Digital Commons Network^™

Vitamin D Treatment Prevents Uremia-Induced Reductions In Aortic Microrna-145 Attenuating Osteogenic Differentiation Despite Hyperphosphatemia, Natalia Carrillo-López, Sara Panizo, Maria Vittoria Arcidiacono, Sandra De La Fuente, Laura Martínez-Arias, Emerenziana Ottaviano, Catalina Ulloa, María Piedad Ruiz-Torres, Isabel Rodríguez, Jorge B Cannata-Andía, Manuel Naves-Díaz, Adriana S Dusso

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In chronic kidney disease, systemic inflammation and high serum phosphate (P) promote the de-differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) to osteoblast-like cells, increasing the propensity for medial calcification and cardiovascular mortality. Vascular microRNA-145 (miR-145) content is essential to maintain VSMC contractile phenotype. Because vitamin D induces aortic miR-145, uremia and high serum P reduce it and miR-145 directly targets osteogenic osterix in osteoblasts, this study evaluated a potential causal link between vascular miR-145 reductions and osterix-driven osteogenic differentiation and its counter-regulation by vitamin D. Studies in aortic rings from normal rats and in the rat aortic VSMC line A7r5 …

Mechanisms Of Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound Phenotypes In Paediatric Cerebral Malaria Remain Elusive., Nicole F O'Brien, Yudy Fonseca, Hunter C Johnson, Douglas Postels, Gretchen L Birbeck, Yamikani Chimalizeni, Karl B Seydel, Montfort Bernard Gushu, Tusekile Phiri, Sylvester June, Karen Chetcuti, Lorenna Vidal, Manu S Goyal, Terrie E Taylor

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Cerebral malaria (CM) results in significant paediatric death and neurodisability in sub-Saharan Africa. Several different alterations to typical Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD) flow velocities and waveforms in CM have been described, but mechanistic contributors to these abnormalities are unknown. If identified, targeted, TCD-guided adjunctive therapy in CM may improve outcomes.

METHODS: This was a prospective, observational study of children 6 months to 12 years with CM in Blantyre, Malawi recruited between January 2018 and June 2021. Medical history, physical examination, laboratory analysis, electroencephalogram, and magnetic resonance imaging were undertaken on presentation. Admission TCD results determined phenotypic grouping following a …

Mechanism Of Voltage Sensing In Ca2+- And Voltage-Activated K + (Bk) Channels, Willy Carrasquel-Ursulaez, Ignacio Segura, Ignacio Díaz-Franulic, Felipe Echeverría, Yenisleidy Lorenzo-Ceballos, Nicolás Espinoza, Maximiliano Rojas, Jose Antonio Garate, Eduardo Perozo, Osvaldo Alvarez, Fernando D Gonzalez-Nilo, Ramón Latorre, Valeria Marquez-Miranda

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In neurosecretion, allosteric communication between voltage sensors and Ca

Fine-Tuning Cardiac Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Receptor Signaling To Promote Health And Longevity, Mahmoud Abdellatif, Tobias Pendl, Sebastian J Hofer, Moydul Islam, Abhinav Diwan, Tobias Eisenberg, Frank Madeo, Et Al

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) pathway is a key regulator of cellular metabolism and aging. Although its inhibition promotes longevity across species, the effect of attenuated IGF1 signaling on cardiac aging remains controversial.

METHODS: We performed a lifelong study to assess cardiac health and lifespan in 2 cardiomyocyte-specific transgenic mouse models with enhanced versus reduced IGF1 receptor (IGF1R) signaling. Male mice with human IGF1R overexpression or dominant negative phosphoinositide 3-kinase mutation were examined at different life stages by echocardiography, invasive hemodynamics, and treadmill coupled to indirect calorimetry. In vitro assays included cardiac histology, mitochondrial respiration, ATP synthesis, autophagic …

Homotopic Contralesional Excitation Suppresses Spontaneous Circuit Repair And Global Network Reconnections Following Ischemic Stroke, Annie R Bice, Qingli Xiao, Justin Kong, Ping Yan, Zachary Pollack Rosenthal, Andrew W Kraft, Karen P Smith, Tadeusz Wieloch, Jin-Moo Lee, Joseph P Culver, Adam Q Bauer

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Understanding circuit-level manipulations that affect the brain's capacity for plasticity will inform the design of targeted interventions that enhance recovery after stroke. Following stroke, increased contralesional activity (e.g. use of the unaffected limb) can negatively influence recovery, but it is unknown which specific neural connections exert this influence, and to what extent increased contralesional activity affects systems- and molecular-level biomarkers of recovery. Here, we combine optogenetic photostimulation with optical intrinsic signal imaging to examine how contralesional excitatory activity affects cortical remodeling after stroke in mice. Following photothrombosis of left primary somatosensory forepaw (S1FP) cortex, mice either recovered spontaneously or received …

Aspartyl Protease Inhibitors As Anti-Filarial Drugs, Liana Beld, Hyeim Jung, Christina A Bulman, Bruce A Rosa, Peter U Fischer, James W Janetka, Sara Lustigman, Judy A Sakanari, Makedonka Mitreva

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The current treatments for lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis do not effectively kill the adult parasitic nematodes, allowing these chronic and debilitating diseases to persist in millions of people. Thus, the discovery of new drugs with macrofilaricidal potential to treat these filarial diseases is critical. To facilitate this need, we first investigated the effects of three aspartyl protease inhibitors (APIs) that are FDA-approved as HIV antiretroviral drugs on the adult filarial nematode,

Cryo-Em Structure Of The Prothrombin-Prothrombinase Complex, Eliza A Ruben, Brock Summers, Michael J Rau, James A J Fitzpatrick, Enrico Di Cera

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of the coagulation cascade converge to a common step where the prothrombinase complex, comprising the enzyme factor Xa (fXa), the cofactor fVa, Ca2+ and phospholipids, activates the zymogen prothrombin to the protease thrombin. The reaction entails cleavage at 2 sites, R271 and R320, generating the intermediates prethrombin 2 and meizothrombin, respectively. The molecular basis of these interactions that are central to hemostasis remains elusive. We solved 2 cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of the fVa-fXa complex, 1 free on nanodiscs at 5.3-Å resolution and the other bound to prothrombin at near atomic 4.1-Å resolution. In …

The Microbiome Restrains Melanoma Bone Growth By Promoting Intestinal Nk And Th1 Cell Homing To Bone, Subhashis Pal, Daniel S. Perrien, Tetsuya Yumoto, Roberta Faccio, Andreea Stoica, Jonathan Adams, Craig M. Coopersmith, Rheinallt M. Jones, M. Neale Weitzmann, Roberto Pacifici

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Bone metastases are frequent complications of malignant melanoma leading to reduced quality of life and significant morbidity. Regulation of immune cells by the gut microbiome influences cancer progression, but the role of the microbiome in tumor growth in bone is unknown. Using intracardiac or intratibial injections of B16-F10 melanoma cells into mice, we showed that gut microbiome depletion by broad-spectrum antibiotics accelerated intraosseous tumor growth and osteolysis. Microbiome depletion blunted melanoma-induced expansion of intestinal NK cells and Th1 cells and their migration from the gut to tumor-bearing bones. Demonstrating the functional relevance of immune cell trafficking from the gut to …

Piperine Derivatives Enhance Fusion And Axonal Transport Of Mitochondria By Activating Mitofusins, Lihong Zhang, Xiawei Dang, Antonietta Franco, Haiyang Zhao, Gerald W. Dorn Ii

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

68ga-Labeled Benzothiazole Derivatives For Imaging Aβ Plaques In Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Truc T Huynh, Yujue Wang, Karna Terpstra, Hong-Jun Cho, Liviu M Mirica, Buck E Rogers

Open Access Publications

Timely diagnostic imaging plays a crucial role in managing cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)-the condition in which amyloid β is deposited on blood vessels. To selectively map these amyloid plaques, we have designed amyloid-targeting ligands that can effectively complex with

The Challenges Of Interrogating Adipose Tissue Extracellular Vesicle Functions In Physiology, Clair Crewe

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Metabolic Biomarkers Assessed With Pet/Ct Predict Sex-Specific Longitudinal Outcomes In Patients With Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Shama Jaswal, Vanessa Sanders, Priyanka Pullarkat, Stephanie Teja, Amber Salter, Marcus P Watkins, Norman Atagu, Daniel R Ludwig, Joyce Mhlanga, Vincent M Mellnick, Linda R Peterson, Nancy L Bartlett, Brad S Kahl, Todd A Fehniger, Armin Ghobadi, Amanda F Cashen, Neha Mehta-Shah, Joseph E Ippolito

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In many cancers, including lymphoma, males have higher incidence and mortality than females. Emerging evidence demonstrates that one mechanism underlying this phenomenon is sex differences in metabolism, both with respect to tumor nutrient consumption and systemic alterations in metabolism, i.e., obesity. We wanted to determine if visceral fat and tumor glucose uptake with fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) could predict sex-dependent outcomes in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We conducted a retrospective analysis of 160 patients (84 males; 76 females) with DLBCL who had imaging at initial staging and after completion of therapy. CT-based relative visceral fat area …

Impact Of Web-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia On Stress, Health, Mood, Cognitive, Inflammatory, And Neurodegenerative Outcomes In Rural Dementia Caregivers: Protocol For The Nitecapp Cares And Nitecapp Shares Randomized Controlled Trial, Christina S Mccrae, Ashley F Curtis, Amelia Cottle, David B Beversdorf, Joel Shenker, Brian P Mooney, Mihail Popescu, Marilyn Rantz, Maureen Groer, Phyllis Stein, Mojgan Golzy, Melanie A Stearns, Angelynn Simenson, Neetu Nair, Meredeth A Rowe

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Chronic insomnia affects up to 63% of family dementia caregivers. Research suggests that chronic insomnia prompts changes in central stress processing that have downstream negative effects on health and mood, as well as on cognitive, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative functioning. We hypothesize that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) will reverse those downstream effects by improving insomnia and restoring healthy central stress processing. Rural caregivers are particularly vulnerable, but they have limited access to CBT-I; therefore, we developed an accessible digital version using community input (NiteCAPP CARES).

OBJECTIVE: This trial will evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and short-term and long-term effects …

Exploring The Impact Of Trem2 In Tumor-Associated Macrophages, Darya Khantakova, Simone Brioschi, Martina Molgora

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) represent a key component of the tumor microenvironment and are generally associated with immunosuppression and poor prognosis. TREM2 is a transmembrane receptor of the immunoglobulin superfamily expressed in myeloid cells. TREM2 has been extensively studied in microglia and neurodegenerative diseases and recently emerged as a marker of pro-tumorigenic macrophages. The accumulation of TREM2-expressing TAMs was reported across numerous cancer patients and tumor models. TREM2 genetic blockade or TREM2 targeting with antibodies resulted in improved tumor control, enhanced response to anti-PD1, and significant changes in the tumor immune landscape. Preclinical studies paved the way for an ongoing clinical …

Primary Prevention Of Stroke In Children With Sickle Cell Anemia In Nigeria: Protocol For A Mixed Methods Implementation Study In A Community Hospital, Halima Bello-Manga, Lawal Haliru, Kudrat Abdulkareem Ahmed, Abdulkadir Musa Tabari, Bilkisu Usman Farouk, Gloria Yimi Bahago, Aisha Shuaibu Kazaure, Abdulrasheed Sani Muhammad, Samira Abubakar Gwarzo, Ana A Baumann, Michael R Debaun, Allison A King

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, approximately 150,000 children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) are born annually, accounting for more than half of all SCA births worldwide. Without intervention, about 11% of children with SCA will develop a stroke before their 20th birthday. Evidence-based practices for primary stroke prevention include screening for abnormal transcranial Doppler (TCD) measurements coupled with regular blood transfusion therapy for at least one year, followed by hydroxyurea (HU) therapy indefinitely. In high-resource countries, this strategy contributes to a 92% decrease in stroke incidence rates. In 2016, as part of a capacity building objective of the Stroke Prevention Trial in …

Antigen Glycosylation Regulates Efficacy Of Car T Cells Targeting Cd19, Amanda Heard, Jack H Landmann, Ava R Hansen, Yu-Sung Hsu, Mehmet Emrah Selli, John M Warrington, John Lattin, Jufang Chang, Helen Ha, Balraj Doray, Abby M Green, Nathan Singh, Et Al

Open Access Publications

While chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting CD19 can cure a subset of patients with B cell malignancies, most patients treated will not achieve durable remission. Identification of the mechanisms leading to failure is essential to broadening the efficacy of this promising platform. Several studies have demonstrated that disruption of CD19 genes and transcripts can lead to disease relapse after initial response; however, few other tumor-intrinsic drivers of CAR T cell failure have been reported. Here we identify expression of the Golgi-resident intramembrane protease Signal peptide peptidase-like 3 (SPPL3) in malignant B cells as a potent regulator of resistance …

Phase I Study Of Safety, Tolerability, And Efficacy Of Tebentafusp Using A Step-Up Dosing Regimen And Expansion In Patients With Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Richard D Carvajal, Paul Nathan, Joseph J Sacco, Marlana Orloff, Leonel F Hernandez-Aya, Jessica Yang, Jason J Luke, Marcus O Butler, Sarah Stanhope, Laura Collins, Cheryl Mcalpine, Chris Holland, Shaad E Abdullah, Takami Sato

Open Access Publications

PURPOSE: This phase I study aimed to define the recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of tebentafusp, a first-in-class T-cell receptor/anti-CD3 bispecific protein, using a three-week step-up dosing regimen, and to assess its safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary clinical activity in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM).

METHODS: In this open-label, international, phase I/II study, HLA-A*02 or HLA-A*02:01+ patients with mUM received tebentafusp 20 μg once in week 1 and 30 μg once in week 2. Dose escalation (starting at 54 μg) began at week 3 in a standard 3 + 3 design to define RP2D. Expansion-phase patients were treated at …

A Reference Tissue Atlas For The Human Kidney, Jens Hansen, Sanjay Jain, Et Al

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) is building a spatially specified human kidney tissue atlas in health and disease with single-cell resolution. Here, we describe the construction of an integrated reference map of cells, pathways, and genes using unaffected regions of nephrectomy tissues and undiseased human biopsies from 56 adult subjects. We use single-cell/nucleus transcriptomics, subsegmental laser microdissection transcriptomics and proteomics, near-single-cell proteomics, 3D and CODEX imaging, and spatial metabolomics to hierarchically identify genes, pathways, and cells. Integrated data from these different technologies coherently identify cell types/subtypes within different nephron segments and the interstitium. These profiles describe cell-level functional organization of …

Copper-67-Labeled Bombesin Peptide For Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Of Prostate Cancer, Truc T Huynh, Ellen M Van Dam, Sreeja Sreekumar, Cedric Mpoy, Benjamin J Blyth, Fenella Muntz, Matthew J Harris, Buck E Rogers

2010-2019 OA Pubs

The gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) is a promising molecular target for imaging and therapy of prostate cancer using bombesin peptides that bind to the receptor with high affinity. Targeted copper theranostics (TCTs) using copper radionuclides,

Estrogen Hormone Is An Essential Sex Factor Inhibiting Inflammation And Immune Response In Covid-19, Fuhai Li, Adrianus C M Boon, Andrew P Michelson, Randi E Foraker, Ming Zhan, Philip R O Payne

Open Access Publications

Although vaccines have been evaluated and approved for SARS-CoV-2 infection prevention, there remains a lack of effective treatments to reduce the mortality of COVID-19 patients already infected with SARS-CoV-2. The global data on COVID-19 showed that men have a higher mortality rate than women. We further observed that the proportion of mortality of females increases starting from around the age of 55 significantly. Thus, sex is an essential factor associated with COVID-19 mortality, and sex related genetic factors could be interesting mechanisms and targets for COVID-19 treatment. However, the associated sex factors and signaling pathways remain unclear. Here, we propose …

The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Instructs The Immunomodulatory Profile Of A Subset Of Clec4a4, Wei-Le Wang, Jun Kasamatsu, Satoru Joshita, Susan Gilfillan, Blanda Di Luccia, Santosh K Panda, Do-Hyun Kim, Pritesh Desai, Jennifer K Bando, Stanley Ching-Cheng Huang, Kentaro Yomogida, Steven J Van Dyken, Marina Cella, Marco Colonna, Et Al

Open Access Publications

SignificanceEosinophils contribute to type 2 immunity against helminths and allergens. The small intestine harbors eosinophils with incompletely understood pathophysiological roles. Here, we show that intestinal eosinophils include two subsets. One expresses the inhibitory receptor Clec4a4 and the inhibitory ligand PD-L1 and is unique to the small intestine; the other manifests a proinflammatory phenotype. Both subsets are blood derived. Remarkably, Clec4a4

The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Instructs The Immunomodulatory Profile Of A Subset Of Clec4a4 Eosinophils Unique To The Small Intestine, Wei-Le Wang, Jun Kasamatsu, Satoru Joshita, Susan Gilfillan, Blanda Di Luccia, Santosh K Panda, Do-Hyun Kim, Pritesh Desai, Jennifer K Bando, Stanley Ching-Cheng Huang, Kentaro Yomogida, Steven J Van Dyken, Marina Cella, Marco Colonna, Et Al

2020-Current year OA Pubs

C-type lectin domain family 4, member a4 (Clec4a4) is a C-type lectin inhibitory receptor specific for glycans thought to be exclusively expressed on murine CD8α− conventional dendritic cells. Using newly generated Clec4a4-mCherry knock-in mice, we identify a subset of Clec4a4-expressing eosinophils uniquely localized in the small intestine lamina propria. Clec4a4+ eosinophils evinced an immunomodulatory signature, whereas Clec4a4− eosinophils manifested a proinflammatory profile. Clec4a4+ eosinophils expressed high levels of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr), which drove the expression of Clec4a4 as well as other immunomodulatory features, such as PD-L1. The abundance of Clec4a4+ eosinophils was dependent on dietary AHR ligands, increased with …

Biophysical Physiology Of Phosphoinositide Rapid Dynamics And Regulation In Living Cells, Jill B Jensen, Bjoern H Falkenburger, Eamonn J Dickson, Lizbeth De La Cruz, Gucan Dai, Jongyun Myeong, Seung-Ryoung Jung, Martin Kruse, Oscar Vivas, Byung-Chang Suh, Bertil Hille

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Phosphoinositide membrane lipids are ubiquitous low-abundance signaling molecules. They direct many physiological processes that involve ion channels, membrane identification, fusion of membrane vesicles, and vesicular endocytosis. Pools of these lipids are continually broken down and refilled in living cells, and the rates of some of these reactions are strongly accelerated by physiological stimuli. Recent biophysical experiments described here measure and model the kinetics and regulation of these lipid signals in intact cells. Rapid on-line monitoring of phosphoinositide metabolism is made possible by optical tools and electrophysiology. The experiments reviewed here reveal that as for other cellular second messengers, the dynamic …

Identifying Colorectal Cancer Caused By Biallelic Mutyh Pathogenic Variants Using Tumor Mutational Signatures, Peter Georgeson, Yin Cao, Et Al

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Carriers of germline biallelic pathogenic variants in the MUTYH gene have a high risk of colorectal cancer. We test 5649 colorectal cancers to evaluate the discriminatory potential of a tumor mutational signature specific to MUTYH for identifying biallelic carriers and classifying variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS). Using a tumor and matched germline targeted multi-gene panel approach, our classifier identifies all biallelic MUTYH carriers and all known non-carriers in an independent test set of 3019 colorectal cancers (accuracy = 100% (95% confidence interval 99.87-100%)). All monoallelic MUTYH carriers are classified with the non-MUTYH carriers. The classifier provides evidence for a …

Prefrontal Cortex Supports Speech Perception In Listeners With Cochlear Implants, Arefeh Sherafati, Noel Dwyer, Aahana Bajracharya, Mahlega Samira Hassanpour, Adam T Eggebrecht, Jill B Firszt, Joseph P Culver, Jonathan E Peelle

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cochlear implants are neuroprosthetic devices that can restore hearing in people with severe to profound hearing loss by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve. Because of physical limitations on the precision of this stimulation, the acoustic information delivered by a cochlear implant does not convey the same level of acoustic detail as that conveyed by normal hearing. As a result, speech understanding in listeners with cochlear implants is typically poorer and more effortful than in listeners with normal hearing. The brain networks supporting speech understanding in listeners with cochlear implants are not well understood, partly due to difficulties obtaining functional neuroimaging …

Patched 1 Regulates Smoothened By Controlling Sterol Binding To Its Extracellular Cysteine-Rich Domain, Laurel Mydock-Mcgrane, Kathiresan Krishnan, Douglas F Covey, Et Al

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Smoothened (SMO) transduces the Hedgehog (Hh) signal across the plasma membrane in response to accessible cholesterol. Cholesterol binds SMO at two sites: one in the extracellular cysteine-rich domain (CRD) and a second in the transmembrane domain (TMD). How these two sterol-binding sites mediate SMO activation in response to the ligand Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) remains unknown. We find that mutations in the CRD (but not the TMD) reduce the fold increase in SMO activity triggered by SHH. SHH also promotes the photocrosslinking of a sterol analog to the CRD in intact cells. In contrast, sterol binding to the TMD site boosts …

Molecular Imaging Phenotyping For Selecting And Monitoring Radioligand Therapy Of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms, Amir Iravani, Ashwin Singh Parihar, Timothy Akhurst, Rodney J Hicks

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Neuroendocrine neoplasia (NEN) is an umbrella term that includes a widely heterogeneous disease group including well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), and aggressive neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). The site of origin of the NENs is linked to the intrinsic tumour biology and is predictive of the disease course. It is understood that NENs demonstrate significant biologic heterogeneity which ultimately translates to widely varying clinical presentations, disease course and prognosis. Thus, significant emphasis is laid on the pre-therapy evaluation of markers that can help predict tumour behavior and dynamically monitors the response during and after treatment. Most well-differentiated NENs express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) which …

Raising Is A High-Performance Method For Identifying Random Transgene Integration Sites, Yusaku Wada, Ariella L G Coler-Reilly, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Both natural viral infections and therapeutic interventions using viral vectors pose significant risks of malignant transformation. Monitoring for clonal expansion of infected cells is important for detecting cancer. Here we developed a novel method of tracking clonality via the detection of transgene integration sites. RAISING (Rapid Amplification of Integration Sites without Interference by Genomic DNA contamination) is a sensitive, inexpensive alternative to established methods. Its compatibility with Sanger sequencing combined with our CLOVA (Clonality Value) software is critical for those without access to expensive high throughput sequencing. We analyzed samples from 688 individuals infected with the retrovirus HTLV-1, which causes …

Macrophages Disseminate Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns Through The Direct Extracellular Release Of The Soluble Content Of Their Phagolysosomes, Catherine J Greene, Jenny A Nguyen, Samuel M Cheung, Corey R Arnold, Dale R Balce, Ya Ting Wang, Adrian Soderholm, Neil Mckenna, Devin Aggarwal, Rhiannon I Campden, Benjamin W Ewanchuk, Herbert W Virgin, Robin M Yates

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Recognition of pathogen-or-damage-associated molecular patterns is critical to inflammation. However, most pathogen-or-damage-associated molecular patterns exist within intact microbes/cells and are typically part of non-diffusible, stable macromolecules that are not optimally immunostimulatory or available for immune detection. Partial digestion of microbes/cells following phagocytosis potentially generates new diffusible pathogen-or-damage-associated molecular patterns, however, our current understanding of phagosomal biology would have these molecules sequestered and destroyed within phagolysosomes. Here, we show the controlled release of partially-digested, soluble material from phagolysosomes of macrophages through transient, iterative fusion-fission events between mature phagolysosomes and the plasma membrane, a process we term eructophagy. Eructophagy is most active …

Evolutionarily Stable Gene Clusters Shed Light On The Common Grounds Of Pathogenicity In The Acinetobacter Calcoaceticus-Baumannii Complex, Bardya Djahanschiri, Gisela Di Venanzio, Jesus S. Distel, Jennifer Breisch, Marius Alfred Dieckmann, Alexander Goesmann, Beate Averhoff, Stephan Göttig, Gottfried Wilharm, Mario F. Feldman, Ingo Ebersberger

Open Access Publications

Nosocomial pathogens of the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii (ACB) complex are a cautionary example for the world-wide spread of multi- and pan-drug resistant bacteria. Aiding the urgent demand for novel therapeutic targets, comparative genomics studies between pathogens and their apathogenic relatives shed light on the genetic basis of human-pathogen interaction. Yet, existing studies are limited in taxonomic scope, sensing of the phylogenetic signal, and resolution by largely analyzing genes independent of their organization in functional gene clusters. Here, we explored more than 3,000 Acinetobacter genomes in a phylogenomic framework integrating orthology-based phylogenetic profiling and microsynteny conservation analyses. We delineate gene clusters in …