Probing binding mechanism of interleukin-6 and olokizumab: in silico design of potential lead antibodies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases

Computer-aided antibody engineering has been successful in the design of new biologics for disease diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a well-recognized drug target for various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and psoriasis, was investigated in silico to design potential lead antibodies. Here, crystal structure of IL-6 along with monoclonal antibody olokizumab was explored to predict antigen–antibody (Ag???Ab)-interacting residues using DiscoTope, Paratome, and PyMOL. Tyr56, Tyr103 in heavy chain and Gly30, Ile31 in light chain of olokizumab were mutated with residues Ser, Thr, Tyr, Trp, and Phe. A set of 899 mutant macromolecules were designed, and binding affinity of these macromolecules to IL-6 was evaluated through Ag???Ab docking (ZDOCK, ClusPro, and Rosetta server), binding free-energy calculations using Molecular Mechanics/Poisson Boltzman Surface Area (MM/PBSA) method, and interaction energy estimation. In comparison to olokizumab, eight newly designed theoretical antibodies demonstrated better result in all assessments. Therefore, these newly designed macromolecules were proposed as potential lead antibodies to serve as a therapeutics option for IL-6-mediated diseases.     

Sensory Neuron-Derived Eph Regulates Glomerular Arbors and Modulatory Function of a Central Serotonergic Neuron

Olfactory sensory neurons connect to the antennal lobe of the fly to create the primary units for processing odor cues, the glomeruli. Unique amongst antennal-lobe neurons is an identified wide-field serotonergic neuron, the contralaterally-projecting, serotonin-immunoreactive deutocerebral neuron (CSDn). The CSDn spreads its termini all over the contralateral antennal lobe, suggesting a diffuse neuromodulatory role. A closer examination, however, reveals a restricted pattern of the CSDn arborization in some glomeruli. We show that sensory neuron-derived Eph interacts with Ephrin in the CSDn, to regulate these arborizations. Behavioural analysis of animals with altered Eph-ephrin signaling and with consequent arborization defects suggests that neuromodulation requires local glomerular-specific patterning of the CSDn termini. Our results show the importance of developmental regulation of terminal arborization of even the diffuse modulatory neurons to allow them to route sensory-inputs according to the behavioural contexts.     

Hydraulic permeability and activation energy of human keratinocytes at subzero temperatures

Studies on isolated human keratinocytes provide a model for design of optimal freeze-thaw protocols for skin cryopreservation and banking. Nucleated keratinocytes from the basal layer of split thickness human cadaveric skin were separated by a combined trypsin and DNAse digestion and suspended in Dulbecco's minimal essential medium with fetal calf serum. A small volume of suspension was frozen on a microprocessor controlled cryostage. Extracellular ice was nucleated at predetermined subzero temperatures, and the temperature was held constant for the duration of the experiment. The osmotic response of the cells to the formation of extracellular ice was recorded on 35-mm photographic film. Selected serial frames were digitized for automated computer evaluation of metric parameters of specific cells. Changes in the apparent cell volume were quantified over a period of several minutes to obtain dehydration curves associated with exposure to concentrated extracellular electrolytes. The Kedem-Katchalsky coupled flow transport model was statistically fit to the data using a personal computer. Values for the permeability coefficients were adjusted to optimize the correlation between the theory and the data. An activation energy of 44.8 kJ/mol and a water permeability of 0.035 micron (atm.min) at 0 degrees C were derived from the data measured over a temperature range from -2 to -9 degrees C.     

Cell density-dependent regulation of cell surface expression of two types of human tumor necrosis factor receptors and its effect on cellular response

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a multipotential cytokine known to regulate the growth of a wide variety of normal and tumor cells. It has been shown that the density of cells in culture can modulate the growth regulatory activities of TNF, the mechanism of which, however, is not understood. In this report, we investigated the effect of cell density on the expression of TNF receptors. The receptors were examined on epithelial cells (e.g., HeLa), which primarily express the p60 form, and on myeloid cells (e.g., HL-60) known to express mainly the p80 form. We observed that binding of TNF to both cell lines decreased with increase in cell density. Scatchard analysis of binding on HeLa and HL-60 cells revealed a 4- to 5-fold reduction in the number of TNF receptors without any significant change in receptor affinity in both cell types at high density. The decrease in TNF receptor numbers at high cell density was also observed in several other epithelial and myeloid cell lines. The downmodulation at high cell density was unique to TNF receptors, since minimum change in other cell surface proteins was observed as revealed by fluorescent activated cell sorter analysis. Neutralization of binding with antibodies specific to each type of the receptors revealed that both the p60 and p80 forms of the TNF receptor were equally downmodulated. A decrease in leucine incorporation into proteins was observed with increase in cell density, suggesting a reduction in protein synthesis. Since inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide also leads to a decrease in TNF receptors, it is possible that the density-dependent reduction in TNF receptor number is due to an overall decrease in protein synthesis. The density-dependent decrease in TNF receptors was accompanied by a decrease in intracellular reduced glutathione levels. A reduction in the number of receptors on TNF sensitive tumor cells induced by cell-density correlated with increase in resistance to the cytokine.     

Effect of the mi allele on mast cells, basophils, natural killer cells, and osteoclasts in C57Bl/6J mice

The osteopetrotic, microphthalmic (mi/mi) mouse lacks functional osteoclasts and has also been reported to be deficient in mast cells and natural-killer (NK) cells. The later deficiencies could be secondary to the osteopetrotic marrow, or a direct result of the mi allele. Therefore, heterozygotes were examined for these cell types, since these mice do not exhibit osteopetrosis. Adult +/mi animals have approximately 50%, and mi/mi animals examined by histologic techniques or tissue histamine levels have 0-10%, of the peritoneal, dermal, and intestinal mast cells compared with that of +/+ animals. Leukocyte histamine, indicative of the number of basophils, demonstrates the same pattern. Histamine content per mast cell in +/+ and +/mi animals is identical. The number of large granular lymphocytes (LGL) in splenic leukocyte preparations from +/mi animals is 50% that of +/+ animals, and these cells are undetectable in preparations from mi/mi mice. NK activity against YAC-1 cells paralleled the number of LGL present. The resorptive response of neonatal calvaria to parathyroid hormone was delayed in the case of cultured +/mi bone compared with that of +/+ bone, but the final rate of calcium release was identical. These data indicate that 1) the presence of one mi allele can affect the development of four distinct cell types, and 2) osteopetrosis alone does not account for the lack of mast cells, basophils, and NK cells in mi/mi mice.     

Interferon-gamma induces cell surface expression for both types of tumor necrosis factor receptors.

Interferons are known to potentiate various biological effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Recently, two different types of TNF receptors with molecular masses of 60 kDa (p60) and 80 kDa (p80), primarily expressed by epithelial cells and myeloid cells, respectively, have been identified. In the present report, we examined the effect of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on each type of TNF receptor. Our results indicate that IFN-gamma induces TNF receptors on both myeloid (e.g. HL-60) and epithelial cells (e.g. HeLa). Furthermore, by using antibodies specific to each type of receptor, we demonstrate that both TNF receptors are equally inducible by IFN-alpha, IFN-beta and IFN-gamma. Thus, the increase in TNF receptors by interferons may play a role in their synergistic cellular response.     

Travellers as sentinels: Assaying the worldwide distribution of polymorphisms associated with artemisinin combination therapy resistance in Plasmodium falciparum using malaria cases imported into Scotland

There is growing evidence that Plasmodium falciparum parasites in southeastern Asia have developed resistance to artemisinin combination therapy. The resistance phenotype has recently been shown to be associated with four single nucleotide polymorphisms in the parasite’s genome. We assessed the prevalence of two of these single nucleotide polymorphisms in P. falciparum parasites imported into Scotland between 2009 and 2012, and in additional field samples from six countries in southeastern Asia. We analysed 28 samples from 11 African countries, and 25 samples from nine countries in Asia/southeastern Asia/Oceania. Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with artemisinin combination therapy resistance were not observed outside Thailand and Cambodia.