3649-08 IICB.indd - Faculty of Biological Sciences - University of ...

Rupert Quinnell
BA (Cambridge);
DPhil (Oxford);
Postdoctoral fellow, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (1990-97);
MRC Career Development Fellow (1997-2001);
Lecturer in Biology (2001-2008);
Senior Lecturer in Biology (2008-)
Contact: r.j.quinnell@leeds.ac.uk
Epidemiology, genetics and
control of parasitic infection
I am interested in the factors that
determine the severity of parasitic
infection in an individual, and in
the control of parasitic infection at a
population level. This research focuses
on two medically important host-parasite
systems: human hookworm infection
and visceral leishmaniasis. Hookworms
are parasites of the small intestine,
which infect more than 1 billion people
worldwide, and are an important cause
of iron-deficiency anaemia. Within
an infected population, only a few
individuals have heavy infections and
severe disease. These heavily infected
individuals may have greater exposure
to infective stages, or a more effective
immune response due to their genetic
background. Using data from large
field studies in Papua New Guinea
and elsewhere, I am interested in
such questions as: What is the relative
role of exposure and host genetics
in determining hookworm burdens?
What genes are involved in controlling
hookworm infection? What immune
responses protect against hookworm
infection, and do hookworms subvert
these responses to aid their survival?
These studies involve a combination of
field, laboratory and theroretical work.
Visceral leishmaniasis is a vector-borne
disease for which dogs are the main
reservoir host in South America. Human
disease could be controlled by reducing
transmission from dogs. Current control
programmes are ineffective, so we are
investigating the effectiveness of treating
dogs with long-lasting insecticide as
a control measure in Amazon Brazil,
in collaboration with the University
of Warwick and the Instituto Evandro
Chagas, Brazil. Related projects build
on previous research which has shown
that only a proportion of dogs develop
severe disease and are important for
disease transmission. Currently, we are
investigating the effect of dog genetics
and immune responses on the outcome
of infection, in collaboration with the
Universities of Manchester and Warwick.
Funding for these projects has come
from the Wellcome Trust and MRC.
More information:
http://www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk/staff/profile.
php?staff=RJQ
Representative Publications
Quinnell, RJ. (2003) Genetics of susceptibility
to human helminth infection. International
Journal for Parasitology 33: 1219-1231
Quinnell, RJ, Pritchard, DI, Raiko, A, Brown,
AP & Shaw, M-A. (2004) Immune responses
in human necatoriasis: association between
interleukin-5 responses and resistance to
reinfection. Journal of Infectious Diseases
190: 430-438
Quinnell, RJ, Kennedy, LJ, Barnes, A,
Courtenay, O, Dye, C, Garcez, LM, Shaw, M-A,
Carter, SD, Thomson, W & Ollier, WER. (2003)
Susceptibility to visceral leishmaniasis in the
domestic dog is associated with MHC class II
polymorphism. Immunogenetics 55: 23-28
Courtenay, O, Quinnell, RJ, Garcez, LM,
Shaw, JJ & Dye, C. (2002) Infectiousness in
a cohort of Brazilian dogs: why culling fails to
control visceral leishmaniasis in areas of high
transmission. Journal of Infectious Diseases
186 : 1314-1320