From Keith 5/14/08

The Pine Warbler is one of the first warblers to return to the North in spring, arriving as early as February in areas just north of the wintering range. It is one of the earliest breeding warblers too, starting in late April or May in the northern part of the range.

We're back to heavy-duty research, now that we have re-established ties with scientists who have the capability of sophisticated analysis of Lyme disease-causing bacteria, which we can provide through our captures.  For newcomers, I first thought there might be a connection between migrating birds and the rapid spread of Lyme disease way back in the early '90's when I was banding alone.  I began by sending my specimens to Dr. Peter Rand at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, which back then was one of the only tick-bird research centers in the world.  Their focus was on disease-causing agents affecting people in Maine, so, although they worked with me, I knew it would be best to involve scientists in Massachusetts to work with me on the project.  I contacted Dr. Richard Pollack and his research team at Harvard University's School of Public Health, and we began a collaboration that lasted for several years, with me providing tick specimens both from birds and from native wild mice.  Harvard School of Public Health has a world-wide focus, and my specimens sometimes were not as important as an outbreak of Ebola in Africa, for example.  I chose to contact the most local scientists, for whom the relevance of my research would be even more important.  Consequently, for several years, now with Auburn assistants, I provided specimens to Dr. Steven Rich of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.  The collaboration was a natural, until Dr. Rich left for other research opportunities.  We continued, during this hiatus, analyzing which species of birds carry the ticks, and in what proportions.  With  new partners fully capable of sophisticated genetic analysis of the pathogenic bacteria, Dr. Maria Duik-Wasser and Dr. Anne Gatewood, Yale University,  we are once again resuming our original and primary focus. 

BIRDBANDING MEDICAL RESEARCH RESUMES IN AUBURN (written September 7, 2007)

                  by     Mark M. Blazis, Research Director 

This weekend and each weekend before the hunting season starts and mid-October, the Auburn Sportsman's Club, on Elm St. in Auburn, is the focus of an intense, pioneering birdbanding study of potentially national significance, capturing neotropical migrants as they fly back to their jungle, winter homes in the tropics of the Caribbean, Central, and South America.  The Auburn Birdbanding Research Station collaborates with Dr. M.A. Diuk Wasser from the Yale School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.  Together, we are concerned both with bird populations and the spread of Lyme disease.  Our focus is the spread of ticks, especially different strains of one particular species, Ixodes scapularis, that will attach to and parasitize brush, shrub, and grass-inhabiting birds.  Very little is known about the genetic make-up of the different strains of bacteria (Borrelia bergdorferi) in these ticks.  Our research team carefully extracts the immature ticks, usually from the birds' skin around their eyes and the corners of their mouths, preserving them in alcohol to later be microscopically and genetically studied at the Yale Medical School labs.  Not all species of ticks are dangerous.  The species which is dangerous in our region has a very distinct, cork-screw, sperm-like tail.  Certain strains of this particular bacteria may prove more frequent in birds than those in mice, for example.  Some strains may prove to be more dangerous/pathogenic to humans, and if so, this study could prove very relevant to public health up and down the East Coast.  Students and members of the community are welcome to visit the research station beginning at 7:30 each weekend morning, when opportunities to observe, photograph, hold, and release processed birds is possible, under the supervision of federally-permitted staff.  Staff has taken promising students and adults, teaching them research protocols and involving them in the actual research project.  The opportunity is a valuable one for anyone in the community looking to become involved in serious scientific/medical research and the study of migratory birds.    

Protein In Deer Tick Saliva Prevents HIV-1 From Attaching To T Cells

ScienceDaily (Feb. 19, 2008) — The HIV-1 virus cripples the human immune system by targeting white blood cells called T cells that form the body’s first line of defense in fighting infections. A recent study by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that a protein found in the saliva of deer ticks prevents the HIV-1 virus from attaching to the surface of T cells, which is the critical first step in the virus’ attack strategy. 

Since the protein suppresses the action of T cells, it may also prove to be an effective treatment for autoimmune diseases like asthma and multiple sclerosis caused by an overactive immune system that mounts an attack against the body’s own cells and tissues, and it could be useful to suppress the immune system to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.

When the HIV-1 virus enters a human host, it attaches to the surface of T cells before fusing with the cell membrane and injecting its DNA into the nucleus. “This allows the virus to use the machinery of the T cell to copy itself and multiply,” says Juan Anguita of the UMass Amherst department of veterinary and animal sciences. “Deer ticks, which are carriers of Lyme disease, produce a protein that can interfere with the initial attachment of the HIV-1 virus, which could lead to new treatments that stop the infection process before it begins.” Additional members of the research team include Ignacio Juncandella, Tonya Bates and Elias Olivera of veterinary and animal sciences.

Deer tick saliva contains the protein Salp15, which stops T cells from activating by binding to a specific site on their surface called the CD4 receptor. Since T cells initiate the body’s immune response to invading viruses and bacteria, this strategy allows the tick to evade a host’s immune system as it feeds for up to seven days. As it turns out, the CD4 receptor is also the site used by the HIV-1 virus to attach to T cells.

“Salp15 binds to proteins in the CD4 receptor that are furthest from the cell membrane in both mouse and human cells,” says Anguita. “This region overlaps with the binding region used by a protein on the envelope of the HIV-1 virus called gp120, making Salp15 one of several potential molecules being studied as entry-targeting inhibitors.”

Laboratory studies showed that the presence of Salp15 could inhibit the attachment of HIV-1 by almost 70 percent at the highest concentration tested. This effect may result from changes in the shape of the CD4 receptor caused by the binding of Salp15. Additional studies showed that Salp15 was also able to bind gp120, making it unable to attach to the CD4 receptor.

Since gp120 can only attach to one site on the CD4 receptor, and its shape has to fit exactly into the receptor’s proteins, this interaction is as specific as opening a lock with a key. Salp15 changes the shape of the key and the lock, preventing the system from working.

Anguita and Juncandella were also part of a study performed in cooperation with the Vermont Lung Center and the University of Vermont showing that Salp15 inhibited the development of asthma in mice. The researchers induced asthma in a group of mice that also received Salp15 and compared them to a control group. Mice that received Salp15 had airways that were less reactive, and showed lower levels of several biochemical markers that indicate a T cell response. Results were published in June 2007 in The Journal of Immunology.

“The activation of T Cells is necessary for the development of allergic airway disease in mice, which shares many features of human allergic asthma,” says Anguita. “Effectively controlling the activities of these cells could be a panacea for asthma therapy.”

Anguita believes that Salp15 may lead to treatments for HIV-1, transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases with fewer side effects than traditional medications like steroids and protease inhibitors, partly because its action is so specific. “HIV-1 and transplant patients are on powerful medications for life, and most of these have secondary effects like nerve damage and liver problems, says Angiuta. “This makes the development of new treatments an important area of research.”

Results were published in the February 2008 issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Massachusetts Amherst

Click here: NPR : Galapagos, Under Threat

Dr. Reich sent in some really great articles.  Click HERE to read about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and hear a recording and click HERE to read about Global Warming and the path to extinction.

Check out the newest edition of the Audubon Newswire:  CLICK HERE