Treatment of HeLa cells with bacterial water extracts inhibits Shigella flexneri invasion

Abstract Pathogenesis mediated by Shigella flexneri requires invasion of the gastrointestinal epithelium. It has been previously shown that HeLa cells challenged with S. flexneri show alterations in their phosphotyrosine-containing protein profile. In this report, we demonstrated that bacterial water extracts (WE) abrogated the invasion of HeLa cells by S. flexneri in a dose-dependent manner. A proteinaceous component of S. flexneri was shown to be responsible for this inhibitory activity. Proteins encoded on the 140-MDa plasmid were not responsible for the observed inhibition. WE from other Gram-negative bacteria also inhibited Shigella invasion of HeLa cells. HeLa cells pretreated with WE showed changes in the profile and the intensity of phosphotyrosine-containing protein bands. These data were consistent with a surface protein component in WE which initiated aberrant host cell signaling at the membrane which may account for the inhibition of bacterial entry.     

Sampling properties of DNA sequence data in phylogenetic analysis

We inferred phylogenetic trees from individual genes and random samples of nucleotides from the mitochondrial genomes of 10 vertebrates and compared the results to those obtained by analyzing the whole genomes. Individual genes are poor samples in that they infrequently lead to the whole-genome tree. A large number of nucleotide sites is needed to exactly determine the whole-genome tree. A relatively small number of sites, however, often results in a tree close to the whole-genome tree. We found that blocks of contiguous sites were less likely to lead to the whole-genome tree than samples composed of sites drawn individually from throughout the genome. Samples of contiguous sites are not representative of the entire genome, a condition that violates a basic assumption of the bootstrap method as it is applied in phylogenetic studies.      

The Phylogeography and Spatiotemporal Spread of South-Central Skunk Rabies Virus

The south-central skunk rabies virus (SCSK) is the most broadly distributed terrestrial viral lineage in North America. Skunk rabies has not been efficiently targeted by oral vaccination campaigns and represents a natural system of pathogen invasion, yielding insights to rabies emergence. In the present study we reconstructed spatiotemporal spread of SCSK in the whole territory of its circulation using a combination of Bayesian methods. The analysis based on 241 glycoprotein gene sequences demonstrated that SCSK is much more divergent phylogenetically than was appreciated previously. According to our analyses the SCSK originated in the territory of Texas ~170 years ago, and spread geographically during the following decades. The wavefront velocity in the northward direction was significantly greater than in the eastward and westward directions. Rivers (except the Mississippi River and Rio Grande River) did not constitute significant barriers for epizootic spread, in contrast to deserts and mountains. The mean dispersal rate of skunk rabies was lower than that of the raccoon and fox rabies. Viral lineages circulate in their areas with limited evidence of geographic spread during decades. However, spatiotemporal reconstruction shows that after a long period of stability the dispersal rate and wavefront velocity of SCSK are increasing. Our results indicate that there is a need to develop control measures for SCSK, and suggest how such measure can be implemented most efficiently. Our approach can be extrapolated to other rabies reservoirs and used as a tool for investigation of epizootic patterns and planning interventions towards disease elimination.     

Profiling treatment-specific post-translational modifications in a complex proteome with subtractive substrate phage display

Proteolytic activation of zymogens or controlled degradation of inhibitory factors is part of a major regulatory system on the post-translational level to regulate treatment induced cellular stress responses. The identification of differential activity based substrates is thus of high interest to prioritize and validate candidate targets for drug discovery. Here we present a novel subtractive substrate phage display screening method for the selection of treatment induced post-translational peptide modifications in complex proteomes. We investigated this approach with tumor cells in response to a protease activating anticancer treatment modality using subtractive and iterative screening of cellular extracts derived from control and treated cells. Specific phage were identified that served as substrates for proteolytic activities in response to treatment related activity changes and could be distinguished from substrates for unspecific proteolytic background activities. Novel, selected peptide substrates were investigated in vitro and in vivo and showed high substrate specificity and functional biological significance.     

Some observations on the effect of Daflon (micronized purified flavonoid fraction of Rutaceae aurantiae) in bancroftian filarial lymphoedema

BACKGROUND: Morbidity management is a core component of the global programme for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis. In a double-blind clinical trial, the tolerability and efficacy of Daflon (500 mg) + DEC (25 mg) or DEC (25 mg) alone, twice daily for 90 days, was studied in 26 patients with bancroftian filarial lymphoedema. RESULTS: None of the patients in either drug group reported any adverse reaction throughout the treatment period (90 days). Haematological and biochemical parameters were within normal limits and there was no significant difference between the pre-treatment (day 0) and post-treatment (day 90) values. The group receiving Daflon showed significant reduction in oedema volume from day 90 (140.6 PlusMinus; 18.8 ml) to day 360 (71.8 PlusMinus; 20.7 ml) compared to the pre-treatment (day 0, 198.4 PlusMinus; 16.5 ml) value. This accounted for a 63.8% reduction in oedema volume by day 360 (considering the pre-treatment (day 0) as 100%). In the DEC group, the changes in oedema volume (between day 1 and day 360) were not significant when compared to the pre-treatment (day 0) value. The percentage reduction at day 360 was only 9%, which was not significant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study has shown that Daflon (500 mg, twice a day for 90 days) is both safe and efficacious in reducing oedema volume in bancroftian filarial lymphoedema. Further clinical trials are essential for strengthening the evidence base on the role of this drug in the morbidity management of lymphatic filariasis.     

Novel strategy for treatment of viral central nervous system infection by using a cell-permeating inhibitor of c-Jun N-terminal kinase

Viral encephalitis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, yet there is no proven efficacious therapy for most viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS). Many of the viruses that cause encephalitis induce apoptosis and activate c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) following infection. We have previously shown that reovirus infection of epithelial cell lines activates JNK-dependent apoptosis. We now show that reovirus infection resulted in activation of JNK and caspase-3 in the CNS. Treatment of reovirus-infected mice with a cell-permeating peptide that competitively inhibits JNK activity resulted in significantly prolonged survival of intracerebrally infected mice following an otherwise lethal challenge with T3D (100 x 50% lethal dose). Protection correlated with reduced CNS injury, reduced neuronal apoptosis, and reduced c-Jun activation without altering the viral titer or viral antigen distribution. Given the efficacy of the inhibitor in protecting mice from viral encephalitis, JNK inhibition represents a promising and novel treatment strategy for viral encephalitis.     

Role of the JNK pathway in NMDA-mediated excitotoxicity of cortical neurons

Excitotoxic insults induce c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation, which leads to neuronal death and contributes to many neurological conditions such as cerebral ischemia and neurodegenerative disorders. The action of JNK can be inhibited by the D-retro-inverso form of JNK inhibitor peptide (D-JNKI1), which totally prevents death induced by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) in vitro and strongly protects against different in vivo paradigms of excitotoxicity. To obtain optimal neuroprotection, it is imperative to elucidate the prosurvival action of D-JNKI1 and the death pathways that it inhibits. In cortical neuronal cultures, we first investigate the pathways by which NMDA induces JNK activation and show a rapid and selective phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7 (MKK7), whereas the only other known JNK activator, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 (MKK4), was unaffected. We then analyze the action of D-JNKI1 on four JNK targets containing a JNK-binding domain: MAPK-activating death domain-containing protein/differentially expressed in normal and neoplastic cells (MADD/DENN), MKK7, MKK4 and JNK-interacting protein-1 (IB1/JIP-1).