Ruiz-Rosado Lab
Each year, urinary tract infections (UTI) affect 150 million people worldwide. In the United States, they account for 7 million annual office visits and over $1.6 billion in health care spending. Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) initiates more than 80% of UTI by colonizing the bladder. When UPEC ascends to the kidneys, the resulting acute pyelonephritis can lead to acute kidney injury, renal scarring, and ultimately end-stage renal disease.
The Ruiz-Rosado Lab focuses on uncovering the exact process by which the body fights off UTI, work that is foundational to establishing new therapies to prevent and treat UTI in children. Its team is exploring the role monocytes and neutrophils play in this process. Notably, the Ruiz-Rosado lab has found monocytes and neutrophils play distinct roles in the body’s resistance to E. coli-caused UTI. While neutrophils directly engulf and eliminate E. coli in the bladder and kidneys, monocytes promote inflammation in these organs to increase the anti-microbial activity of these neutrophils. However, exacerbated monocyte infiltration during kidney infection promotes uncontrolled inflammation and renal scarring. Further, the team discovered this monocyte-induced inflammation also results in impaired kidney function.
The long-term goal of the Ruiz-Rosado Lab is to exploit the biological functions of neutrophils and macrophages to advance the rational design of a new class of non-antibiotic therapies to resolve UTI and prevent permanent renal damage following pyelonephritis.
