Stephen Wikel, Ph.D.
Professor

University of Connecticut Health Center
Department of Immunology
263 Farmington Avenue
Farmington, CT 06030-3710
Telephone: (860) 679-3369
Fax: (860) 679-8130
email: swikel@up.uchc.edu

Emerging and re-emerging diseases transmitted by blood feeding arthropods are significant global public health problems. A major focus of research in this laboratory is the characterization of the complex cellular and molecular immunology of the tick-host-pathogen interface. During the course of blood feeding, ticks introduce pharmacologically active molecules into the host that are essential for both obtaining a blood meal and for successful transmission of infectious agents. Some of these molecules stimulate host immune responses that induce resistance to tick feeding. In turn, ticks have developed immunomodulatory countermeasures, which suppress or deviate host innate and specific acquired immune responses. Interactions between host immunity and tick mediated immunomodulation are central to successful tick feeding and disease transmission. Efforts are directed toward the elucidation of the cellular and molecular interactions that occur at the tick-host-pathogen interface. Immunomodulatory proteins in tick saliva are being isolated and characterized, and the genes encoding those molecules are being cloned and expressed.
In addition to characterizing the fundamental immunological aspects of these interactions, a combination of genomic and proteomic approaches are being used in order to identify relevant salivary gland derived proteins. A goal of this research is to develop a novel "vector-blocking" vaccine, which will target those molecules introduced by the tick which are essential for successful feeding and pathogen transmission. This strategy is designed to circumvent the need to develop vaccines for each individual tick-borne pathogen. Similar approaches are now being applied in this laboratory to the study of medically important mosquitoes.

Selected Publications:

Brossard, M. And Wikel, S.K. 2004. Tick immunobiology. Parasitology 129:S161-S176.

Mü ller-Doblies, U. And Wikel, S.K. 2005. The human reaction to ticks. In, Tick-borne Infections of Humans. J.L. Goodman, D.T. Dennis and D.E. Sonenshine (eds.). ASM Press, Washington, D.C. pp.102-120.

Rajan, T.V., Hein, M., Porte, P. And Wikel, S.K. 2005. A double blinded, placebo controlled trial of garlic as a mosquito repellant: a preliminary study. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 19:84-89.

Burke, G., Wikel, S.K., Spielman, A., Pollack, R., McKay, K., Krause, P.J. and the tickborne disease study group. 2005. Cutaneous tick hypersensitivity in humans is associated with decreased Lyme disease risk. Emerging Infectious Diseases 11:36-41.

Hill, C.A. and Wikel, S.K. (2005). The Ixodes scapularis genome project: an opportunity for advancing tick research. Trends in Parasitology 21:151-153.

Wikel, S.K. (2005). Development of vaccines for the control of blood-feeding arthropods: the combined use of proteomic and genomic strategies. In, New Discoveries in Agrochemicals. J.M. Clark and H. Ohkawa (eds.). American Chemical Society Symposium Series 892, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. pp. 348-382.

Dash, Y., Maxwell, S.S., Rajan, T.V. and Wikel, S.K. (2005). Tick induced murine extramedullary erythropoiesis. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 99:519- 532.

Boppana, D.K.V., Wikel, S.K., Raj, D., Manohar, M. And John, L. (2005). Cellular infiltration at skin lesion and draining lymph nodes of sheep infested with adult Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum ticks. Parasitology 131:1-11.

Maxwell, S.S., Stoklasek, T.A., Dash, Y., Macaluso, K.R. and Wikel, S.K. (2005). Tick modulation of the in-vitro expression of adhesion molecules by skin-derived endothelial cells. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 99:661-672..

Ribeiro, J., Alarcon-Chaidez, F., Francischetti, I.M.B., Mans, B., Mather, T.N., Valenzuela, J.G. and Wikel, S.K. (2005). An annotated catalog of salivary gland transcripts from Ixodes scapularis ticks. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 36:111-129.

Mukherjee, A.K., Sollod, B.L., Wikel, S.K. and King, G.F. (2006). Orally active acaricidal peptide toxins from the venom of the Australian funnel-web spider. Toxicon 47:182-187.

Wikel, S.K. (2006). Cellular and molecular immune mechanisms at the host-blood feeding arthropod-pathogen interface. Parasite Immunology 28:258-259.

Alarcon-Chaidez, F., Ryan, R., Wikel, S., Dardick, K., Lawler, C., Foppa, I., Tomas, P., Cushman, A., Hsieh, A., Spielman, A., Bouchard, K., Dias, F., Aslanzadeh, J. And Krause, P. (2006). Confirmation of tick bite by detecting antibody to Ixodes calreticulin salivary protein. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology 13:1217-1222.

Krause, P.J., Foley, D.J., Burke, G.S., Christianson, D., Closter, L., Spielman, A., Foppa, I., Ryan, R., Baute, P., Miller, J., Wikel, S., Tomas, P., Dias, F., George, T., Pollack, R. And Telford, S. III. (2006). Reinfection and relapse in early Lyme disease. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 75:1090-1094.

Alarcon-Chaidez, FJ., Sun, J., and Wikel, S.K. (2007). Transcriptome analysis of the salivary glands of the tick Dermacentor andersoni Stiles (Acari: Ixodidae). Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 37:48-71.

Ribeiro, J.M.C., Arca, B., Lombardo, F., Calvo, E., Phan, V.M., Chandra, P.K. and Wikel, S.K. (2007). An annotated catalogue of salivary gland transcripts in the adult female mosquito, Aedes aegypti. BMC Genomics 8:6 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-8-6 (27 pages).

Geraci, N.S., Johnston, J.S., Robinson, J.P., Wikel, S.K. and Hill, C.A. (2007). Variation of genome size of argasid and ixodid ticks. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 37:399-408.

Van Zee, J.P., Geraci, N.S., Guerrero, F.D., Wikel, S.K., Stuart, J.J., Nene, V.M. and Hill, C.A. (2007). Looking to the future of tick genomics: Insights from the Ixodes genome project. International Journal for Parasitology 37:1297-1305.

Müller-Doblies, U.U., S.S. Maxwell, Boppana, V.D., Mihalyo, M.A., McSorley, S.J., Vella, A.T., Adler, A.J. and Wikel, S.K. (2007). Feeding by the tick, Ixodes scapularis, causes CD4+ T-cells responding to cognate antigen to develop capacity to express interleukin-4. Parasite Immunology 29:485-499.

Brossard, M and Wikel, S.K. (2008). Tick immunobiology. In, Ticks: Biology, Disease and Control. Bowman, A.S. and Nuttall, P.A. (Eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. (In press).