Ehrlichiosis

Ehrlichiosis is acquired through the bite of infected ticks, which introduce a sort of bacterium from the anaplasmataceae family into one's bloodstream. Ticks are the main factors that are responsible for spreading this illness. To better tackle this vector-borne disease, our seasoned group of multidisciplinary professionals have come together to work on the prevention and therapeutics of Ehrlichiosis, using state of the art tools in immunology, drug discovery, and genomics.

Introduction to Ehrlichiosis

Ehrlichiosis is a prominent tick-borne infectious disease with heavy bacterial etiology which primarily includes Ehrlichia and Anaplasma of the Anaplasmataceae family. This type of parasite is an obligate intracellular parasite which is detrimental to white blood cells and has potential to affect humans, livestock, and companion animals severely.

Some of the bacteria which neologism cause human infection include A. phagocytophilum, E. ewigi, E. chaffeensis, E. canis, E. sennetsu and the new genus E. muris eauclairensis alongside. A variety of slips of tick vectors pass the bacteria on with distinct cell tropism, which include monocytes, granulocytes, and endothelial cells.

Fig. 1 Blood smear from a dog with canine monocytic ehrlichiosis (CME). (Mylonakis M. E., et al., 2017)

Vaccine Development for Ehrlichiosis

The genetic and antigenic heterogeneity demonstrated by the Ehrlichia species has made it incredibly difficult to develop effective vaccines. Out of the multiple species, E. ruminantium is the most researched one, where research done already highlights it as the disease that causes massive economic repercussions due to Heartwater in livestock.

The strains of E. ruminantium have shown a considerable amount of genetic polymorphism with active genome plasticity and over eight distinct variant 16S rRNA genotype being identified. This significant diversity has been one of the core reasons in why multiple experimental vaccination devices have yielded inconsistent results as related antigens to the immune system and the response to it varies from strain to strain.

In an interesting twist, Along with genetic variation, E. chaffeensis lacks further or greater diversity similar to E. ruminantium which causes more issues in the creation of the vaccines due to unexpected mutations in the major outer membrane proteins and the TRP. Nevertheless, E. canis strains particularly those found in the Americas seem to be more conserved when it comes to genetics which helps the case to develop an advanced effective vaccine directed towards canines.

Therapeutics Development for Ehrlichiosis

Doxycycline is said to be the first line antibiotic for Ehrlichiosis therapeutics and the infection clears almost instantly promoting clinical recovery. However, for those patients who are allergic to tetracycline some other antibiotics such as rifampicin and chloramphenicol have also been tried.

Our researchers have also been focusing on the host pathogen interactions and mechanisms that Ehrlichia employs. These endeavors are in an effort to discover the important factors that can be modulated for providing therapy, such as interfering with the bacteria's ability to use filopodia for moving between host cells or avoiding lysis of membranes of host cells at the later phase of infection.

In order to find out more about the comprehensive therapy development solutions we provide and to expand your knowledge, you can click the hyperlink below.

Therapeutic Development

Preclinical Research

Pathogen and Host Research

Disease Model Development

Our Services

We possess a remarkable set of tools with which we can drive enhanced vaccine and therapeutic options and hence we offer an all encompassing propositional value of Ehrlichiosis research and development services at our company.

Vaccine Development

• Live-attenuated Vaccine
• Inactivated Vaccine
• Toxoid Vaccine
• Viral Vector Vaccine
• Virus-like Particles Vaccine
• Protein Subunit Vaccine
• mRNA Vaccine
• DNA Vaccine

Therapeutic Development

• Small Molecule Drug Development Services
• Therapeutic mRNA Development Services
• Therapeutic Antibody Development Services
• Cell Therapy Development Services

Disease Models

• Ehrlichiosis Models of Ehrlichia Muris-like Agent (EMLA) Infection
• Fatal Human Monocytotropic Ehrlichiosis Models of HF565 Infection

Preclinical Research

• Drug Safety Evaluation
• In Vivo Pharmacokinetics Study
• In Vitro Pharmacokinetics Study
• Activity Testing
• Drug Resistance Evaluation

Utilizing advanced scientific techniques and preclinical models, it is no longer only achievable but is in fact already being achieved. In case our services have intrigued you, feel free to approach us for more details and for an extensive quotation of the services you need.

All of our services and products are intended for preclinical research use only and cannot be used to diagnose, treat or manage patients.