Characterization of the antigen specificity and TCR repertoire,and TCR-based DNA vaccine therapy in myelin basic protein-induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis in DA rats

Like Lewis rats, DA rats are an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)-susceptible strain and develop severe EAE upon immunization with myelin basic protein (MBP). However, there are several differences between the two strains. In the present study we induced acute EAE in DA rats by immunization with MBP and MBP peptides and examined the Ag specificity and TCR repertoire of encephalitogenic T cells. It was found that although immunization with MBP and a peptide corresponding to its 62-75 sequence (MBP(62-75)) induced clinical EAE, the responses of lymph node T cells isolated from MBP-immunized rats to MBP(62-75) was marginal, indicating that this peptide contains major encephalitogenic, but not immunodominant, epitopes. The TCR analysis by CDR3 spectratyping of spinal cord T cells revealed that Vbeta10 and Vbeta15 spectratype expansion was always found in MBP(62-75)-immunized symptomatic rats. On the basis of these findings, we examined the encephalitogenicity of Vbeta10- and Vbeta15-positive T cells. First, the adoptive transfer experiments revealed that Vbeta10-positive T line cells derived from MBP(62-75)-immunized rats induced clinical EAE in recipients. Second, administration of DNA vaccines encoding Vbeta10 and Vbeta15, alone or in combination, ameliorated MBP(62-75)-induced EAE. Collectively, it was strongly suggested that Vbeta10- and Vbeta15-positive T cells are encephalitogenic. Analyses of the Ag specificity and T cell repertoire of pathogenic T cells performed in this study provide useful information for designing specific immunotherapies against autoimmune diseases.     

Solution structure of the fibronectin type III domain from Bacillus circulans WL-12 chitinase A1

Growing evidence suggests that horizontal gene transfer plays an integral role in the evolution of bacterial genomes. One of the debated examples of horizontal gene transfer from animal to prokaryote is the fibronectin type III domain (FnIIID). Certain extracellular proteins of soil bacteria contain an unusual cluster of FnIIIDs, which show sequence similarity to those of animals and are likely to have been acquired horizontally from animals. Here we report the solution structure of the FnIIID of chitinase A1 from Bacillus circulans WL-12. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first tertiary structure to be reported for an FnIIID from a bacterial protein. The structure of the domain shows significant similarity to FnIIIDs from animal proteins. Sequence comparisons with FnIIIDs from other soil bacteria proteins show that the core-forming residues are highly conserved and, thus, are under strong evolutionary pressure. Striking similarities in the tertiary structures of bacterial FnIIIDs and their mammalian counterparts may support the hypothesis that the evolution of the FnIIID in bacterial carbohydrases occurred horizontally. The total lack of surface-exposed aromatic residues also suggests that the role of this FnIIID is different from those of other bacterial beta-sandwich domains, which function as carbohydrate-binding modules.     

Production of sepiapterin in Escherichia coli by coexpression of cyanobacterial GTP cyclohydrolase I and human 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin synthase

Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 GTP cyclohydrolase I and human 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin synthase were coexpressed in Escherichia coli. The E. coli transformant produced sepiapterin, which was identified by high-performance liquid chromatography and enzymatically converted to dihydrobiopterin by sepiapterin reductase. Aldose reductase, another indispensable enzyme for sepiapterin production, may be endogenous in E. coli.     

Influence of the completeness of chemical shift assignments on NMR structures obtained with automated NOE assignment

Reliable automated NOE assignment and structure calculation on the basis of a largely complete, assigned input chemical shift list and a list of unassigned NOESY cross peaks has recently become feasible for routine NMR protein structure calculation and has been shown to yield results that are equivalent to those of the conventional, manual approach. However, these algorithms rely on the availability of a virtually complete list of the chemical shifts. This paper investigates the influence of incomplete chemical shift assignments on the reliability of NMR structures obtained with automated NOESY cross peak assignment. The program CYANA was used for combined automated NOESY assignment with the CANDID algorithm and structure calculations with torsion angle dynamics at various degrees of completeness of the chemical shift assignment which was simulated by random omission of entries in the experimental ¹H chemical shift lists that had been used for the earlier, conventional structure determinations of two proteins. Sets of structure calculations were performed choosing the omitted chemical shifts randomly among all assigned hydrogen atoms, or among aromatic hydrogen atoms. For comparison, automated NOESY assignment and structure calculations were performed with the complete experimental chemical shift but under random omission of NOESY cross peaks. When heteronuclear-resolved three-dimensional NOESY spectra are available the current CANDID algorithm yields in the absence of up to about 10% of the experimental ¹H chemical shifts reliable NOE assignments and three-dimensional structures that deviate by less than 2 Å from the reference structure obtained using all experimental chemical shift assignments. In contrast, the algorithm can accommodate the omission of up to 50% of the cross peaks in heteronuclear- resolved NOESY spectra without producing structures with a RMSD of more than 2 Å to the reference structure. When only homonuclear NOESY spectra are available, the algorithm is slightly more susceptible to missing data and can tolerate the absence of up to about 7% of the experimental ¹H chemical shifts or of up to 30% of the NOESY peaks.Abbreviations: BmPBP^A – Bombyx mori pheromone binding protein form A; CYANA – combined assignment and dynamics algorithm for NMR applications; NMR – nuclear magnetic resonance; NOE – nuclear Overhauser effect; NOESY – NOE spectroscopy; RMSD – root-mean-square deviation; WmKT – Williopsis mrakii killer toxin     

Successful TCR-based immunotherapy for autoimmune myocarditis with DNA vaccines after rapid identification of pathogenic TCR

The identification of TCRs of autoimmune disease-inducing T cells within a short period of time is a key factor for designing TCR-based immunotherapy during the course of the disease. In this study, we show that experimental autoimmune carditis-associated TCRs, Vbeta8.2 and Vbeta10, were determined by complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3)-spectratyping analysis and subsequent sequencing of the CDR3 region of spectratype-derived TCR clones. Immunotherapy targeting both Vbeta8.2 and Vbeta10 TCRs using mAbs and DNA vaccines significantly reduced the histological severity of experimental autoimmune carditis and completely suppressed the inflammation in some animals. Since depletion or suppression of one of two types of effector cells does not improve the severity of the disease significantly, combined TCR-based immunotherapy should be considered as a primary therapy for T cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. TCR-based immunotherapy after rapid identification of autoimmune disease-associated TCRs by CDR3 spectratyping can be applicable, not only to animal, but also to human autoimmune diseases whose pathomechanism is poorly understood.