A Subclone of HuH-7 with Enhanced Intracellular Hepatitis C Virus Production and Evasion of Virus Related-Cell Cycle Arrest

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cell culture system with JFH-1 strain and HuH-7 cells enabled us to produce infectious HCV particles in vitro, and such system is useful to explore the anti-HCV compounds and to develop the vaccine against HCV. In the present study, we describe the derivation of a cell line that permits improved production of HCV particles. Specifically, we characterized several subclones that were isolated from the original HuH-7 cell line by limiting dilution. These HuH-7 subclones displayed a notable range of HCV production levels following transfection by full-genome JFH-1 RNA. Among these subclones, HuH-7T1 produced HCV more efficiently than other subclones and Huh-7.5.1 that is known to be highly permissive for HCV replication. Upon transfection with full-genome RNA, HCV production was increased ten-fold in HuH-7T1 compared to Huh-7.5.1. This increase in viral production correlated with increased efficiency of intracellular infectious virus production. Furthermore, HCV replication did not induce cell cycle arrest in HuH-7T1, whereas it did in Huh-7.5.1. Consequently, the use of HuH-7T1 as host cells could provide increased population of HCV-positive cells and elevated viral titer. In conclusion, we isolated a HuH-7 subclone, HuH-7T1, that supports efficient HCV production. High efficiency of intracellular infectious virus production and evasion of cell cycle arrest were important for this phenotype. We expect that the use of this cell line will facilitate analysis of the underlying mechanisms for HCV particle assembly and the cell cycle arrest caused by HCV.     

Identification of MK-1925: A selective,orally active and brain-penetrable opioid receptor-like 1 (ORL1) antagonist

Structure–activity relationship studies directed toward improving the metabolic stability of compound 1 resulted in the identification of 3-[5-(3,5-difluorophenyl)-3-({[(1S,3R)-3-fluorocyclopentyl]amino}methyl)-4-methyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]propanenitrile 39 (MK-1925) as a selective, orally available and brain-penetrable opioid receptor-like 1 (ORL1) antagonist. The compound also showed in vivo efficacy after oral dosing. Therefore, compound 39 was selected to undergo further studies as a clinical candidate.     

Stereochemical Configuration of 4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal-Cysteine Adducts and Their Stereoselective Formation in a Redox-regulated Protein

4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), a major racemic product of lipid peroxidation, preferentially reacts with cysteine residues to form a stable HNE-cysteine Michael addition adduct possessing three chiral centers. Here, to gain more insight into sulfhydryl modification by HNE, we characterized the stereochemical configuration of the HNE-cysteine adducts and investigated their stereoselective formation in redox-regulated proteins. To characterize the HNE-cysteine adducts by NMR, the authentic (R)-HNE- and (S)-HNE-cysteine adducts were prepared by incubating N-acetylcysteine with each HNE enantiomer, both of which provided two peaks in reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The NMR analysis revealed that each peak was a mixture of anomeric isomers. In addition, mutarotation at the anomeric center was also observed in the analysis of the nuclear Overhauser effect. To analyze these adducts in proteins, we adapted a pyridylamination-based approach, using 2-aminopyridine in the presence of sodium cyanoborohydride, which enabled analyzing the individual (R)-HNE- and (S)-HNE-cysteine adducts by reversed-phase HPLC following acid hydrolysis. Using the pyridylamination method along with mass spectrometry, we characterized the stereoselective formation of the HNE-cysteine adducts in human thioredoxin and found that HNE preferentially modifies Cys⁷³ and, to the lesser extent, the active site Cys³². More interestingly, the (R)-HNE- and (S)-HNE-cysteine adducts were almost equally formed at Cys⁷³, whereas Cys³² exhibited a remarkable preference for the adduct formation with (R)-HNE. Finally, the utility of the method for the determination of the HNE-cysteine adducts was confirmed by an in vitro study using HeLa cells. The present results not only offer structural insight into sulfhydryl modification by lipid peroxidation products but also provide a platform for the chemical analysis of protein S-associated aldehydes in vitro and in vivo.Lipid peroxidation in tissue and in tissue fractions represents a degradative process, which is the consequence of the production and the propagation of free radical reactions primarily involving membrane polyunsaturated fatty acids and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in drug-associated toxicity, post-ischemic reoxygenation injury, and aging (1). The peroxidative breakdown of polyunsaturated fatty acids has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of many types of liver injury and especially in the hepatic damage induced by several toxic substances. Lipid peroxidation leads to the formation of a broad array of different products with diverse and powerful biological activities. Among them is a variety of different aldehydes (2). The primary products of lipid peroxidation, lipid hydroperoxides, can undergo carbon-carbon bond cleavage via alkoxyl radicals in the presence of transition metals giving rise to the formation of short chain, unesterified aldehydes, or a second class of aldehydes still esterified to the parent lipid. These reactive aldehydic intermediates readily form covalent adducts with cellular macromolecules, including protein, leading to disruption of important cellular functions. The important agents that give rise to the modification of protein may be represented by α,β-unsaturated aldehydic intermediates, such as 2-alkenals, 4-hydroxy-2-alkenals, and 4-oxo-2-alkenals (3, 4).4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE),² among the reactive aldehydes, is a major product of lipid peroxidation and is believed to be largely responsible for the cytopathological effects observed during oxidative stress (2, 5). HNE exerts these effects because of its facile reactivity with biological materials, particularly the sulfhydryl groups of proteins. The reaction of HNE with sulfhydryl groups leads to the formation of thioether adducts that further undergo cyclization to form cyclic hemiacetals (2). Although HNE also forms Michael adducts with the imidazole moiety of histidine residues and the ϵ-amino group of lysine residues (5), the formation of thiol-derived Michael adducts, stabilized as the cyclic hemiacetal, is considered to constitute the main reactivity of HNE, because of the nucleophilic potential of the sulfhydryl group compared with those of the imidazole and amine groups. However, because of the lack of specific and reliable methods for the determination of HNE-cysteine adducts, no study has so far quantitatively demonstrated their formation in proteins.Because HNE generated in lipid peroxidation is a racemic mixture of 4R- and 4S-enantiomers (6), the HNE Michael adducts, possessing three chiral centers at C-2, C-4, and C-5 in the tetrahydrofuran moiety (Fig. 1A), are composed of at least eight isomers. In our previous study (7), we characterized the configurational isomers of an HNE-histidine adduct by NMR spectroscopy and by molecular orbital calculations, and we found that the configuration of the tetrahydrofuran ring could affect the electron delocalization features, which contribute to the stability of the adduct. Moreover, we raised monoclonal antibodies against (R)-HNE- and (S)-HNE-histidine adducts and observed differential cellular distributions of these adducts in vivo. Balogh et al. (8) recently characterized the stereochemical configurations of the HNE-glutathione adduct by NMR experiments in combination with simulated annealing structure determinations. Despite these studies, however, the stereoselectivity of the HNE Michael addition adducts generated in proteins remains to be fully explored. In this study, to gain further structural insight into sulfhydryl modification by the lipid peroxidation product, we characterized the stereochemical configuration of the HNE-N-acetylcysteine adducts by NMR spectroscopy. In addition, we adapted a pyridylamination-based method for fluorescent labeling of the HNE-cysteine adducts, using 2-aminopyridine (2-AP) and sodium cyanoborohydride (NaCNBH₃), and successfully analyzed the individual (R)-HNE- and (S)-HNE-cysteine adducts by reversed-phase HPLC following acid hydrolysis. Furthermore, using the pyridylamination method along with mass spectrometry, we characterized the stereoselective formation of the HNE-cysteine adducts in human thioredoxin (Trx).Open in a separate windowFIGURE 1.Reaction of cysteine residue with HNE. A, formation of the HNE-cysteine Michael adduct, possessing three chiral centers (asterisks). B, reaction of N-acetylcysteine with enantioisomeric HNE. The reactions were performed as described under “Experimental Procedures.” AU, absorbance units.     

Dicer Is Required for Maintaining Adult Pancreas

Dicer1, an essential component of RNA interference and the microRNA pathway, has many important roles in the morphogenesis of developing tissues. Dicer1 null mice have been reported to die at E7.5; therefore it is impossible to study its function in adult tissues. We previously reported that Dicer1-hypomorphic mice, whose Dicer1 expression was reduced to 20% in all tissues, were unexpectedly viable. Here we analyzed these mice to ascertain whether the down-regulation of Dicer1 expression has any influence on adult tissues. Interestingly, all tissues of adult (8–10 week old) Dicer1-hypomorphic mice were histologically normal except for the pancreas, whose development was normal at the fetal and neonatal stages; however, morphologic abnormalities in Dicer1-hypomorphic mice were detected after 4 weeks of age. This suggested that Dicer1 is important for maintaining the adult pancreas.     

Protective Role of Fas-FasL Signaling in Lethal Infection with Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 in Mice

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) induces acute local infection followed by latent infection in the nervous system and often leads to the development of lethal encephalitis in immunocompromised hosts. The mechanisms of immune protection against lethal HSV-2 infection, however, have not been clarified. In this study, we examined the roles of Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) signaling in lethal infection with HSV-2 by using mice with mutated Fas (lpr) or FasL (gld) in C57BL/6 background. Both lpr and gld mice exhibited higher mortality than wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice after infection with virulent HSV-2 strain 186 and showed significantly increased viral titers in the spinal cord compared with WT mice 9 days after infection, just before the mice started to die. There were no differences in the numbers of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells infiltrated in the spinal cord or in the levels of HSV-2-specific gamma interferon produced by those cells in a comparison of lpr and WT mice 9 days after infection. Adoptive transfer studies demonstrated that CD4⁺ T cells from WT mice protected gld mice from lethal infection by HSV-2. Furthermore, CD4⁺ T cells infiltrated in the spinal cord of HSV-2-infected WT mice expressed functional FasL that induced apoptosis of Fas-expressing target cells in vitro. These results suggest that FasL-mediated cytotoxic activity of CD4⁺ T cells plays an important role in host defense against lethal infection with HSV-2.Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) signaling-induced apoptotic cell death has pleiotropic roles in T-cell-mediated host defense mechanisms. First, Fas and FasL are expressed on activated T cells and thereby limit their number by inducing suicide or fratricide. It is generally accepted that Fas-mediated activation-induced cell death plays a predominant role during chronic infection, whereas starvation-induced cell death mediated by the proapoptotic BH3-only subgroup of the Bcl-2 protein family is the main mechanism for T-cell death during termination of immune responses in acute infection (30). Fas-FasL signaling might also play a role in T-cell development, as suggested by an accumulation of T-cell receptor αβ-positive (TCR αβ⁺) CD4⁻ CD8⁻ T cells expressing B220 in lymphoid organs of mice with mutated Fas (lpr) or FasL (gld) although the origin and functions of such double-negative T cells are still a matter of debate (21). Lastly, Fas-FasL interaction can be directly involved in host defense by inducing apoptosis of infected cells to facilitate pathogen clearance (23). Therefore, the roles of Fas-FasL signaling in immune responses for host defense might vary depending on the pathogen.Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is an alphaherpesvirus that causes genital herpes, the most common viral sexually transmitted disease (29). After initial infection in the vaginal epithelium, HSV-2 invades local nerve termini, travels via retrograde axonal transport to neuronal cell bodies in sensory ganglia, and establishes latent infection (13). However, especially in neonates and immunocompromised hosts, HSV-2 can cause lethal central nervous system (CNS) infection, which indicates the importance of immune systems in limiting the pathogenicity of HSV-2. Immune responses against HSV-2 have been studied in various murine models using different strains of virus and routes of inoculation, with or without vaccination with an attenuated strain of HSV-2. In such vaccination models, CD4⁺ T cells producing gamma interferon (IFN-γ) predominantly conferred protection against challenge with a virulent strain of HSV-2 (11, 19), whereas various subsets of lymphocytes, including NK cells, NK T cells, and TCR γδ T cells as well as CD4⁺ T cells were reported to be involved in host defense against primary infection with virulent HSV-2 (3, 15, 24), in which IFN-γ also played an important role (9). Fas-FasL signaling was shown to be dispensable for the clearance of an attenuated strain of HSV-2, which lacks thymidine kinase and causes only transient mild vaginal pathologies but not neurologic diseases (6, 16). Similarly Fas-mediated apoptosis was not involved in the vaccination effect of the attenuated HSV-2 (11). However, the roles of Fas-FasL signaling in host defense against a virulent strain of HSV-2 have not been clarified.In this study, we examined the roles of Fas-FasL signaling in a murine model of HSV-2 infection by using a highly virulent HSV-2 strain 186 with lpr and gld mice. We found that FasL-Fas signaling plays an important role in host defense against lethal HSV-2 infection.     

Update of mouse microsatellite database of Japan (MMDBJ).

We updated a database of microsatellite marker polymorphisms found in inbred strains of the mouse, most of which were derived from the wild stocks of four Mus musculus subspecies, M. m. domesticus, M. m. musculus, M. m.castaneus and M. m. molossinus. The major aim of constructing this database was to establish the genetic status of these inbred strains as resources for linkage analysis and positional cloning. The inbred strains incorporated in our database are A/J, C57BL/6J, CBA/J, DBA/2J, SM/J, SWR/J, 129Sv/J, MSM/Ms, JF1/Ms, CAST/Ei, NC/Nga, BLG2/Ms, NJL/Ms, PGN2/Ms, SK/CamEi and SWN/Ms, which have not or have only been poorly incorporated in the Whitehead Institute/MIT (WI/MIT) microsatellite database. The number of polymorphic microsatellite loci incorporated in our database is over 1,000 in all strains, and the URL site for our database is located at http:// www.shigen.nig.ac.jp /mouse/mmdbj/mouse.html.     

Vildagliptin Stimulates Endothelial Cell Network Formation and Ischemia-induced Revascularization via an Endothelial Nitric-oxide Synthase-dependent Mechanism

Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors are known to lower glucose levels and are also beneficial in the management of cardiovascular disease. Here, we investigated whether a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, vildagliptin, modulates endothelial cell network formation and revascularization processes in vitro and in vivo. Treatment with vildagliptin enhanced blood flow recovery and capillary density in the ischemic limbs of wild-type mice, with accompanying increases in phosphorylation of Akt and endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS). In contrast to wild-type mice, treatment with vildagliptin did not improve blood flow in ischemic muscles of eNOS-deficient mice. Treatment with vildagliptin increased the levels of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and adiponectin, which have protective effects on the vasculature. Both vildagliptin and GLP-1 increased the differentiation of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) into vascular-like structures, although vildagliptin was less effective than GLP-1. GLP-1 and vildagliptin also stimulated the phosphorylation of Akt and eNOS in HUVECs. Pretreatment with a PI3 kinase or NOS inhibitor blocked the stimulatory effects of both vildagliptin and GLP-1 on HUVEC differentiation. Furthermore, treatment with vildagliptin only partially increased the limb flow of ischemic muscle in adiponectin-deficient mice in vivo. GLP-1, but not vildagliptin, significantly increased adiponectin expression in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes in vitro. These data indicate that vildagliptin promotes endothelial cell function via eNOS signaling, an effect that may be mediated by both GLP-1-dependent and GLP-1-independent mechanisms. The beneficial activity of GLP-1 for revascularization may also be partially mediated by its ability to increase adiponectin production.     

Delayed copulation as a means of female choice by the hermit crab Pagurus filholi

Male hermit crabs perform precopulatory mate-guarding behavior during their reproductive season. As females generally cannot reject guarding attempts by males, male guarding prevents females from inspecting and choosing other male mates. However, as guarding males are often replaced by other males through competition for females during the guarding phase, females may be able to select males by delaying their copulation. To examine the possibility of female choice by hermit crabs, we investigated whether female Pagurus filholi that were being guarded in the field were ready to copulate and spawn. We found that about 30% of females guarded in the field were ready to spawn, indicating that guarded females delayed copulation with their current male. Our results suggest that by delaying copulation females may exploit male–male competition to choose dominant males. However, delaying copulation reduced the spawning potential of females. Hence, there is a trade-off between waiting for the opportunity to mate with a dominant male and decreased spawning success if females exploit male–male competition.     

Both MHC class II and its GPI-anchored form undergo hop diffusion as observed by single-molecule tracking

Previously, investigations using single-fluorescent-molecule tracking at frame rates of up to 65 Hz, showed that the transmembrane MHC class II protein and its GPI-anchored modified form expressed in CHO cells undergo simple Brownian diffusion, without any influence of actin depolymerization with cytochalasin D. These results are at apparent variance with the view that GPI-anchored proteins stay with cholesterol-enriched raft domains, as well as with the observation that both lipids and transmembrane proteins undergo short-term confined diffusion within a compartment and long-term hop diffusion between compartments. Here, this apparent discrepancy has been resolved by reexamining the same paradigm, by using both high-speed single-particle tracking (50 kHz) and single fluorescent-molecule tracking (30 Hz). Both molecules exhibited rapid hop diffusion between 40-nm compartments, with an average dwell time of 1-3 ms in each compartment. Cytochalasin D hardly affected the hop diffusion, consistent with previous observations, whereas latrunculin A increased the compartment sizes with concomitant decreases of the hop rates, which led to an ∼50% increase in the median macroscopic diffusion coefficient. These results indicate that the actin-based membrane skeleton influences the diffusion of both transmembrane and GPI-anchored proteins.