Eukaryotic cells deploy overlapping repair pathways to resolve DNA damage. Advancements in genome editing take advantage of these pathways to produce permanent genetic changes. Despite recent ...improvements, genome editing can produce diverse outcomes that can introduce risks in clinical applications. Although homology-directed repair is attractive for its ability to encode precise edits, it is particularly difficult in human cells. Here we discuss the DNA repair pathways that underlie genome editing and strategies to favour various outcomes.
Vaccine and laboratory adapted strains of measles virus can use CD46 as a receptor to infect many human cell lines. However, wild type isolates of measles virus cannot use CD46, and they infect ...activated lymphocytes, dendritic cells, and macrophages via the receptor CD150/SLAM. Wild type virus can also infect epithelial cells of the respiratory tract through an unidentified receptor. We demonstrate that wild type measles virus infects primary airway epithelial cells grown in fetal calf serum and many adenocarcinoma cell lines of the lung, breast, and colon. Transfection of non-infectable adenocarcinoma cell lines with an expression vector encoding CD150/SLAM rendered them susceptible to measles virus, indicating that they were virus replication competent, but lacked a receptor for virus attachment and entry. Microarray analysis of susceptible versus non-susceptible cell lines was performed, and comparison of membrane protein gene transcripts produced a list of 11 candidate receptors. Of these, only the human tumor cell marker PVRL4 (Nectin 4) rendered cells amenable to measles virus infections. Flow cytometry confirmed that PVRL4 is highly expressed on the surfaces of susceptible lung, breast, and colon adenocarcinoma cell lines. Measles virus preferentially infected adenocarcinoma cell lines from the apical surface, although basolateral infection was observed with reduced kinetics. Confocal immune fluorescence microscopy and surface biotinylation experiments revealed that PVRL4 was expressed on both the apical and basolateral surfaces of these cell lines. Antibodies and siRNA directed against PVRL4 were able to block measles virus infections in MCF7 and NCI-H358 cancer cells. A virus binding assay indicated that PVRL4 was a bona fide receptor that supported virus attachment to the host cell. Several strains of measles virus were also shown to use PVRL4 as a receptor. Measles virus infection reduced PVRL4 surface expression in MCF7 cells, a property that is characteristic of receptor-associated viral infections.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Targeted genomic manipulation by Cas9 can efficiently generate knockout cells and organisms via error-prone nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), but the efficiency of precise sequence replacement by ...homology-directed repair (HDR) is substantially lower. Here we investigate the interaction of Cas9 with target DNA and use our findings to improve HDR efficiency. We show that dissociation of Cas9 from double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) substrates is slow (lifetime ∼6 h) but that, before complete dissociation, Cas9 asymmetrically releases the 3' end of the cleaved DNA strand that is not complementary to the sgRNA (nontarget strand). By rationally designing single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) donors of the optimal length complementary to the strand that is released first, we increase the rate of HDR in human cells when using Cas9 or nickase variants to up to 60%. We also demonstrate HDR rates of up to 0.7% using a catalytically inactive Cas9 mutant (dCas9), which binds DNA without cleaving it.
Several studies have addressed the efficacy and safety of this practice in the battle against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.1–9 Adding to this evidence base, an Article in The Lancet by Arabella Stuart ...and colleagues reports the findings of the Com-COV2 Study Group, a multicentre survey network of nine institutions in the UK.10 The study participants (1072 individuals, 42·1% women, and ranging in age from 50 years to 78 years) received either homologous or heterologous prime-boost vaccination schedules against COVID-19 with chimpanzee non-replicating adenovirus (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, hereafter referred to as ChAd), Pfizer–BioNTech mRNA (BNT162b2, referred to as BNT), Moderna mRNA (mRNA-1273, referred to as m1273), or Novavax Matrix M-adjuvanted recombinant S protein (NVX-CoV2373, referred to as NVX) vaccines. Cellular immune response following stimulation of cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with purified S protein was quantitated by measuring interferon-γ release in ELISPOT assays. Clearly, mRNA vaccine approaches were more advantageous in terms of producing neutralising antibodies, but the ChAd adenovirus-based vaccine—and to a lesser extent, NVX—appeared to help stimulate interferon-γ production from PBMCs, which could correlate with longer periods of immunological protection or memory.
CRISPR-Cas genome editing induces targeted DNA damage but can also affect off-target sites. Current off-target discovery methods work using purified DNA or specific cellular models but are incapable ...of direct detection in vivo. We developed DISCOVER-Seq (discovery of in situ Cas off-targets and verification by sequencing), a universally applicable approach for unbiased off-target identification that leverages the recruitment of DNA repair factors in cells and organisms. Tracking the precise recruitment of MRE11 uncovers the molecular nature of Cas activity in cells with single-base resolution. DISCOVER-Seq works with multiple guide RNA formats and types of Cas enzymes, allowing characterization of new editing tools. Off-targets can be identified in cell lines and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells and during adenoviral editing of mice, paving the way for in situ off-target discovery within individual patient genotypes during therapeutic genome editing.
Ambiphilic molecules, which contain a Lewis base and Lewis acid, are of great interest based on their unique ability to activate small molecules. Phosphine boronates are one class of these substrates ...that have interesting catalytic activity. Direct access to these phosphine boronates is described through the iridium‐catalyzed C−H borylation of phosphines. An unconventional cationic iridium catalyst was identified as optimal for a range of phosphines, providing good yields and selectivity across a diverse class of phosphine boronates (isolated as the borane‐protected phosphine). A complimentary catalyst system (quinoline‐based silane ligand with (COD)IrOMe2) was optimal for biphenyl‐based phosphines. Selective polyborylation was also shown providing bis‐ and tris‐borylated phosphines. Deprotection of the phosphine boronate provided free ambiphilic phosphine boronates, which do not have detectable interactions between the phosphorus and boron atoms in solution or the solid state.
Phosphine‐directed C−H borylation: A series of commonly used phosphines undergo iridium‐catalyzed C−H borylation, providing a range of ambiphilic phosphine boronates. The unexpected cationic iridium catalyst overcomes limited reactivity, allowing a large range of phosphines to be selectively functionalized, including selective polyborylation of several phosphines.
The hemagglutinin (H) protein of measles virus (MeV) interacts with a cellular receptor which constitutes the initial stage of infection. Binding of H to this host cell receptor subsequently triggers ...the F protein to activate fusion between virus and host plasma membranes. The search for MeV receptors began with vaccine/laboratory virus strains and evolved to more relevant receptors used by wild-type MeV. Vaccine or laboratory strains of measles virus have been adapted to grow in common cell lines such as Vero and HeLa cells, and were found to use membrane cofactor protein (CD46) as a receptor. CD46 is a regulator that normally prevents cells from complement-mediated self-destruction, and is found on the surface of all human cells, with the exception of erythrocytes. Mutations in the H protein, which occur during adaptation and allow the virus to use CD46 as a receptor, have been identified. Wild-type isolates of measles virus cannot use the CD46 receptor. However, both vaccine/laboratory and wild-type strains can use an immune cell receptor called signaling lymphocyte activation molecule family member 1 (SLAMF1; also called CD150) and a recently discovered epithelial receptor known as Nectin-4. SLAMF1 is found on activated B, T, dendritic, and monocyte cells, and is the initial target for infections by measles virus. Nectin-4 is an adherens junction protein found at the basal surfaces of many polarized epithelial cells, including those of the airways. It is also over-expressed on the apical and basal surfaces of many adenocarcinomas, and is a cancer marker for metastasis and tumor survival. Nectin-4 is a secondary exit receptor which allows measles virus to replicate and amplify in the airways, where the virus is expelled from the body in aerosol droplets. The amino acid residues of H protein that are involved in binding to each of the receptors have been identified through X-ray crystallography and site-specific mutagenesis. Recombinant measles "blind" to each of these receptors have been constructed, allowing the virus to selectively infect receptor specific cell lines. Finally, the observations that SLAMF1 is found on lymphomas and that Nectin-4 is expressed on the cell surfaces of many adenocarcinomas highlight the potential of measles virus for oncolytic therapy. Although CD46 is also upregulated on many tumors, it is less useful as a target for cancer therapy, since normal human cells express this protein on their surfaces.
Measles virus (MV) causes acute respiratory disease, infects lymphocytes and multiple organs, and produces immune suppression leading to secondary infections. In rare instances it can also cause ...persistent infections in the brain and central nervous system. Vaccine and laboratory-adapted strains of MV use CD46 as a receptor, whereas wild-type strains of MV (wtMV) cannot. Both vaccine and wtMV strains infect lymphocytes, monocytes, and dendritic cells (DCs) using the signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (CD150/SLAM). In addition, MV can infect the airway epithelial cells of the host. Nectin 4 (PVRL4) was recently identified as the epithelial cell receptor for MV. Coupled with recent observations made in MV-infected macaques, this discovery has led to a new paradigm for how the virus accesses the respiratory tract and exits the host. Nectin 4 is also a tumor cell marker which is highly expressed on the apical surface of many adenocarcinoma cell lines, making it a potential target for MV oncolytic therapy.
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