R21AI156657-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10415199. Licensed CC0.

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