Alterations of cardiac and lymphocyte β-adrenoceptors in rat with chronic heart failure

The alterations of cardiac and lymphocyte β-adrenoceptors were observed in the rats with chronic heart failure produced by constriction of both abdominal aorta and renal artery. The results showed that β1-adrenocep-tor density and mRNA levels were increased, whereas these levels remained unchanged for β2 The concentration-contractile response curve for isoproterenol was shifted to the right in cardiac atrium, whereas the concentration-cAMP accumulation response curve for isoproterenol in myocardium was not changed. The number of β-adrenoceptors in blood lymphocyte was markedly reduced. Thus in the heart-failure rats the density of cardiac β-adrenoceptor was increased accompanying reduced β-adrenoceptor-mediated positive inotropic response, suggesting a post adenylate cyclase dys-function or impaired contractile components. In contrast, the alteration of β-adrenoceptor in lymphocyte is consistent with the reduced β-adrenoceptor-mediated inotropic response in heart.     

Decreases in Both the Seroprevalence of Serum Antibodies and Seroprotection against Japanese Encephalitis Virus among Vaccinated Children

The incidence of Japanese encephalitis(JE) has significantly decreased in China due to JE vaccines. In this study, we investigated the post-JE vaccination seroprevalence and protection provided by vaccinated sera against Japanese encephalitis virus(JEV) to elucidate the persistence and waning of antibodies to JEV among JE-SA14-14-2-vaccinated children. A total of 300 serum samples were collected from vaccinated children aged 3–10 years in Zhaotong, Yunnan,China. The seroprevalence of anti-JEV antibodies was determined by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay and plaque reduction neutralization test. The highest seropositivity of 82% was observed in vaccinated children during the first0.5–1.5 years after booster vaccination. Then, the seropositivity began to decline and remained lower than the original level observed in the 0.5–1.5-year group. An association was found between the waning of seroprevalence and elapsed time of the post-booster vaccination. Similarly, the neutralizing antibody(nAb) titres gradually decreased over time, and the levels showed a positive correlation with the protective efficacy in mice. This finding suggests that nAbs play an important role in the antiviral process and that the nAb titre is an adequately credible parameter for evaluating the protective efficacy induced by the JE vaccine. Our results provide data that clarify the persistence and waning of antibodies to JEV, which may help elucidate the pathogenesis of JE.     

黑色素抑制流感病毒诱导宿主细胞凋亡

The apoptosis induced by influenza virus in cultured MDCK cells was reported and the selective inhibitory effect of melamin on the apoptosis induced by influenza virus was investigated. The results showed that the DNA ladder could be first detected at 6 h post-infection (p.i.), accompanied by nuclear condensation and nuclear fragmentation could be easily detected at 12 h p.i. In addition, the apoptosis-induced activity of influenza virus A1/Jingfang 86-1 strain was more potent than that of B/Hufang 93-1 strain (P＜0.05). In the range of 20-125 μg/mL, melanin was found to significantly (P＜0.001) inhibit apoptosis induced by 64 hemagglutination unit influenza virus infection with a inhibitory rate comparable to that obtained by virazole and showed no cytotoxicity. The inital results suggested that the mechanism of melanin against the apoptosis induced by influenza virus was related to the blockage of viruses' adsorbtion to the host cells.     

Mechanical stretch induces mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and G2／M accumulation in cardiac fibroblasts

Heart remodeling is associated with the loss of cardiomyocytes and increase of fibrous tissue owing to abnormal mechanical load in a number of heart disease conditions. In present study, a well-described in vitro sustained stretch model was employed to study mechanical stretch-induced responses in both neonatal cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts. Cardiomyocytes, but not cardiac fibroblasts, underwent mitochondria-dependent apoptosis as evidenced by cytochrome c (cyto c) and Smac/DIABLO release from mitochondria into cytosol accompanied by mitochondrial membrane potential (△ψm) reduction, indicative of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP)opening. Cyclosporin A, an inhibitor of PTP, inhibited stretch-induced cyto c release, △ψm reduction and apoptosis,suggesting an important role of mitochondrial PTP in stretch-induced apoptosis. The stretch also resulted in increased expression of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins, including Bax and Bad, in cardiomyocytes, but not in fibroblasts. Bax was accumulated in mitochondria following stretch. Cell permeable Bid-BH3 peptide could induce and facilitate stretch-induced apoptosis and △ψm reduction in cardiomyocytes. These results suggest that Bcl-2 family proteins play an important role in coupling stretch signaling to mitochondrial death machinery, probably by targeting to PTP. Interestingly, the levels of p53 were increased at 12 h after stretch although we observed that Bax upregulation and apoptosis occurred as early as 1 h. Adenovirus delivered dominant negative p53 blocked Bax upregulation in cardiomyocytes but showed partial effect on preventing stretch-induced apoptosis, suggesting that p53 was only partially involved in mediating stretch-induced apoptosis. Furthermore, we showed that p21 was upregulated and cyclin B 1 was downregulated only in cardiac fibroblasts, which may be associated with G2/M accumulation in response to mechanical stretch.     

The thymic stromal cell line MTSC4 induced thymocyte apoptosis in a non-MHC-restricted manner

Mouse thymic stromal cell line 4 (MTSC4) is one of the stromal cell lines established in our laboratory. While losing the characteristics of epithelial cells, they express some surface markers shared with thymic dendritic cells (TDCs). To further study the biological functions of these cells, we compared the capability of MTSC4 with TDCs in the induction of thymocyte apoptosis, using thymic reaggregation culture system. Apoptosis of thymocytes induced by MTSC4 and TDCs was measured by Annexin V and PI staining and analyzed by flow cytometry. We found that MTSC4 selectively augmented the apoptosis of CD4^ 8^ (DP) thymocytes. This effect was Fas/FasL independent and could not be blocked by antibodies to MHC class I and class II molecules. In addition, MTSC4 enhanced the apoptosis of DP thymocytes from different strains of mice, which implies that MTSC4-induced thymocyte apoptosis is not mediated by the TCR recognition of self peptide/MHC molecules. In contrast to MTSC4, thymocyte apoptosis induced by TDCs was MHC-restricted. Thus, MHC-independent fashion of stromal-DP thymocyte interaction may be one of the ways to induce thymocyte apoptosis in thymus. Our study has also shown that the interaction of MTSC4 stromal cells and thymocytes is required for the induction of thymocyte apoptosis.     

Construction of sperm-specific lactate dehydrogenase DNA vaccine and experimental study of its immunocontraceptive effect on mice

Lactate dehydrogenase C4 (LDHC4) is a key enzyme for sperm metabolism. It is distributed specifically in testis and is highly immunogenic. In this study, two DNA vaccines pVAX1-hLDHC and pVAX1-mLDHC were constructed by inserting coding sequences of human and mice LDHC4 into the eukaryotic ex-pression vector pVAX1. The production of LDHC4 specific antibodies was induced in the sera of vac-cinated mice and the reproductive tract secretions of vaccinated female mice through immunization by mucosal surface instillation. Furthermore, the antibody titer increased with the times of immunization. In the mating experiment, the number of newborns of the vaccinated mice reduced significantly and some immunized female mice even lost the ability to bear any offsprings, suggesting that the difference between the immunized and control mice was statistically significant. Sperm agglutination analysis indicated that both the antisera from immunized mice and the reproductive tract secretions of vacci-nated female mice could agglutinate normal sperms. Results of immunohistochemistry showed that the antibodies present in the sera of immunized mice and the reproductive tract secretions of vaccinated female mice could specifically react with LDHC4 antigen, which mainly locates in the cytoplasm, acrosome membrane externa and acrosome capsule of the sperm. Taken together, our results indicated that the constructed contraceptive DNA vaccines did yield immunocontraceptive effects on mice and this would enable clinical trials in near future.     

Protection against lethal subcutaneous challenge of virulent Y. pestis strain 141 using an F1-V subunit vaccine

In this study, we designed and engineered a two-component recombinant fusion protein antigen as a vaccine candidate against the possible biological threat of Yersinia pestis. The recombinant F1-V pro-tein was formulated with Alhydrogel. A four-time injection with a dosage of 10, 20 and 50 μg/mouse in about two months was adopted for vaccination. Serum antibodies and subclass of T helper cells were measured and analyzed. After the final vaccination, the mice were challenged by 141 strain with 25― 600 LD50. In conclusion, the recombinant vaccine was capable of inducing protective immunity against subcutaneous challenge. The level of serum IgG was supposed to be a main factor that affected the final protection of challenge. 20 μg recombinant protein could induce an endpoint titre of serum IgG as high as 51200, which was enough to afford 100% protection against 400 LD50 virulent 141 challenge. The antibody isotype analysis showed that the vaccine induced predominantly an IgG1 rather than IgG2a response. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that Alhydrogel significantly helped induce a stronger humoral immunity instead of CTL cellular response. These findings suggested that the plague F1-V subunit vaccine is promising for the next plague vaccine.     

DNA vaccine of SARS-Cov S gene induces antibody response in mice

The spike (S) protein, a main surface antigen of SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is one of themost important antigen candidates for vaccine design. In the present study, three fragments of the truncated S protein were expressed in E. coli, and analyzed with pooled sera of convalescence phase of SARS patients. The full length S gene DNA vaccine was constructed and used to immunize BALB/c mice. The mouse serum IgG antibody against SARS-CoV was measured by ELISA with E. coli expressed truncated S protein or SARS-CoV lysate as diagnostic antigen. The results showed that all the three fragments of S protein expressed by E. coli was able to react with sera of SARS patients and the S gene DNA candidate vaccine could induce the production of specific IgG antibody against SARS-CoV efficiently in mice with seroconversion ratio of 75% after 3 times of immunization. These findings lay some foundations for further understanding the immunology of SARS-CoV and developing SARS vaccines.     

Formaldehyde induces toxic effects and regulates the expression of damage response genes in BM-MSCs

In this study, we assessed the toxic effects of formaldehyde （FA） on mouse bone marrow mesenchymai stem cells （BM- MSCs）. Cytotoxicity was measured by using MTT assay. DNA strand breakage was detected by standard alkaline comet assay and comet assay modified with proteinase K （PK）. DNA-protein crosslinks （DPCs） were detected by KCI-SDS precipitation assay. We found that FA at a con- centration from 75 to 200 μM inhibited cell survival and induced DPCs over 125 μM. The PK-modified comet assay showed that FA-induced DNA strand breakage was increased in a dose-dependent manner from 75 to 200 μM. On the other hand, standard alkaline comet assay showed that DNA strand breakage was decreased with FA concen- tration over 125 μM. We confirmed by using Pearson cor- relation that there was a negative linear correlation between DPCs and survival rate （r = -0.987, P 〈 0.01） and positive linear relationships between DPCs and （i） sister chromatid exchange and （ii） micronucleus （r = 0.995, P〈 0.01; r = 0.968, P〈 0.01）. DNA damage RTz profiler polymerase chain reaction array was used to investigate the changes in the expression of damage response genes. Xpa and Xpc of the nucleotide excision repair pathway and Brca2, Rad51, and Xrcc2 of the homologous recombination pathway were all up-regulated in both 75 and 125 μM FA. However, the same genes were down-regulated with 175 μM FA. The expressions of Chekl and Husl, which are involved in cell cycle regulation, were altered in the same manner with 75, 125, and 175 μM FA. These results indicated that Xpa, Xpc, Brca2, Rad51, Xrcc2, Chekl, and Husl were essential for the BM-MSCs to counteract the effects of FA.     

Distribution of antibodies against beta-adrenoceptors in the course of human Trypanosoma cruzi infection.

We examined the possible role of altered humoral immunity in Chagas' disease by analyzing the effect of sera on the binding of radioligand to beta-adrenoceptors during the course of human Trypanosoma cruzi infection. We described two circulating IgG which bind with myocardial beta 1- and spleen cell beta 2-adrenoceptor. Both chagasic IgG against beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptors increased intracellular levels of cAMP, which could be blocked by specific beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptor antagonists. The IgG against the beta 1-adrenoceptor inhibited the action of norepinephrine on the contractility of atria. We also found differences in the distribution of beta 1- and beta 2-adrenoceptor antibodies in the course of infection. The anti-beta 2-adrenoceptor IgG appears during the acute stage, peaks on the group with less than 10 years of infection, and then decreases. The prevalence of anti-beta 1-adrenergic antibody is low in the acute stage, but it increases over time since infection, being higher in the group with more than 15 years of infection. The probable pathogenic role of both beta 1- and beta 2-adrenergic chagasic antibodies is discussed.     

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha in mechanic trauma plasma mediates cardiomyocyte apoptosis

Mechanical traumatic injury causes cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac dysfunction. However, the signaling mechanisms leading to posttraumatic cardiomyocyte apoptosis remains unclear. The present study attempted to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for cardiomyocyte apoptosis induced by trauma. Normal cardiomyocytes (NC) or traumatic cardiomyocytes (TC; isolated immediately after trauma) were cultured with normal plasma (NP) or traumatic plasma (TP; isolated 1.5 h after trauma) for 12 h, and apoptosis was determined by caspase-3 activation. Exposure of TC to NP failed to induce significant cardiomyocyte apoptosis. In contrast, exposure of NC to TP resulted in a greater than twofold increase in caspase-3 activation (P < 0.01). Incubation of cardiomyocytes with cytomix (a mixture of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IFN-gamma) or TNF-alpha alone, but not with IL-1beta or IFN-gamma alone, caused significant caspase-3 activation (P < 0.01). TP-induced caspase-3 activation was virtually abolished by an anti-TNF-alpha antibody, and TP isolated from TNF-alpha(-/-) mice failed to induce caspase-3 activation. Moreover, incubation of cardiomyocytes with TP upregulated inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase (iNOS)/NADPH oxidase expression, increased NO/superoxide production, and increased cardiomyocyte protein nitration (measured by nitrotyrosine content). These oxidative/nitrative stresses and the resultant cardiomyocyte caspase-3 activation can be blocked by neutralization of TNF-alpha (anti-TNF-alpha antibody), inhibition of iNOS (1400W), or NADPH oxidase (apocynin) and scavenging of peroxynitrite (FP15) (P < 0.01). Taken together, our study demonstrated that there exists a TNF-alpha-initiated, cardiomyocyte iNOS/NADPH oxidase-dependent, peroxynitrite-mediated signaling pathway that contributes to posttraumatic myocardial apoptosis. Therapeutic interventions that block this signaling cascade may attenuate posttraumatic cardiac injury and reduce the incidence of secondary organ dysfunction after trauma.     

抗β1肾上腺素受体自身抗体的致心律失常效应

目的：观察抗β1肾上腺素受体自身抗体（β1AA）在心律失常患者血清中的分布特征并探究该抗体是否具有致心律失常作用。方法：选择临床各型心律失常、冠心病患者和正常健康体检者,采用酶联免疫吸附法（ELISA）测定血清中目从的滴度;提纯抗体阳性患者血清中的IgG抗体,给予正常大鼠,动态监测心电图的变化,观察心律失常发生频率。结果：β1AA在心律失常患者血清中的阳性率为52．8％,明显高于冠心病对照组（24．0％,P〈0．01）与正常对照组（5．0％,P〈0．01）;β1AA可引发正常大鼠发生心律失常,其中以室性心律失常多见。结论：β1从在心律失常患者血清中的分布呈高阳性率,并可致大鼠发生心律失常。     

Denitrosylation of S-nitrosylated OGT is triggered in LPS-stimulated innate immune response

Rad is a member of a subclass of small GTP-binding proteins, the RGK family. In the present study we investigated the role of Rad protein in regulating cardiomyocyte viability. DNA fragmentation and TUNEL assays demonstrated that Rad promoted rat neonatal cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Rad silencing fully blocked serum deprivation induced apoptosis, indicating Rad is necessary for trigger cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Rad overexpression caused a dramatic decrease of the anti-apoptotic molecule Bcl-x_L, whereas Bcl-x_L overexpression protected cardiomyocytes against Rad-induced apoptosis. Rad-triggered apoptosis was mediated by the activation of p38 MAPK. The p38 blocker SB203580 effectively protected cardiomyocytes against Rad-evoked apoptosis.     

The autoantibodies to alpha 6 beta 4 integrin of patients affected by ocular cicatricial pemphigoid recognize predominantly epitopes within the large cytoplasmic domain of human beta 4

This study was undertaken to characterize the antigenic determinants recognized by the autoantibodies of patients with ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP). OCP is a subepithelial, blistering, autoimmune disease that mainly affects the conjunctiva and other mucous membranes. We previously demonstrated that a cDNA clone, isolated from a keratinocyte expression library by using immunoaffinity-purified OCP autoantibody, encoded the cytoplasmic domain of beta 4 integrin subunit. Our subsequent studies showed that sera from all the OCP patients that were tested recognize the human beta 4 integrin subunit. To identify the prevalent epitopes of the anti-beta 4 autoantibodies of OCP, we have used cell lines transfected with vectors encoding a wild-type beta 4 subunit, a tailless beta 4 subunit, or a beta 4 subunit lacking the extracellular domain. Nontransfected cell lines were used as controls. Lysates from these cell lines were analyzed with OCP sera, IgG fractions from OCP sera, and immunoaffinity-purified OCP autoantibodies. Abs to extracellular and cytoplasmic domains of human beta 4 integrin were used as positive controls, whereas normal human sera and normal human IgG fractions were used as negative controls. The reactivity of OCP Abs was determined by using immunoblotting, immunoprecipitation, and FACS analysis. The results of this study indicate that OCP sera, OCP IgG fractions, and immunoaffinity-purified OCP autoantibodies react with the intracellular and not the extracellular domain of human beta 4 integrin subunit. In vitro cell culture experiments demonstrated that OCP autoantibody binds to the cytoplasm of the cells. The relevance of these findings to the pathogenesis of OCP is discussed.     

Sera from patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy decrease ICa in cardiomyocytes isolated from rabbits

Autoantibodies against muscarinic and adrenergic receptors have been found in the sera of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) and Chagas disease, but it is still unclear whether they can functionally interact with their respective receptors to modulate cardiac functions. In this study, our goal was to detect the presence of those antibodies in the sera of patients with IDC and characterize their electrophysiological effects on cardiomyocytes from rabbits. By using ELISA immunoassays, we detected high titers of antibodies against muscarinic M2 receptors in the sera of all IDC patients, whereas the detection of antibodies against the beta1-receptor occurred in 50% of them. Electrophysiological experiments using the whole cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique showed that sera from 43% of IDC patients induced a significant decrease (approximately 26%) in isoproterenol-stimulated L-type Ca2+ currents in rabbit ventricular myocytes, whereas the sera from healthy blood donors failed to do so. As expected, IDC sera also decreased the action potential duration (by 10.5%) due to a shortening of the plateau phase. Sera that reduced isoproterenol-stimulated L-type Ca2+ currents did not cause any effect on K+ currents. We conclude that sera from IDC patients have autoantibodies, which interact with muscarinic M2 receptors of rabbit cardiomyocytes, acting in an agonist-like fashion. This action results in changes in electrogenesis, which, as often observed in patients with IDC, could initiate ventricular arrhythmias that lead to sudden death.     

Erythropoietin protects cardiac myocytes against anthracycline-induced apoptosis

The cardiotoxic adverse effects of anthracycline antibiotics limit their therapeutic utility as essential components of chemotherapy regimens for hematologic and solid malignancies. Here we show that the hematopoietic cytokine erythropoietin attenuates doxorubicin-induced apoptosis of primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Erythropoietin treatment induced rapid, time-dependent phosphorylation of MAP kinases (MAPK) Erk1/2 and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase substrate Akt. Treatment of cardiomyocytes with inhibitors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (LY294002) or Akt (Akti-1/2) abolished the protective effect of erythropoietin, whereas treatment with MAPK kinase (MEK1) inhibitor U0126 did not. Erythropoietin also induced the phosphorylation of GSK-3beta, a downstream target of PI3K-Akt. Because phosphorylation is known to inactivate GSK-3beta, we investigated whether GSK-3beta inhibition is cardioprotective. We found that GSK-3beta inhibitors SB216763 or lithium chloride blocked doxorubicin-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in a manner similar to erythropoietin, suggesting that GSK-3beta inhibition is involved in erythropoietin-mediated cardioprotection. Erythropoietin may serve as a novel cardioprotective agent against anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity.     

Antibodies against the Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P proteins induce apoptosis in HL-1 cardiac cells

High levels of antibodies (Abs) against the C-terminal end of the Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P2β protein, defined by the R13 peptide, are detected in sera from patients with chronic Chagas heart disease (cChHD). These Abs can cross-react with the β1-adrenergic receptor (β1-AR), inducing a functional response in cardiomyocytes. In this study, we report that a monoclonal Ab against the R13 peptide, called mAb 17.2, and its single-chain Fv fragment (scFv), C5, caused apoptosis of murine adult cardiac HL-1 cells, and this effect was inhibited by pre-incubation with the β-blocker, propranolol. In addition, apoptosis induced by mAb 17.2 might involve the mitochondrial pathway evidenced by an increase in pro-apoptotic molecule, Bax/anti-apoptotic molecule, Bcl_XL, mRNA levels. HL-1 cells also underwent apoptosis after incubation with nine of 23 IgGs from cChHD patients (39.1%) that presented reactivity against R13 peptide and β1-AR. The apoptotic effect caused by these IgGs was partially abolished by pre-incubation with R13 peptide or propranolol, suggesting the involvement of the C-terminal end of ribosomal P proteins and the β-adrenergic pathway. Moreover, we observed high rates of cardiomyocyte apoptosis in two tissue samples from cChHD patients by using a TUNEL assay and staining of active caspase-3. Our data demonstrate that Abs developed during T. cruzi infection have a strong cardiomyocyte apoptosis inducing ability, which could contribute to the heart disease developed in patients with cChHD.     

In Type 1 Diabetes a Subset of Anti-Coxsackievirus B4 Antibodies Recognize Autoantigens and Induce Apoptosis of Pancreatic Beta Cells

Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. The role played by autoantibodies directed against beta cells antigens in the pathogenesis of the disease is still unclear. Coxsackievirus B infection has been linked to the onset of type 1 diabetes; however its precise role has not been elucidated yet. To clarify these issues, we screened a random peptide library with sera obtained from 58 patients with recent onset type 1 diabetes, before insulin therapy. We identified an immunodominant peptide recognized by the majority of individual patients’sera, that shares homology with Coxsackievirus B4 VP1 protein and with beta-cell specific autoantigens such as phogrin, phosphofructokinase and voltage-gated L-type calcium channels known to regulate beta cell apoptosis. Antibodies against the peptide affinity-purified from patients’ sera, recognized the viral protein and autoantigens; moreover, such antibodies induced apoptosis of the beta cells upon binding the L-type calcium channels expressed on the beta cell surface, suggesting a calcium dependent mechanism. Our results provide evidence that in autoimmune diabetes a subset of anti-Coxsackievirus antibodies are able to induce apoptosis of pancreatic beta cells which is considered the most critical and final step in the development of autoimmune diabetes without which clinical manifestations do not occur.