Mayuresh Abhyankar

Associate Professor of Research, Medicine- Infectious Diseases and International Health

Primary Location

UVA Division of Infectious Diseases & Intl. Health
345 Crispell Drive, MR-6, Rm 1711
Charlottesville, VA 22908

Primary Phone Number

434.924.7250

Fax Number

434.924.0075

[email protected]

Bio & Overview

Diarrheal diseases remain a leading cause of mortality in the developing world mainly due to lack of effective vaccines. Entamoeba histolytic-a, an invasive protozoan parasite and causative agent of amebiasis is among the top 5 pathogens responsible for childhood diarrhea, and the second most common cause of diarrhea in returning travelers. We are conducting preclinical studies to evaluate and optimize efficacy of a recombinant amebiasis vaccine. We have collaborated with the Infectious Disease research Institute, WA to develop liposome based adjuvants containing combination of synthetic TLR ligands suitable for future clinical trials. Adaptive immune response that is Th1 biased and the presence of anti-amebic mucosal IgA have been identified as correlates of protection in children. Our experiments are designed towards eliciting multifaceted immune response. Furthermore, we are assessing adjuvant potentials of Vitamin A and cytokines. Another actively pursued project in the laboratory is intended to identify biomarkers predictive of Clostridium difficile disease severity. C. difficile is a major cause of health-care associated infections in the US. The long term goal of these studies is to develop adjunct therapies.

Academic Information

Department: Medicine- Infectious Diseases and International Health

Primary Education

PhD, Infectious Diseases, Madurai Kamaraj Universitynull

Research Interests

Amebiasis vaccine development; biomarkers of Clostridium difficile disease severity

Selected Publications

2024

Rigo, I., Young, M. K., Abhyankar, M. M., Xu, F., Ramakrishnan, G., Naz, F., . . . Petri, W. A. (2024). The impact of existing total anti-toxin B IgG immunity in outcomes of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection. ANAEROBE, 87. doi:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2024.102842

Kumar, R., Kausch, S. L., Gummadi, A. K. S., Fairchild, K. D., Abhyankar, M. M., Petri Jr, W. A., & Sullivan, B. A. (2024). Inflammatory biomarkers and physiomarkers of late-onset sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants. FRONTIERS IN PEDIATRICS, 12. doi:10.3389/fped.2024.1337849

2023

Madden, G. R., Rigo, I., Boone, R., Abhyankar, M. M., Young, M. K., Basener, W., & Petri Jr, W. A. A. (2023). Novel Biomarkers, Including tcdB PCR Cycle Threshold, for Predicting Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection. INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, 91(4). doi:10.1128/iai.00092-23

2022

Young, M. K., Leslie, J. L., Madden, G. R., Lyerly, D. M., Carman, R. J., Lyerly, M. W., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2022). Binary Toxin Expression by Clostridioides difficile Is Associated With Worse Disease. OPEN FORUM INFECTIOUS DISEASES, 9(3). doi:10.1093/ofid/ofac001

2021

Abhyankar, M. M., Mann, B. J., Sturek, J. M., Brovero, S., Moreau, G. B., Sengar, A., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2021). Development of COVID-19 vaccine using a dual Toll-like receptor ligand liposome adjuvant. NPJ VACCINES, 6(1). doi:10.1038/s41541-021-00399-0

Donlan, A. N., Sutherland, T. E., Marie, C., Preissner, S., Bradley, B. T., Carpenter, R. M., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2021). IL-13 is a driver of COVID-19 severity. JCI INSIGHT, 6(15). doi:10.1172/jci.insight.150107

Donlan, A. N., Sutherland, T. E., Marie, C., Preissner, S., Bradley, B. T., Carpenter, R. M., . . . Petri, W. A. (2021). IL-13 is a driver of COVID-19 severity.. medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2020.06.18.20134353

Abhyankar, M. M., Orr, M. T., Kinsey, R., Sivananthan, S., Nafziger, A. J., Oakland, D. N., . . . Fox, C. B. (2021). Optimizing a Multi-Component Intranasal Entamoeba Histolytica Vaccine Formulation Using a Design of Experiments Strategy. FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY, 12. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.683157

2020

Abhyankar, M. M., Ma, J. Z., Scully, K. W., Nafziger, A. J., Frisbee, A. L., Saleh, M. M., . . . Petri, W. A. J. J. (2020). Immune Profiling To Predict Outcome of Clostridioides difficile Infection. MBIO, 11(3). doi:10.1128/mBio.00905-20

2019

Frisbee, A. L., Saleh, M. M., Young, M. K., Leslie, J. L., Simpson, M. E., Abhyankar, M. M., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2019). IL-33 drives group 2 innate lymphoid cell-mediated protection during Clostridium difficile infection. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 10. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10733-9

Saleh, M. M., Frisbee, A. L., Leslie, J. L., Buonomo, E. L., Cowardin, C. A., Ma, J. Z., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2019). Colitis-Induced Th17 Cells Increase the Risk for Severe Subsequent Clostridium difficile Infection. CELL HOST & MICROBE, 25(5), 756-+. doi:10.1016/j.chom.2019.03.003

2018

Wojcik, G. L., Marie, C., Abhyankar, M. M., Yoshida, N., Watanabe, K., Mentzer, A. J., . . . Duggal, P. (2018). Genome-Wide Association Study Reveals Genetic Link between Diarrhea-Associated Entamoeba histolytica Infection and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. MBIO, 9(5). doi:10.1128/mBio.01668-18

Jose, S., Mukherjee, A., Abhyankar, M. M., Leng, L., Bucala, R., Sharma, D., & Madan, R. (2018). Neutralization of macrophage migration inhibitory factor improves host survival after Clostridium difficile infection. ANAEROBE, 53, 56-63. doi:10.1016/j.anaerobe.2018.06.014

Jose, S., Abhyankar, M. M., Mukherjee, A., Xue, J., Andersen, H., Haslam, D. B., & Madan, R. (2018). Leptin receptor q223r polymorphism influences neutrophil mobilization after Clostridium difficile infection. MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY, 11(3), 947-957. doi:10.1038/mi.2017.119

Abhyankar, M. M., Orr, M. T., Lin, S., Suraju, M. O., Simpson, A., Blust, M., . . . Fox, C. B. (2018). Adjuvant composition and delivery route shape immune response quality and protective efficacy of a recombinant vaccine for Entamoeba histolytica. NPJ VACCINES, 3. doi:10.1038/s41541-018-0060-x

2017

Watanabe, K., Gilchrist, C. A., Uddin, M. J., Burgess, S. L., Abhyankar, M. M., Moonah, S. N., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2017). Microbiome-mediated neutrophil recruitment via CXCR2 and protection from amebic colitis. PLOS PATHOGENS, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1006513

Osuru, H. P., Pramoonjago, P., Abhyankar, M. M., Swanson, E., Roker, L. A., Cathro, H., & Reddi, P. P. (2017). Immunolocalization of TAR DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43) in mouse seminiferous epithelium. MOLECULAR REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT, 84(8), 675-685. doi:10.1002/mrd.22851

Noor, Z., Watanabe, K., Abhyankar, M. M., Burgess, S. L., Buonomo, E. L., Cowardin, C. A., & Petri, W. A. J. (2017). Role of Eosinophils and Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha in Interleukin-25-Mediated Protection from Amebic Colitis. MBIO, 8(1). doi:10.1128/mBio.02329-16

Ngobeni, R., Abhyankar, M. M., Jiang, N. M., Farr, L. A., Samie, A., Haque, R., & Moonah, S. N. (2017). Entamoeba histolytica-Encoded Homolog of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Contributes to Mucosal Inflammation during Amebic Colitis. JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, 215(8), 1294-1302. doi:10.1093/infdis/jix076

Abhyankar, M. M., Noor, Z., Tomai, M. A., Elyecrog, J., Fox, C. B., & Petri, W. A. J. (2017). Nanoformulation of synergistic TLR ligands to enhance vaccination against Entamoeba histolytica. VACCINE, 35(6), 916-922. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.12.057

2016

Burgess, S. L., Saleh, M., Cowardin, C. A., Buonomo, E., Noor, Z., Watanabe, K., . . . Petri, W. A. J. (2016). Role of Serum Amyloid A, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor, and Bone Marrow Granulocyte-Monocyte Precursor Expansion in Segmented Filamentous Bacterium-Mediated Protection from Entamoeba histolytica. INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, 84(10), 2824-2832. doi:10.1128/IAI.00316-16

DuVall, J. A., Cabaniss, S. T., Angotti, M. L., Moore, J. H., Abhyankar, M., Shukla, N., . . . Landers, J. P. (2016). Rapid detection of Clostridium difficile via magnetic bead aggregation in cost-effective polyester microdevices with cell phone image analysis. ANALYST, 141(19), 5637-5645. doi:10.1039/c6an00674d

2014

Moonah, S. N., Abhyankar, M. M., Haque, R., & Petri, W. A. J. (2014). The Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Homolog of Entamoeba histolytica Binds to and Immunomodulates Host Macrophages. INFECTION AND IMMUNITY, 82(9), 3523-3530. doi:10.1128/IAI.01812-14

2013

Barroso, L., Abhyankar, M., Noor, Z., Read, K., Pedersen, K., White, R., . . . Lyerly, D. (2014). Expression, purification, and evaluation of recombinant LecA as a candidate for an amebic colitis vaccine. VACCINE, 32(10), 1218-1224. doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.06.056

2012

Abhyankar, M. M., Shrimal, S., Gilchrist, C. A., Bhattacharya, A., & Petri, W. A. J. (2012). The Entamoeba histolytica serum-inducible transmembrane kinase EhTMKB1-9 is involved in intestinal amebiasis. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY-DRUGS AND DRUG RESISTANCE, 2, 243-248. doi:10.1016/j.ijpddr.2012.01.002

2010

Abhyankar, M. M., Haviland, S. M., Gilchrist, C. A., & Petri, W. A. (2010). Development of a negative selectable marker for Entamoeba histolytica.. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, (46), 2410. doi:10.3791/2410