High Fat Diet Accelerates Pathogenesis of Murine Crohn’s Disease-Like Ileitis Independently of Obesity

Background

Obesity has been associated with a more severe disease course in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and epidemiological data identified dietary fats but not obesity as risk factors for the development of IBD. Crohn’s disease is one of the two major IBD phenotypes and mostly affects the terminal ileum. Despite recent observations that high fat diets (HFD) impair intestinal barrier functions and drive pathobiont selection relevant for chronic inflammation in the colon, mechanisms of high fat diets in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease are not known. The aim of this study was to characterize the effect of HFD on the development of chronic ileal inflammation in a murine model of Crohn’s disease-like ileitis.

Methods

TNF^ΔARE/WT mice and wildtype C57BL/6 littermates were fed a HFD compared to control diet for different durations. Intestinal pathology and metabolic parameters (glucose tolerance, mesenteric tissue characteristics) were assessed. Intestinal barrier integrity was characterized at different levels including polyethylene glycol (PEG) translocation, endotoxin in portal vein plasma and cellular markers of barrier function. Inflammatory activation of epithelial cells as well as immune cell infiltration into ileal tissue were determined and related to luminal factors.

Results

HFD aggravated ileal inflammation but did not induce significant overweight or typical metabolic disorders in TNF^ΔARE/WT. Expression of the tight junction protein Occludin was markedly reduced in the ileal epithelium of HFD mice independently of inflammation, and translocation of endotoxin was increased. Epithelial cells showed enhanced expression of inflammation-related activation markers, along with enhanced luminal factors-driven recruitment of dendritic cells and Th17-biased lymphocyte infiltration into the lamina propria.

Conclusions

HFD feeding, independently of obesity, accelerated disease onset of small intestinal inflammation in Crohn’s disease-relevant mouse model through mechanisms that involve increased intestinal permeability and altered luminal factors, leading to enhanced dendritic cell recruitment and promoted Th17 immune responses.     

Peroxisomal import of human alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase requires ancillary targeting information remote from its C terminus

Although human alanine:glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGT) is imported into peroxisomes by a Pex5p-dependent pathway, the properties of its C-terminal tripeptide (KKL) are unlike those of any other type 1 peroxisomal targeting sequence (PTS1). We have previously suggested that AGT might possess ancillary targeting information that enables its unusual PTS1 to work. In this study, we have attempted to locate this information and to determine whether or not it is a characteristic of all vertebrate AGTs. Using the two-hybrid system, we show that human AGT interacts with human Pex5p in mammalian cells, but not yeast cells. Using (immuno)fluorescence microscopic analysis of the distribution of various constructs expressed in COS cells, we show the following. 1) The putative ancillary peroxisomal targeting information (PTS1A) in human AGT is located entirely within the smaller C-terminal structural domain of 110 amino acids, with the sequence between Val-324 and Ile-345 being the most likely candidate region. 2) The PTS1A is present in all mammalian AGTs studied (human, rat, guinea pig, rabbit, and cat), but not amphibian AGT (Xenopus). 3) The PTS1A is necessary for peroxisomal import of human, rabbit, and cat AGTs, but not rat and guinea pig AGTs. We speculate that the internal PTS1A of human AGT works in concert with the C-terminal PTS1 by interacting with Pex5p indirectly with the aid of a yet-to-be-identified mammal-specific adaptor molecule. This interaction might reshape the tetratricopeptide repeat domain allosterically, enabling it to accept KKL as a functional PTS1.     

Enhanced dopaminergic differentiation of human neural stem cells by synergistic effect of Bcl-xL and reduced oxygen tension

Neural stem cells constitute a promising source of cells for transplantation in Parkinson's disease, but a protocol for controlled dopaminergic differentiation is not yet available. Here we investigated the effect of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-x_L and oxygen tension on dopaminergic differentiation and survival of a human ventral mesencephalic stem cell line (hVM1). hVM1 cells and a Bcl-x_L over-expressing subline (hVMbcl-x_L) were differentiated by sequential treatment with fibroblast growth factor-8, forskolin, sonic hedgehog, and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor. After 10 days at 20% oxygen, hVMbcl-x_L cultures contained proportionally more tyrosine hydroxylase(TH)-positive cells than hVM1 control cultures. This difference was significantly potentiated from 11 ± 0.8% to 17.2 ± 0.2% of total cells when the oxygen tension was lowered to 3%. Immunocytochemistry and Q-PCR-analysis revealed expression of several dopaminergic markers besides of TH just as dopamine was detected in the culture medium by HPLC analysis. Although Bcl-x_L-over-expression reduced cell death in the cultures, it did not alter the relative content of GABAergic, neurons, while the content of astroglial cells was reduced in hVMbcl-x_L cell cultures compared with control. We conclude that Bcl-x_L and lowered oxygen tension act in concert to enhance dopaminergic differentiation and survival of human neural stem cells.     

Differences in variation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 sequences from Henan and Shanghai regions of China

Illegally paid blood donation was a risk factor for HIV acquisition exclusively in Henan and Hubei Provinces of China, and not in Shanghai. Nucleotide sequences in the gag and env genes of HIV-1 were compared between isolates from Henan and Shanghai regions of China to test whether an expected higher degree of a common source of infections from this unique blood donation transmission risk would be evident as decreased variation among Henan isolates in an exploratory cross-sectional analysis. Among 38 isolates studied, 23 of 23 (100%) from Henan and 8 of 15 (54%) from Shanghai were subtype B. In addition, fewer sequence differences were found in gp41 of subtype B isolates from Henan than from Shanghai isolates. Further studies with additional controls are therefore warranted to confirm the role of the degree of a common source of infections in differences in HIV variation across populations. Fundation items: The Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI 54999); R.T.D (R01 AI 29193); Start Fund of Ministry of Education of China (for Hong-zhou LU, 2004BA719A10).     

Characterization of a highly evolved vaccine-derived poliovirus type 3 isolated from sewage in Estonia

Two types of vaccine-derived polioviruses have been recently designated to emphasize the different origins of the evolved viruses: circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV) associated with outbreaks of paralytic disease and strains isolated from chronically infected immunodeficient individuals (iVDPV). We describe here a type 3 VDPV (PV3/EST/02/E252; later E252) isolated from sewage collected in Tallinn, Estonia, in October 2002. Due to aberrant properties in subtyping, the virus was subjected to detailed characterization. Partial genomic sequencing suggested that the closest relative was the oral vaccine strain PV3/Sabin, but the two virus strains shared only 86.7% of the 900 nucleotides (nt) coding for the capsid protein VP1. Phylogenetic analysis of the nearly complete genome [nt 19 to poly(A)] revealed multiple nucleotide substitutions throughout the genome and a possible Sabin 3/Sabin 1-recombination junction site in the 2C coding region. A calculation based on the estimated mutation frequency of the P1 region of polioviruses suggested that the E252 virus might have replicated in one or more individuals for approximately 10 years. No persons chronically excreting poliovirus are known in Estonia. Amino acid substitutions were seen in all known antigenic sites, which was consistent with the observed aberrant antigenic properties of the virus demonstrated by both monoclonal antibodies and human sera from vaccinated children. In spite of the apparent transmission potential, no evidence was obtained for circulation of the virus in the Estonian population.