Reducing the risk of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) transmission is still a public health priority. The development of effective control strategies relies on the quantification of the ...effects of prophylactic and therapeutic measures in disease incidence. Although several assays can be used to estimate HIV incidence, these estimates are limited by the poor performance of these assays in distinguishing recent from long-standing infections. To address such limitation, we have developed an assay to titrate p24-specific IgG3 antibodies as a marker of recent infection. The assay is based on a recombinant p24 protein capable to detect total IgG antibodies in sera using a liquid micro array and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Subsequently, the assay was optimised to detect and titrate anti-p24 IgG3 responses in a panel of sequential specimens from seroconverters over 24 months. The kinetics of p24-specific IgG3 titres revealed a transient peak in the 4 to 5-month period after seroconversion. It was followed by a sharp decline, allowing infections with less than 6 months to be distinguished from older ones. The developed assay exhibited a mean duration of recent infection of 144 days and a false-recent rate of ca. 14%. Our findings show that HIV-1 p24-specific IgG3 titres can be used as a tool to evaluate HIV incidence in serosurveys and to monitor the efficacy of vaccines and other transmission control strategies.
Class II transactivator (CIITA) induces transcription of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II genes and can potentially be used to improve genetic immunotherapies by converting non-immune cells ...into cells capable of presenting antigens to CD4
T cells. However, CIITA expression is tightly controlled and it remains unclear whether distinct non-immune cells differ in this transactivator regulation. Here we describe the development of gene delivery systems capable of promoting the efficient CIITA expression in non-immune cell lines and in primary human cells of an ex vivo skin explant model. Different human cell types undergoing CIITA overexpression presented high-level de novo expression of MHC II, validating the delivery systems as suitable tools for the CIITA evaluation as a molecular adjuvant for gene therapies.
We report on the interaction of vanadate nanoparticles, produced using the laser ablation in liquids synthesis, with cysteine in biological molecules. Cysteine is a very important amino acid present ...in most proteins, but also because cysteine and the tripeptide glutathione are the main antioxidant molecules in our body system. Detailed UV–Vis absorption spectra and dynamic light scattering measurements were done to investigate the detection of cysteine in large biological molecules. The intervalence band of the optical absorption spectra shows capability for quantitative cysteine sensing in the μM range in biological macromolecules. Tests included cytoplasmic repetitive antigen and flagellar repetitive antigen proteins of the
Trypanosoma cruzi
protozoa, as well as the capsid p24 proteins from Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 and type 2. Detailed NMR measurements for hydrogen, carbon, and vanadium nuclei show that cysteine in contact with the vanadate looses hydrogen of the sulphydryl side chain, while the vanadate is reduced. The subsequent detachment of two deprotonated molecules to form cystine and the slow return to the vanadate complete the oxidation–reduction cycle. Therefore, the vanadate acts as a charge exchanging catalyst on cysteine to form cystine. The NMR results also indicate that the nanoparticles are not formed by the common orthorhombic V
2
O
5
form.
Papillomaviruses are known to cause tumor lesions, generally benign, in epithelial tissues of diverse organisms; these lesions may progress to cancer under suitable conditions. Bovine papillomavirus ...(BPV) can cause urinary bladder cancer and cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, BPV1 and BPV2 are implicated in the development of tumors in equids. Many studies with animal models clearly demonstrate that DNA vaccines are very effective tools in controlling viral infections, providing strong humoral and cellular immune responses. In this study, we have described the development of two vaccine constructs for the control of diseases caused by BPV. The 1st strategy is prophylactic and is based on the L2 gene; the 2nd is therapeutic and is based on the E5 gene. Vaccine constructs were obtained and evaluated in vitro in mammalian cells. The results show the occurrence of E5 and L2 transcription and viral protein production. These results confirm the functionality of the vaccine constructs in mammalian cells. This is the 1st step in the development of a DNA-based vaccine strategy for the control and/or treatment of diseases caused by BPV.
Summary Dengue disease can clinically evolve from an asymptomatic and mild disease, known as dengue fever (DF), to a severe disease known as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Recent evidence has shown ...how host genetic factors can be correlated with severe dengue susceptibility or protection. Many of these genes, such as CD209 , TNF-a , vitamin D receptor, and FCγ receptor IIA, are components of the innate immune system, suggesting that innate responses might have a role in dengue pathogenesis. MBL2 gene polymorphisms have been shown to modulate susceptibility or protection in many viral diseases. We investigated the involvement of MBL2 gene in the dengue clinical outcome through the analysis of MBL2 exon 1 polymorphisms (at codons 52, 54, and 57) known to be associated with reduced serum levels of the MBL protein. The genotypes of 110 well-characterized dengue-positive patients were statistically analyzed to establish possible correlations between MBL2 polymorphisms and parameters such as sex, type of infection (primary or secondary response), race/ethnicity, course of infection, and age. We found significant correlations between wild-type AA MBL2 genotype and age as associated risk factors for development of dengue-related thrombocytopenia.
In eukaryotes protein synthesis initiates with the binding of the multimeric translation initiation complex eIF4F – eIF4E, eIF4A and eIF4G – to the monomethylated cap present on the 5′ end of mRNAs. ...eIF4E interacts directly with the cap nucleotide, while eIF4A is a highly conserved RNA helicase and eIF4G acts as a scaffold for the complex with binding sites for both eIF4E and eIF4A. eIF4F binding to the mRNA recruits the small ribosomal subunit to its 5′ end. Little is known in detail of protein synthesis in the protozoan parasites belonging to the family
Trypanosomatidae. However, the presence of the highly modified cap structure, cap4, and the spliced leader sequence on the 5′ ends of all mRNAs suggests possible differences in mRNA recruitment by ribosomes. We identified several potential eIF4F homologues by searching
Leishmania major databases: four eIF4Es (
LmEIF4E1-4), two eIF4As (
LmEIF4A1-2) and five eIF4Gs (
LmEIF4G1-5). We report the initial characterisation of
LmEIF4E1-3,
LmEIF4A1-2 and
LmEIF4G3. First, the expression of these proteins in
L. major promastigotes was quantitated by Western blotting using isoform specific antibodies.
LmEIF4A1 and
LmEIF4E3 are very abundant,
LmEIF4G3 is moderately abundant and
LmEIF4E1/
LmEIF4E2/
LmEIF4A2 are rare or not detected. In cap-binding assays, only
LmEIF4E1 bound to the 7-methyl-GTP-Sepharose resin. Molecular modelling confirmed that
LmEIF4E1 has all the structural features of a cap-binding protein. Finally, pull-down assays were used to investigate the potential interaction between the eIF4A (
LmEIF4A1/
LmEIF4A2) and eIF4G (
LmEIF4G1-3) homologues. Only
LmEIF4G3, via the HEAT domain, bound specifically both to
LmEIF4A1 as well as to human eIF4A. Therefore for each factor, one of the
L. major forms seems to fulfil, in part at least, the expected characteristics of a translational initiation factor.
Protozoan parasites belonging to the family Trypanosomatidae are characterized by an unusual pathway for the production of mRNAs via polycistronic transcription and trans-splicing of a 5′ capped ...mini-exon which is linked to the 3′ cleavage and polyadenylation of the upstream transcript. However, little is known of the mechanism of protein synthesis in these organisms, despite their importance as agents of a number of human diseases. Here we have investigated the role of two Trypanosoma brucei homologues of the translation initiation factor eIF4A (in the light of subsequent experiments these were named as TbEIF4AI and TbEIF4AIII). eIF4A, a DEAD-box RNA helicase, is a subunit of the translation initiation complex eIF4F which binds to the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNA and recruits the small ribosomal subunit. TbEIF4AI is a very abundant predominantly cytoplasmic protein (over 1 × 105 molecules/cell) and depletion to ∼10% of normal levels through RNA interference dramatically reduces protein synthesis one cell cycle following double-stranded RNA induction and stops cell proliferation. In contrast, TbEIF4AIII is a nuclear, moderately expressed protein (∼1–2 × 104 molecules/cell), and its depletion stops cellular proliferation after approximately four cell cycles. Ectopic expression of a dominant negative mutant of TbEIF4AI, but not of TbEIF4AIII, induced a slow growth phenotype in transfected cells. Overall, our results suggest that only TbEIF4AI is involved in protein synthesis while the properties and sequence of TbEIF4AIII indicate that it may be the orthologue of eIF4AIII, a component of the exon junction complex in mammalian cells.
The poly(A)-binding protein (PABP), bound to the 3' poly(A) tail of eukaryotic mRNAs, plays critical roles in mRNA translation and stability. PABP autoregulates its synthesis by binding to a ...conserved A-rich sequence present in the 5'-untranslated region of PABP mRNA and repressing its translation. PABP is composed of two parts: the highly conserved N terminus, containing 4 RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) responsible for poly(A) and eIF4G binding; and the more variable C terminus, which includes the recently described PABC domain, and promotes intermolecular interaction between PABP molecules as well as cooperative binding to poly(A). Here we show that, in vitro, GST-PABP represses the translation of reporter mRNAs containing 20 or more A residues in their 5'-untranslated regions and remains effective as a repressor when an A61 tract is placed at different distances from the cap, up to 126 nucleotides. Deletion of the PABP C terminus, but not the PABC domain alone, significantly reduces its ability to inhibit translation when bound to sequences distal to the cap, but not to proximal ones. Moreover, cooperative binding by multiple PABP molecules to poly(A) requires the C terminus, but not the PABC domain. Further analysis using pull-down assays shows that the interaction between PABP molecules, mediated by the C terminus, does not require the PABC domain and is enhanced by the presence of RRM 4. In vivo, fusion proteins containing parts of the PABP C terminus fused to the viral coat protein MS2 have an enhanced ability to prevent the expression of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter mRNAs containing the MS2 binding site at distal distances from the cap. Altogether, our results identify a proline- and glutamine-rich linker located between the RRMs and the PABC domain as being strictly required for PABP/PABP interaction, cooperative binding to poly(A) and enhanced translational repression of reporter mRNAs in vitro and in vivo.
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