Kalimuthusamy Natarajaseenivasan

• PhD
• Professor at Bharathidasan University

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of HPV infection among women from three districts of Tamil Nadu (Erode, Salem, and Namakkal). Methods: Between January 27, 2007, and December 15, 2009, 1800 women aged 20-70years who had normal cervical cytology were enrolled into a cross-sectional study. Participants completed interviews and provided first...

Background Although the SARS-CoV-2 and dengue viruses seriously endanger human health, there is presently no vaccine that can stop a person from contracting both viruses at the same time. In this study, four antigens from SARS-CoV-2 and dengue virus were tested for immunogenicity, antigenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity and chosen to predict domi...

Extracellular vesicles, tiny membrane-bound nanoparticles secreted by cells, are widely recognized for their pivotal role in cell-to-cell communication. Consequently, EVs find numerous applications in clinical and therapeutic contexts. The latest classification of extracellular vesicles is based on their relative size, distinct protein markers, and...

Calcium (Ca2+) uptake by mitochondria is essential in regulating bioenergetics, cell death, and cytosolic Ca2+ transients. Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter (MCU) mediates the mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. MCU is a hetero-oligomeric complex with a pore-forming component and accessory proteins required for channel activity. Though MCU regulation by MICUs...

The aberrant increase in cardio-metabolic diseases over the past couple of decades has drawn researchers’ attention to explore and unveil the novel mechanisms implicated in cardiometabolic diseases. Recent evidence disclosed that the derangement of cardiac energy substrate metabolism plays a predominant role in the development and progression of ch...

Cells have developed a variety of mechanisms to counteract stress to give a specific and adaptive response. Yeast Hog1 is a homolog to mammalian p38, which is a mitogen-activated protein kinase. In this work, we analyze the Hog1 signaling during the induction of leptospiral LPS (100 ng/mL) and the hyperosmotic element NaCl (0.8 M). After the additi...

Disturbances in lipid metabolism in the CNS contribute to neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments. Through tight metabolic coupling, astrocytes provide energy to neurons by delivering lactate and cholesterol and by taking up and processing neuron-derived peroxidated fatty acids (pFA). Disruption of CNS lipid homeostasis is observed in people wh...

To develop the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) directed therapeutic approach for the treatment of leptospirosis, we identified potential MIF inhibitors by screening 10 essential tautomerase inhibition classes of chemical compounds and 7 existing anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial drugs. Dopachrome tautomerase assay was performed to m...

To adapt to the tumor environment or to escape chemotherapy, cancer cells rapidly reprogram their metabolism. The hallmark biochemical phenotype of cancer cells is the shift in metabolic reprogramming towards aerobic glycolysis. It was thought that this metabolic shift to glycolysis alone was sufficient for cancer cells to meet their heightened ene...

Mg2+ is an abundant intracellular cation and an important co-factor in the machineries that replicate, transcribe and translate genomic information. Like Ca2+ , Mg2+ is also compartmentalized to mitochondria, which are known to accumulate and release Mg2+ in response to metabolic stimuli and thus regulate the intracellular Mg2+ (iMg2+ ) levels. Mrs...

The search for valuable early diagnostic markers for leptospirosis is ongoing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) for leptospirosis. MIF is an immunoregulatory cytokine secreted by a variety of cell types involved in immune response and the pathogenesis of various diseas...

The biological mechanisms that are associated with the severity of leptospirosis are far from complete. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) gene promoter polymorphisms determine susceptibility to and severity of human leptospirosis. MIF is a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine, which...

Edwardsiella tarda is a severe aquaculture pathogen that can infect many hosts including humans, animals, and fish. Timely diagnosis and treatment are crucial for the control of edwardsiellosis in the aqua industry. By using rabbit polyclonal antibody, an expression gene library of virulent Edwardsiella tarda strain ED-BDU 1 isolated in south India...

A problem with the current leptospirosis diagnostic methods is the low sensitivity and specificity during the acute phase of illness. Rapid point-of-care (POC) assays with minimal sample utilization and low cost are desired in clinical practice. Here, we report for the first time lipopolysaccharide (LPS) based electrochemical biosensor that offers...

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine encoded within a functionally polymorphic genetic locus. MIF was initially recognized as a cytokine generated by activated T cells, but in recent days it has been identified as a multipotent key cytokine secreted by many other cell types involved in immune response and physi...

The present investigation was carried out to study the prevalence of leptospirosis in dairy cows with reproductive disorders in and around Kamrup district of Assam. A total of 130 sera collected from dairy cows with reproductive disorders in different localities of Assam were screened for leptospirosis by MAT. The seroprevalence of leptospirosis in...

Serum samples from 840 animals were examined for Leptospira spp. antibodies by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) to assess the risk factors and the prevalence of leptospirosis among animal herds of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram the north eastern (NER) provinces. They were compared with Tamilnadu (TN) the southern province of India for the serovar an...

To adapt into the host system from moist environment Leptospira alter their gene expression by inducing differential expression of the genes encoding virulence factors. Knowledge about the molecular pathogenesis and virulent evolution remains limited to Leptospira. The pathogenic organism sense the environmental changes mainly through their outer m...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the major surface antigen of Leptospira. In this study, the genes involved in the LPS biosynthesis were analyzed and compared by bioinformatics tools. Also, the chemical composition analysis of leptospiral lipopolysaccharides (LPS) extracted from 5 pathogenic serovars like Autumnalis, Australis, Ballum, Grippotyphosa, Po...

Background: Diseases and disorders with a chronic neuroinflammatory component are often linked with changes in brain metabolism. Among neurodegenerative disorders, people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are particularly vulnerable to metabolic disturbances, but the mechanistic connections of inflammation...

HIV-1 Tat is a potent neurotoxic protein that is released by HIV-1 infected cells in the brain and perturbs neuronal homeostasis, causing a broad range of neurological disorders in people living with HIV-1. Furthermore, the effects of Tat have been addressed in numerous studies to investigate the molecular events associated with neuronal cells surv...

Leptospirosis is considered as a neglected tropical disease which is caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. The precise mechanisms of leptospirosis pathogenesis are unclear and hence, the progress in development of treatment modalities has been dismal. The present study aimed to identify novel virulent factors of leptospires to understand the disease...

Here, we used miRNAs that are differentially regulated by the LPS/TLR2 immune axis to devise a miRNA-based diagnosis for leptospirosis. The study established the role of the circulating stable miRNAs (miR-21-5p, miR-144-3p, and miR-let-7b-5p) as an early diagnostic marker for leptospirosis. These miRNAs can be used to diagnose acute leptospirosis a...

Neurons and glia maintain central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis through diverse mechanisms of intra- and intercellular signaling. Some of these interactions include the exchange of soluble factors between cells via direct cell-to-cell contact for both short and long-distance transfer of biological materials. Transcellular transfer of mitochondri...

The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle converts the end products of glycolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation into the reducing equivalents NADH and FADH 2 . Although mitochondrial matrix uptake of Ca ²⁺ enhances ATP production, it remains unclear whether deprivation of mitochondrial TCA substrates alters mitochondrial Ca ²⁺ flux. We investigated the effec...

Diseases and disorders with a chronic neuroinflammatory component are often linked with changes in brain metabolism. Among neurodegenerative disorders, people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are particularly vulnerable to metabolic disturbances, but mechanistic connections of inflammation, neurodegenerati...

The brain is particularly sensitive to changes in energy supply. Defects in glucose utilization and mitochondrial dysfunction are hallmarks of nearly all neurodegenerative diseases and are also associated with the cognitive decline that occurs as the brain ages. Chronic neuroinflammation driven by glial activation is commonly implicated as a contri...

Background The ligand Hpyramol is a redox active, which on coordination with Cu(II) cleaves DNA without any added reductant. Another ligand phendione is known for its wide application towards anticancer activities. We combined the ligands with CuCl2 to have an intercalation moiety and a redox active ligand in participation towards telomere DNA clea...

Astrocytes regulate local cerebral blood flow, maintain ion and neurotransmitter homeostasis, provide metabolic support, regulate synaptic activity, and respond to brain injury, insults, and infection. Because of their abundance, extensive connectivity, and multiple roles in the brain, astrocytes are intimately involved in normal functioning of the...

Leptospirosis is a widespread zoonotic disease and lacks in efficient diagnostic tools. In the present study, a nanogold based dot blot immunoassay was developed and evaluated for the detection of leptospirosis in human urine samples. This method was found to be rapid (<4 h) with higher sensitivity (>4.2–14.6%) than horse radish peroxidase (HRP) co...

Introduction Anti-tuberculosis agent rifampicin is extensively used for its effectiveness. Possible complications of tuberculosis and prolonged rifampicin treatment include kidney damage; these conditions can lead to reduced efficiency of the affected kidney and consequently to other diseases. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) can...

Although many factors contribute to cellular differentiation, the role of mitochondria Ca2+ dynamics during development remains unexplored. Because mammalian embryonic epiblasts reside in a hypoxic environment, we intended to understand whether mCa2+ and its transport machineries are regulated during hypoxia. Tissues from multiple organs of develop...

The emergence of >300 serovars of Leptospira confounded the use of generalized bacterin, the whole cell lysate, as vaccines to control leptospirosis. Because of substantial genetic and geographic heterogeneity among circulating serovars, one vaccine strain per serovar cannot be efficacious against all the serovars. We have performed heterologous DN...

Calcium (Ca2+) dynamics and oxidative signaling control mitochondrial bioenergetics in the central nervous system, where astrocytes are a major energy source for neurons. Cocaine use exacerbates HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, but little is known about disruptions in astrocyte metabolism in this context. Our data show that the HIV protein...

Introduction: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the spirochete of genus Leptospira with widespread distribution in tropical, subtropical and temperate zones. Leptospirosis is often confused with other febrile illnesses including jaundice, dengue, and malaria. Generally, the disease is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Though leptos...

Leptospirosis is a worldwide reemerging tropical zoonotic disease with symptoms of mild febrile illness to more severe multiple organ failure caused by pathogenic leptospiral strains. There was no effective antibiotic for treating leptospirosis. Here, the anti-leptospiral potential of marine actinobacterial compound from Streptomyces indiaensis MSU...

Leptospirosis is underdiagnosed due to low sensitivity, need of specialised equipment, and expensive reagents for serological and molecular diagnosis respectively. Considering the sensitivity, rapidity, inexpensive reagents and collection of clinical samples, the monoclonal antibody based antigen detection method from urine samples has been develop...

doi: 10.1080/20477724.2017.1333782

Leptospira is the causative agent of leptospirosis, which is an emerging zoonotic disease. Recent studies on Leptospira have demonstrated biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces. The protein expressed in the biofilm was investigated by using SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting in combination with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The proteins expressed in Leptosp...

A simple and efficient method for the synthesis of a series of 6,7-dihydro-3H-pyrano[4,3-c]isoxazol-3-one derivatives starting from 5-carboalkoxy-2,3-dihydropyranone (5-CDHPs) has been developed. Pyranoisoxazolones 10a-j, dihydronaphthopyran-4-one (DHNPs) class of natural product 12b and 12c and its analogues 12a and 13a-c were preliminarily screen...

Humans are known to excrete leptospires in their urine after recovery from illness and there are reports showing development of asymptomatic leptospiruria in settings of high disease transmission. In this regard, we sought to evaluate the asymptomatic renal carriage status of humans in the highly endemic region of Tiruchirapalli district, Tamilnadu...

Leptospiral outer membrane protein LipL21 and its truncated N-terminal immunogenic region (I-LipL21) were evaluated for diagnosis of leptospirosis. The complete coding sequence of LipL21 nucleotide sequence was subjected to BCPred and VaxiJen analysis for determination of B cell specific immunogenic epitopes. Epitope1 ACS STD TGQ KDA TTV GDG (1.883...

Leptospirosis is mainly considered an occupational disease, prevalent among agriculture, sewage works, forestry, and animal slaughtering populations. However, putative risk to miners and their inclusion in the high-risk leptospirosis group remain in need of rigorous analysis. Therefore, a study was conducted with the objective to assess the leptosp...

The surveillance in Chennai identified 134 children and 443 adults clinically suspected for leptospirosis. Of these, 35 (26.1%) children and 118 (26.6%) adults had laboratory confirmed diagnosis for leptospirosis. The paediatric leptospirosis exhibited a higher frequency of classic features of Weil's disease. The prevalent serovar encountered was I...

A case-control study to identify the risk factors for ovarian carcinoma in Tiruchirapalli district, Tamilnadu, India a low incidence population was conducted. The invasive epithelial ovarian cancer case patients were 37. The control group consisted of 74 healthy women, matched according to age categories. Subjects were interviewed in person regardi...

Pelvic actinomycosis constitutes one of the curiosities of gynecology. In this present investigation the presence of actinomycetes infection among Intrauterine device (IUD) users and its correlation correlated with the development of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) and ovarian carcinoma was studied. Endocervical swabs were obtained from ovarian c...

Leptospirosis is a serious zoonosis that is under-diagnosed with limited access to laboratory facilities in Southeast Asia, Central and South America and Oceania. Timely diagnosis of locally distributed serovars of high virulence is crucial for successful care and outbreak management. Using pooled patients' sera an expression gene library of a viru...

Background: Leptospirosis is a re-emerging infectious disease that is under-recognized due to low-sensitivity and cumbersome serological tests. MAT is the gold standard test and it is the only serogroup specific test used till date. Rapid reliable alternative serogroup specific tests are needed for surveillance studies to identify locally circulat...

Utilization of bio-diesel by-products (glycerol) for microbial polymer production has created a novel biorefinery concept. In the present study, recombinant Escherichia coli JM109 was used for the production of P(3HB) from glycerol as carbon source. Batch fermentation in a 7.5L bioreactor with the statistically optimized culture condition (pre-trea...

Bacteriocin producing strain BDU3 was isolated from a traditional fermented fish of Manipur Ngari. The strain BDU3 was identified as Bacillus coagulans by phenotypic and genotypic characterization. The BDU3 produced novel bacteriocin, which showed an antimicrobial spectrum towards a wide spectrum of food borne, and closely related pathogens with a...

Objectives: The present study aims to screen and isolate a promising strain of actinobacteria for the development of new antibiotic to fight against life-threatening infectious diseases. Methods: A total of 59 marine samples were collected from various marine ecosystem of India. About 242 actinobacterial strains were isolated by using starch casein...

Incidence of age related cataract (ARC) increases by a variety of factors including metabolic and environmental factors. Nonetheless, genetic mutations are responsible for the altered structural stability of the proteins, especially; the F71L mutation in αA-crystallin has been shown to be responsible for the incidence of cataracts. However, structu...

The lens transparency depends on higher concentration of lens proteins and their interactions. α-Crystallin is one of the predominant lens proteins, responsible for proper structural and functional architecture of the lens microenvironment, and any alteration of which results in cataract formation. The R12C, R21L, R49C and R54C are the most signifi...

Abstract Purpose: This study was designed to examine the constrictive potential of C-Phycocyanin (C-PC) in regulating changes imposed on gene expression in the selenite-induced cataract model. Methods: Wistar rat pups were divided into three groups of eight each. On P10, Group I received an intraperitoneal injection of normal saline. Groups II an...

Leptospirosis is a major zoonotic disease that leads to multiorgan dysfunction to multiorgan failure. This study attempted to isolate the serovar of Leptospira and its serological fingerprintings from rodents' habitation in the boundary area adjacent to sewerage system and municipal solid waste system in Tiruchirapalli, India. Thirty rodents were t...

To study the prevalence of HPV infection and its associated co-infection among sexually active women with normal cytology and to correlate the infection status with TLR expression. In a population based study, first voided urine samples were collected from 370 sexually active women with normal cervical cytology. The presence of HPV, CMV and CT infe...

To study the prevalence of HPV infection and its associated co-infection among sexually active women with normal cytology and to correlate the infection status with TLR expression. In a population based study, first voided urine samples were collected from 370 sexually active women with normal cervical cytology. The presence of HPV, CMV and CT infe...

Leptospirosis is a seasonal infectious disease that is zoonotic in nature; where multiorgan dysfunction to multiorgan failure observed. The main objective of this study is to determine the biochemical parameters such as total bilirubin, SGOT, SGPT, urea and creatinine in clinically suspected and laboratory confirmed leptospirosis cases. Among 30 cl...

The aim of the present study is to screen and characterize endogenous microbiota Bacillus spp. from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of Labeo rohita in order to evaluate their probiotic attributes. A total of 74 isolates from the GI of L. rohita were evaluated for their antimicrobial properties by agar well-diffusion method against fish pathogens. B...

Aim The study sought to determine the risk factors involved in Leptospira infection in rural settings and the relative severity of the disease in comparison with the urban environment in Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India. Subject and methods During an upsurge of leptospirosis, 621 suspected blood samples were obtained from patients and sc...

"Ngari" is a traditional fermented fish of Manipur and considered for its therapeutic value in healing stomach ulcers. In the present study, an attempt was made to isolate and identify an efficient antioxidant probiotic isolate from Ngari. BDU7 with potent antioxidant property was isolated and characterized. The isolate was identified by 16S rRNA g...

Purpose To study the comparative structural and functional changes between wild-type (wt) and N-terminal congenital cataract causing αA-crystallin mutants (R12C, R21L, R49C, and R54C) upon exposure to different dosages of gamma rays. Methods Alpha A crystallin N-terminal mutants were created with the site-directed mutagenesis method. The recombina...

The chloroform extract of the leaf of Piper betle L., (Piperceae) was investigated for its antileptospiral activity against 10 serovars of selected Leptospira. The leaves of this plant have been long in use tropical countries for the preparation of traditional herbal remedies. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC and minimum leptospiricidal co...

The presence of intrauterine contraceptive devices (IUDs) provides a solid surface for attachment of microorganisms and an ideal niche for the biofilm to form and flourish. Vaginal candidiasis is often associated with the use of IUDs. Treatment of vaginal candidiasis that develops in connection with IUD use requires their immediate removal. Here, w...

Leptospirosis is a reemerging infectious disease that is underdiagnosed and under-recognized due to low-sensitivity and cumbersome serological tests. Rapid reliable alternative tests are needed for early diagnosis of the disease. Considering the importance of the pathogenesis-associated leptospiral LigA protein expressed in vivo, we have evaluated...

Resting mitochondrial matrix Ca(2+) is maintained through a mitochondrial calcium uptake 1 (MICU1)-established threshold inhibition of mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) activity. It is not known how MICU1 interacts with MCU to establish this Ca(2+) threshold for mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake and MCU activity. Here, we show that MICU1 localizes to...

The recombinant GroEL antigen based latex agglutination test (GroEL-LAT) was evaluated for its efficacy for the serodiagnosis of bovine leptospirosis in comparison with the gold standard microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The overall results of the recombinant GroEL-ELISA showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predi...

Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonosis of ubiquitous distribution caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. It can be misdiagnosed because manifestations of this febrile disease vary from mild flu-like symptoms to severe illness involving vital organs such as the liver and lungs. Clinical picture mimics the variety of other bacterial, viral and protozoan...

Purpose: Alteration and overexpression of HER2 proto-oncogene have been implicated in the carcinogenesis and prognosis of ovarian cancer. We evaluated this hypothesis among women with ovarian carcinoma patients from Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from 72 case patients and 288 control subjects and was examin...

Abstract Pathogenic Leptospira species are important human and animal pathogen that causes leptospirosis, with more than half a million cases reported annually but little is known regarding the true incidence of leptospirosis due to the limitations in diagnosis. Proteins embedded in the outer membrane are found to be prime drug targets due to its k...