Immunization with HIV protease peptides linked to syngeneic erythrocytes

New potent vaccine adjuvants are desirable for increasing the efficacy of novel vaccine modalities such as DNA and peptides. We therefore tested if syngeneic erythrocytes could serve as delivery vectors for selected HIV peptides and compared the potency of these constructs to immunization with peptides in phosphate buffered saline or in incomplete Freunds adjuvant. Immunization of mice with peptides in a low dose (5 ng) coupled to erythrocytes induced a weak immune response in mice. These peptides alone (5 μg) gave no immune responses, while formulating the peptides (50 μg) in IFA induced strong homologous immunity as well as prominent cross reactivity to a related mutant epitope. Thus, vaccine delivery using syngeneic erythrocytes, although attractive for clinical use, might be of limited value due to the low amount of antigen that can be loaded per erythrocyte

Novel Pharmacological Targets of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychopathological condition with a heteroge- neous clinical picture that is complex and challenging to treat. Its multifaceted pathophysiology still remains an unresolved question and certainly contributes to this issue. The pharmacological treatment of PTSD is mainly empirical and centered on the serotonergic system. Since the therapeutic response to prescribed drugs targeting single symptoms is generally inconsistent, there is an urgent need for novel pathogenetic hypotheses, including different mediators and pathways. This paper was conceived as a narrative review with the aim of debating the current pharmacological treatment of PTSD and further highlighting prospective targets for future drugs. The authors accessed some of the main databases of scientific literature available and selected all the papers that fulfilled the purpose of the present work. The results showed that most of the current pharmacological treatments for PTSD are symptom-based and show only partial benefits; this largely reflects the limited knowledge of its neurobiology. Growing, albeit limited, data suggests that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, opioids, glutamate, cannabinoids, oxytocin, neuropeptide Y, and microRNA may play a role in the development of PTSD and could be targeted for novel treatments. Indeed, recent research indicates that examining different pathways might result in the development of novel and more efficient drugs

Black pine (Pinus nigra) barks: A critical evaluation of some sampling and analysis parameters for mercury biomonitoring purposes

Abstract Tree barks are increasingly used as biomonitors of airborne pollutants. However, many authors stress the poor comparability of the results achieved in different studies. This drawback is mainly caused by a poor understanding of the critical sampling parameters to be considered. To minimize the biases that could be introduced during sampling, in this study the barks of Pinus nigra J.F. Arnold from thirteen sites were investigated in the abandoned Mt. Amiata mercury (Hg) mining district (Southern Tuscany, Italy) and surroundings. The influence of some sampling and analyzing parameters on Hg content was critically assessed. At each site, a total of eight bark samples were taken from a single tree at two heights (70 cm and 150 cm from soil) and at four different sides of the trunk, corresponding to the four cardinal directions; a composite soil sample was also collected. Mercury contents in barks range from 0.1 to 28.8 mg/kg, and are correlated with soil Hg contents (1–480 mg/kg), indicating that barks record both gaseous Hg concentrations in air, and wind-transported Hg-bearing particulate. For each tree, samples at 70 cm and 150 cm show Hg contents of the same order of magnitude, even if values for 150 cm are slightly less dispersed, possibly because barks at 70 cm are more influenced by random soil particles. There is no statistically significant dependence of Hg content on direction and tree age. Simulated rain events cause a negligible loss of Hg from barks. Results suggest that a convenient sampling practice for Pinus nigra is to collect a bark slice (typically 1–2 mm) within the outermost 1.5 cm layer

Inhibition of Multidrug Resistance by SV40 Pseudovirion Delivery of an Antigene Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) in Cultured Cells

Peptide nucleic acid (PNA) is known to bind with extraordinarily high affinity and sequence-specificity to complementary nucleic acid sequences and can be used to suppress gene expression. However, effective delivery into cells is a major obstacle to the development of PNA for gene therapy applications. Here, we present a novel method for the in vitro delivery of antigene PNA to cells. By using a nucleocapsid protein derived from Simian virus 40, we have been able to package PNA into pseudovirions, facilitating the delivery of the packaged PNA into cells. We demonstrate that this system can be used effectively to suppress gene expression associated with multidrug resistance in cancer cells, as shown by RT-PCR, flow cytometry, Western blotting, and cell viability under chemotherapy. The combination of PNA with the SV40-based delivery system is a method for suppressing a gene of interest that could be broadly applied to numerous targets

Standarlization of an encapsulation system: a method to remove fragile cells.

ADV-EXP-MED-BIOL