Host genetic background and the innate inflammatory response of lung to influenza virus

Many studies of influenza severity have focused on viral properties that confer virulence, whereas the contributory role of the host genetic background on infection severity remains largely unexplored. In this study, we measure the impact of inoculation with influenza virus in four strains of inbred mice - BALB/cByJ, C57BL/6 J, A/J, and DBA/2 J. To evaluate the extent to which responses are inherent to lung per se, as opposed to effects of the systemic response to lung infection, we also measured cytokines and chemokines in lung slices exposed to the virus in vitro. Finally, we evaluate the in vivo responses of recombinant inbred (RI) and select consomic strains of mice to search for genomic loci that contribute to phenotypic variance in response to influenza infection. We found marked variation among mouse strains after challenge with virus strain A/HKX31(H3N2), consistent with previous reports using more virulent strains. Furthermore, response patterns differ after in vivo versus in vitro exposure of lung to virus, supporting a predominant role of the systemic host inflammatory response in generating the strain differences. These results add to the body of information pointing to host genotype as a crucial factor in mediating the severity of influenza infections.     

共表达甲型流感病毒M1和HA抗原的重组杆状病毒的构建

为构建同时表达流感病毒M1和HA抗原的重组杆状病毒,采用PCR扩增流感病毒A/PR/8/34株的M1基因和去除信号肽的HA基因,将两基因克隆到杆状病毒转座载体pFastBac Dual的两个启动子下游的多克隆位点,筛选出阳性重组转座载体pFastBac Dual-M1-HA。将其转化含有杆状病毒穿梭载体(Bacmid)的DH10Bac感受态细胞,通过抗生素、蓝白斑筛选和PCR鉴定获得重组杆状病毒穿梭载体rBacmid-M1-HA,在脂质体介导下转染Sf9昆虫细胞,获得重组杆状病毒rBac-M1-HA。提取重组病毒基因组,通过PCR鉴定外源基因插入成功。间接免疫荧光和Western-blot检测表明,该重组杆状病毒在Sf9昆虫细胞中成功地表达了M1和HA。应用杆状病毒/昆虫细胞系统成功共表达流感病毒M1和HA抗原,为研究流感病毒VLP的形成机制和开发新型流感疫苗奠定了基础。     

不同品系小鼠感染甲型流感病毒肺小血管内血栓形成

目的本实验旨在观察不同品系小鼠感染甲型流感病毒后肺组织内血栓形成的情况。方法使用H1N1病毒A/California/7/2009（CA7）株和H3N2病毒A/Brisbane/10/07株,对BALB/C小鼠、Scid小鼠、NOD/LTJ小鼠、BALB/C-nu小鼠、NOD-Scid小鼠和icosl-KO小鼠经乙醚麻醉后进行滴鼻攻毒。检测小鼠感染后肺组织病毒拷贝数并观察肺组织病理学改变。结果 H1N1和H3N2滴鼻攻毒的各组小鼠均染毒,病理表现为程度略有差异的间质性肺炎。13只H1N1病毒感染小鼠和6只H3N2感染小鼠在肺组织中观察到多个小血管内有血栓形成,血栓成分主要为纤维素和血小板。结论各品系小鼠感染H1N1和H3N2流感病毒后均可能出现肺组织内血栓形成。     

Prediction of Mutations Initiated by Internal Power in H3N2 Hemagglutinins of Influenza A Virus from North America

Probably the best way to predict mutations is to find the cause for mutations, by which the cause–mutation relationship can be built. However, many causes which have resulted in mutations in the past might not leave any trace due to the changes in environments. As well, the current proteins may not be sensitive to the causes, which led to mutations in the past, because of evolution. Thus we might have recorded many mutations, but few of their corresponding causes, and it would be difficult to establish the one-to-one cause–mutation relationship. However, the internal power engineering mutations within a protein would exist, of which randomness should play an important role. Since 1999, we have developed three methods to quantify the randomness within a protein by which we can build a cause–mutation relationship because we can classify the occurrence and non-occurrence of mutation as unity and zero, and transfer this relationship into the classification problem, which can be solved using logistic regression. Recently, we used the logistic regression to predict the mutation positions in H5N1 hemagglutinins from influenza A virus, and applied the amino-acid mutating probability to predict the would-be-mutated amino acids at predicted positions as the concept-initiated study. However, we still need to conduct many proof-of-concept studies to test whether this cause–mutation relationship is independent of protein subtypes, whether the logistic regression is powerful enough, etc. In this study, we attempted to use the logistic regression to predict the mutation positions in H3N2 hemagglutinins of influenza A virus from North America to answer the questions in the proof-of-concept stage.     

Prediction of mutations engineered by randomness in H5N1 neuraminidases from influenza A virus

Summary. In this proof-of-concept study, we attempt to determine whether the cause-mutation relationship defined by randomness is protein dependent by predicting mutations in H5N1 neuraminidases from influenza A virus, because we have recently conducted several concept-initiated studies on the prediction of mutations in hemagglutinins from influenza A virus. In our concept-initiated studies, we defined the randomness as a cause for mutation, upon which we built a cause-mutation relationship, which is then switched into the classification problem because the occurrence and non-occurrence of mutations can be classified as unity and zero. Thereafter, we used the logistic regression and neural network to solve this classification problem to predict the mutation positions in hemagglutinins, and then used the amino acid mutating probability to predict the would-be-mutated amino acids. As the previous results were promising, we extend this approach to other proteins, such as H5N1 neuraminidase in this study, and further address various issues raised during the development of this approach. The result of this study confirms that we can use this cause-mutation relationship to predict the mutations in H5N1 neuraminidases. Authors’ address: Guang Wu, Computational Mutation Project, DreamSciTech Consulting 301, Building 12, Nanyou A-zone, Jiannan Road, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province CN-518054, China     

编码流感病毒血凝素基因和CD40L的核酸疫苗抗小鼠流感研究

为了检测表达CD40L的质粒能台作为核酸疫苗佐剂提高A／PR8／34流感病毒血凝素(HA)DNA疫苗的免疫应答,构建了表达鼠CD40L的质粒,行将它与A型流感病毒的HADNA疫苗用电击的方法共同免疫BALB／C小鼠(各30μg),免疫两次,间隔三周,第二次免疫后1周,用致死量流感病毒A／PR8／34攻击。发现与单独免疫30μgHA相比,血清中抗HA的IgG抗体节明显提高,且以IgG2a抗体提高为主,小鼠体重减轻非常少且体重恢复加快。实验结果显示,CD40L能作为流感病毒核酸疫苗佐剂,提高小鼠抗流感病毒攻击的能力。     

流感病毒血凝素基因、神经氨酸酶基因在小鼠中的免疫效果观察

流感病毒血凝素基因,神经氨酸酶基因免疫BALB／c小鼠,获得特异阳性抗体反应,抗体滴度与基因免疫量呈正相关性,各实验组免疫小鼠抗同型流感病毒攻击存活率为100％,血凝素基因免疫小鼠抗异型流感病毒攻击存活率为100％,神经氨酸酶基因免疫小鼠抗异型流感病毒攻击存活率为75％,血凝素基因与神经氨酸酶基因联合免疫小鼠抗异型流感病毒攻击存活率为100％。     

抗甲3型流感病毒卵黄抗体的研制

制备抗H3N2型流感病毒特异性鸡卵黄免疫球蛋白（IgY),防治同型流感病毒引起的流感,制备H3N2型流感病毒,通过两种途径免疫母鸡,以水稀释-硫酸铵沉淀及离子交换层析法提纯,并进行理化性质分析和动物效力试验。两种途径免疫均可使母鸡产生特异性IgY,其中以静脉为主的混合免疫法效果较好,提纯后纯度可达90%以上,通过被动免疫可使小鼠对同型流感病毒的攻击产生保护作用。结果表明,已成功地制备出高效价的H3N2型流感病毒特异性IgY。     

Design,RNA cleavage and antiviral activity of new artificial ribonucleases derived from mono-, di- and tripeptides connected by linkers of different hydrophobicity

A novel series of metal-free artificial ribonucleases (aRNases) was designed, synthesized and assessed in terms of ribonuclease activity and ability to inactivate influenza virus WSN/A33/H1N1 in vitro. The compounds were built of two short peptide fragments, which include Lys, Ser, Arg, Glu and imidazole residues in various combinations, connected by linkers of different hydrophobicity (1,12-diaminododecane or 4,9-dioxa-1,12-diaminododecane). These compounds efficiently cleaved different RNA substrates under physiological conditions at rates three to five times higher than that of artificial ribonucleases described earlier and displayed RNase A-like cleavage specificity. aRNases with the hydrophobic 1,12-diaminododecane linker displayed ribonuclease activity 3–40 times higher than aRNases with the 4,9-dioxa-1,12-diaminododecane linker. The assumed mechanism of RNA cleavage was typical for natural ribonucleases, that is, general acid-base catalysis via the formation of acid/base pairs by functional groups of amino acids present in the aRNases; the pH profile of cleavage confirmed this mechanism. The most active aRNases under study exhibited high antiviral activity and entirely inactivated influenza virus A/WSN/33/(H1N1) after a short incubation period of viral suspension under physiological conditions.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 6-nitro-1,2,4-triazoloazines containing polyphenol fragments possessing antioxidant and antiviral activity

Stable σ-adducts of azolo[5,1-c]triazines and azolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines with different polyphenols were synthesized and their antioxidant and antiviral activity were investigated. Their affinity to viral hemagglutinin was assessed using molecular modelling. The phloroglucinol-modified azolo-azines possessed the highest virus-inhibiting activity. According to the results of the study of antioxidant properties of compounds, the most promising ones exhibiting highest antioxidant capacity were adducts containing in their structure pyrogallol and catechol residues and 6-nitro-triazolotriazin-7-ol scaffold. No correlation between antioxidant and virus-inhibiting activity of compounds studied was detected. The most active compounds demonstrated the ability to prevent binding of viral hemagglutinin with cellular receptor as shown in hemagglutination inhibition assay. Our results demonstrate that polyphenol-modified azolo-azines are prospective for further optimization as potential antivirals and that their action is directed against viral hemagglutinin.