A single dose of antibody-drug conjugate cures a stage 1 model of African trypanosomiasis.

Infections of humans and livestock with African trypanosomes are treated with drugs introduced decades ago that are not always fully effective and often have severe side effects. Here, the trypanosome haptoglobin-haemoglobin receptor (HpHbR) has been exploited as a route of uptake for an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that is completely effective against Trypanosoma brucei in the standard mouse model of infection. Recombinant human anti-HpHbR monoclonal antibodies were isolated and shown to be internalised in a receptor-dependent manner. Antibodies were conjugated to a pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) toxin and killed T. brucei in vitro at picomolar concentrations. A single therapeutic dose (0.25 mg/kg) of a HpHbR antibody-PBD conjugate completely cured a T. brucei mouse infection within 2 days with no re-emergence of infection over a subsequent time course of 77 days. These experiments provide a demonstration of how ADCs can be exploited to treat protozoal diseases that desperately require new therapeutics

Genetic deletion of PDE10A selectively impairs incentive salience attribution and decreases medium spiny neuron excitability

The striatum is the main input structure to the basal ganglia and consists mainly out of medium spiny neurons. The numerous spines on their dendrites render them capable of integrating cortical glutamatergic inputs with a motivational dopaminergic signal that originates in the midbrain. This integrative function is thought to underly attribution of incentive salience, a process that is severely disrupted in schizophrenic patients. Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) is located mainly to the striatal medium spiny neurons and hydrolyses cAMP and cGMP, key determinants of MSN signaling. We show here that genetic depletion of PDE10A critically mediates attribution of salience to reward-predicting cues, evident in impaired performance in PDE10A knockout mice in an instrumentally conditioned reinforcement task. We furthermore report modest impairment of latent inhibition in PDE10A knockout mice, and unaltered prepulse inhibition. We suggest that the lack of effect on PPI is due to the pre-attentional nature of this task. Finally, we performed whole-cell patch clamp recordings and confirm suggested changes in intrinsic membrane excitability. A decrease in spontaneous firing in striatal medium spiny neurons was found. These data show that PDE10A plays a pivotal role in striatal signaling and striatum-mediated salience attribution.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Genetic deletion of PDE10A selectively impairs incentive salience attribution and decreases medium spiny neuron excitability journaltitle: Behavioural Brain Research articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2014.03.016 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.status: publishe

A single dose of antibody-drug conjugate cures a stage 1 model of African trypanosomiasis.

Infections of humans and livestock with African trypanosomes are treated with drugs introduced decades ago that are not always fully effective and often have severe side effects. Here, the trypanosome haptoglobin-haemoglobin receptor (HpHbR) has been exploited as a route of uptake for an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that is completely effective against Trypanosoma brucei in the standard mouse model of infection. Recombinant human anti-HpHbR monoclonal antibodies were isolated and shown to be internalised in a receptor-dependent manner. Antibodies were conjugated to a pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) toxin and killed T. brucei in vitro at picomolar concentrations. A single therapeutic dose (0.25 mg/kg) of a HpHbR antibody-PBD conjugate completely cured a T. brucei mouse infection within 2 days with no re-emergence of infection over a subsequent time course of 77 days. These experiments provide a demonstration of how ADCs can be exploited to treat protozoal diseases that desperately require new therapeutics

Doppler indexes of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function in relation to the arterial stiffness in a general population

Late-systolic loading of the left ventricular (LV) is determined by arterial wave reflections and central vascular stiffening. We, therefore, investigated the relationship between various Doppler indexes reflecting LV systolic and diastolic function and arterial stiffness in the framework of a large population study of randomly recruited study participants.status: publishe

Doppler indexes of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function in relation to the arterial stiffness in a general population

BACKGROUND: Late-systolic loading of the left ventricular (LV) is determined by arterial wave reflections and central vascular stiffening. We, therefore, investigated the relationship between various Doppler indexes reflecting LV systolic and diastolic function and arterial stiffness in the framework of a large population study of randomly recruited study participants. METHODS: In 1233 study participants (51.7% women; mean age, 48 years; 41.5% hypertensive), using conventional and tissue Doppler imaging, we measured: the transmitral early (E) and late (A) diastolic velocities; tissue Doppler imaging systolic and early (e') and late diastolic mitral annular velocities; and end-systolic longitudinal and radial strain. Using applanation tonometry, we assessed central pulse pressure (cPP), augmentation pressure and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity. RESULTS: After full adjustment, transmitral E and A peaks increased with augmentation pressure and cPP (P less than 0.0001) and e' was positively associated with cPP (P\u200a=\u200a0.013). The E/e' ratio increased significantly with augmentation pressure (P less than 0.0001), cPP (P less than 0.0001) and pulse wave velocity (P\u200a=\u200a0.048). Although accounting for covariables, all arterial indexes were on average significantly higher in the diastolic dysfunction group with elevated filling pressure (n\u200a=\u200a171) when compared to participants with normal diastolic function (n\u200a=\u200a961; P\u200a 64\u200a0.0004) or with impaired relaxation (n\u200a=\u200a101; P\u200a 64\u200a0.008). Longitudinal strain decreased independently with mean arterial pressure (P\u200a=\u200a0.03). The correlation between radial strain and the arterial indexes shifted from positive at middle age (50-60 years) to negative at older (P less than 0.0001 for interaction). CONCLUSION: Our study underscored the importance of arterial characteristics as a mediator of LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction. We demonstrated an age-dependent relationship between radial strain and indexes of arterial stiffness. Comment in Indices of central aortic pressure waveform and ventricular function: an intimate conversation changing direction with age. [J Hypertens. 2016

Brain endothelial TAK1 and NEMO safeguard the neurovascular unit

Inactivating mutations of the NF-kappa B essential modulator (NEMO), a key component of NF-kappa B signaling, cause the genetic disease incontinentia pigmenti (IP). This leads to severe neurological symptoms, but the mechanisms underlying brain involvement were unclear. Here, we show that selectively deleting Nemo or the upstream kinase Tak1 in brain endothelial cells resulted in death of endothelial cells, a rarefaction of brain microvessels, cerebral hypoperfusion, a disrupted blood-brain barrier (BBB), and epileptic seizures. TAK1 and NEMO protected the BBB by activating the transcription factor NF-kappa B and stabilizing the tight junction protein occludin. They also prevented brain endothelial cell death in a NF-kappa B-independent manner by reducing oxidative damage. Our data identify crucial functions of inflammatory TAK1-NEMO signaling in protecting the brain endothelium and maintaining normal brain function, thus explaining the neurological symptoms associated with IP