Biomarker profiles in serum and saliva of experimental Sj?gren's syndrome: associations with specific autoimmune manifestations

Introduction  

Sj?gren's syndrome (SS) is a systemic autoimmune disease that mainly targets the exocrine glands. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of 87 proteins measured in serum and 75 proteins analyzed in saliva in spontaneous experimental SS. In addition, we intended to compute a model of the immunological situation representing the overt disease stage of SS.     

Membrane-damaging action of ricin on DPPC and DPPC-cerebrosides assemblies

Perturbations induced by a toxic lectin (ricin) on lipid organisation of model membranes prepared with DPPC and DPPC-cerebrosides mixtures have been analysed by Raman and infrared spectroscopy, two powerful and non-invasive methods. Our approach involves the observation of changes in the vibrational spectra of liquid multilayers in the PO ₂ ^- , C=0 and CH₂ spectral regions for two lipid: ricin molar ratios (225:1, 75:1).The interfacial and polar regions of the multilayers, analysed by FTIR, appear to be perturbed by the protein. With both kinds of membranes, ricin mainly perturbs the C=0 ester groups of the sn-2 acylchain of DPPC. In the PO ₂ ^- stretching region, the frequency shifts are correlated with changes in polar group hydration.In the hydrophobic core of the multilayer membrane studied by Raman spectroscopy, the interaction of ricin is associated with changes in lipid packing. These perturbations depend upon the lipid composition of the membrane. With DPPC membranes, an affect is detected at temperatures lower than T _m .It corresponds to a decrease of the lipid ordering. With DPPC-cer membranes, the protein increases the acylchain packing order regardless of the temperature of the experiments (10°C<T<75°C). No perturbation of T _m is observed after addition of ricin to either DPPC or DPPC-cer membranes.The different perturbations detected by Raman and FTIR suggest that ricin mainly interacts with the interfacial domains of the membranes.     

Effects of alginates and sodium carrageenates mixed with soy proteins on the coefficient of protein efficiency

Male 21 d-old Wistar rats, were fed for 4 wk with diets containing casein or soybean proteins (10%) with 0.5, 1, 2 or 3% sodium alginate or sodium carrageenan or without any alginate or carrageenan. Daily protein intake and weight gain of casein-fed rats were not significantly different (P less than 0.05) from those of rats fed soybean meal with alginate, whatever the dose received. Rats fed 3% carrageenan in soybean meal had significantly higher feed intake than that of rats fed casein. At the levels studied, alginate had no effect on the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER), but carrageenan did. The addition of increased quantities of carrageenan to soybean meal followed by heating the mixture led to a progressive and significant decrease in PER at all levels of carrageenan compared to casein feeding. The addition of 3% carrageenan to heated soybean meal, corresponding to 0.62% of meal diet, led to a significant decrease in PER. These results confirm the precipitating role of carrageenans on proteins.     

The plasma membrane of myxosporidian valve cells: freeze fracture data

Freeze fracturing of Myxosporidian spores reveals the occurrence of a continuous layer of transmembrane particles all over the surface area of the valve cells which form the spore envelope. These particles are densely packed all over the P face membrane. Due to their polygonal outline, their diameter (6-7 nm) and their central core, they resemble the particles forming the connections of gap junctions which metabolically couple the neighboring cells in animal tissues. In the present report, the role of the transmembrane particles is still hypothetical. However, they might represent a membrane structural specialization of the spores which are submitted to osmotic variations of the fluid external medium. Furthermore similar transmembrane particles are observed at the level of the septate junction which seals the valve cells. In this occurrence, they are arranged in a series of 40 double rows parallel to the suture of the spore envelope. These findings support the view that Myxosporidia are Metazoa and raise the problem of their origin.     

Posterior dental size reduction in hominids: The Atapuerca evidence

In order to reassess previous hypotheses concerning dental size reduction of the posterior teeth during Pleistocene human evolution, current fossil dental evidence is examined. This evidence includes the large sample of hominid teeth found in recent excavations (1984–1993) in the Sima de los Huesos Middle Pleistocene cave site of the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). The lower fourth premolars and molars of the Atapuerca hominids, probably older than 300 Kyr, have dimensions similar to those of modern humans. Further, these hominids share the derived state of other features of the posterior teeth with modern humans, such as a similar relative molar size and frequent absence of the hypoconulid, thus suggesting a possible case of parallelism. We believe that dietary changes allowed size reduction of the posterior teeth during the Middle Pleistocene, and the present evidence suggests that the selective pressures that operated on the size variability of these teeth were less restrictive than what is assumed by previous models of dental reduction. Thus, the causal relationship between tooth size decrease and changes in food-preparation techniques during the Pleistocene should be reconsidered. Moreover, the present evidence indicates that the differential reduction of the molars cannot be explained in terms of restriction of available growth space. The molar crown area measurements of a modern human sample were also investigated. The results of this study, as well as previous similar analyses, suggest that a decrease of the rate of cell proliferation, which affected the later-forming crown regions to a greater extent, may be the biological process responsible for the general and differential dental size reduction that occurred during human evolution. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Expression and synthesis of cross-reactive idiotypic antibodies by peripheral blood lymphocytes and their suppression by anti-idiotypes in patients with IgA nephropathy.

We have recently described that patients with IgA nephropathy present high serum levels of anti-BSA idiotypic antibodies that were well correlated with the existence of hematuria. Furthermore, these Id were found in circulating and renal deposited immune complexes. In the present work, we examined the expression of surface idiotypic determinants on PBL by flow cytometry and their in vitro production, using as reagent anti-idiotypic antibodies previously well characterized. The presence of cross-reactive Id-bearing cells was observed in 5 out of 6 patients studied, with frequencies ranging from 3 to 12% of lymphocytes. After 7 days of culture, the spontaneous synthesis of idiotypic antibodies by PBL was found elevated in 6 out of 13 (46%) patients. A major Id cell expression and production was noted in patients with active disease as defined by hematuria. The preincubation of PBL with 20 and 50 micrograms of anti-idiotypic antibodies/2 x 10(6) cells for 3 days induced a significant inhibition of cross-reactive Id production in a dose-dependent fashion, with a degree of suppression between 12 and 50% in five out of six patients studied. In the above assays, as negative controls, we used the anti-Id antibodies previously adsorbed on an Id-Sepharose column. On the whole, these results suggest that patients with IgA nephropathy present dysfunctions in the Id-Anti-Id network that could play an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease.