An engineered gastrointestinally stable microbial leucine decarboxylase for potential treatment of maple syrup urine disease

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Consequences of cathepsin C inactivation for membrane exposure of proteinase 3, the target antigen in autoimmune vasculitis

Membrane-bound proteinase 3 (PR3(m)) is the main target antigen of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) in granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a systemic small-vessel vasculitis. Binding of ANCA to PR3(m) triggers neutrophil activation with the secretion of enzymatically active PR3 and related neutrophil serine proteases, thereby contributing to vascular damage. PR3 and related proteases are activated from pro-forms by the lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin C (CatC) during neutrophil maturation. We hypothesized that pharmacological inhibition of CatC provides an effective measure to reduce PR3(m) and therefore has implications as a novel therapeutic approach in granulomatosis with polyangiitis. We first studied neutrophilic PR3 from 24 patients with Papillon-Lefevre syndrome (PLS), a genetic form of CatC deficiency. PLS neutrophil lysates showed a largely reduced but still detectable (0.5-4%) PR3 activity when compared with healthy control cells. Despite extremely low levels of cellular PR3, the amount of constitutive PR3(m) expressed on the surface of quiescent neutrophils and the typical bimodal membrane distribution pattern were similar to what was observed in healthy neutrophils. However, following cell activation, there was no significant increase in the total amount of PR3(m) on PLS neutrophils, whereas the total amount of PR3(m) on healthy neutrophils was significantly increased. We then explored the effect of pharmacological CatC inhibition on PR3 stability in normal neutrophils using a potent cell-permeable CatC inhibitor and a CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cell model. Human CD34(+) hematopoietic stem cells were treated with the inhibitor during neutrophil differentiation over 10 days. We observed strong reductions in PR3(m), cellular PR3 protein, and proteolytic PR3 activity, whereas neutrophil differentiation was not compromised

The Allelic Landscape of Human Blood Cell Trait Variation and Links to Common Complex Disease

Many common variants have been associated with hematological traits, but identification of causal genes and pathways has proven challenging. We performed a genome-wide association analysis in the UK Biobank and INTERVAL studies, testing 29.5 million genetic variants for association with 36 red cell, white cell, and platelet properties in 173,480 European-ancestry participants. This effort yielded hundreds of low frequency (<5%) and rare (<1%) variants with a strong impact on blood cell phenotypes. Our data highlight general properties of the allelic architecture of complex traits, including the proportion of the heritable component of each blood trait explained by the polygenic signal across different genome regulatory domains. Finally, through Mendelian randomization, we provide evidence of shared genetic pathways linking blood cell indices with complex pathologies, including autoimmune diseases, schizophrenia, and coronary heart disease and evidence suggesting previously reported population associations between blood cell indices and cardiovascular disease may be non-causal.We thank members of the Cambridge BioResource Scientific Advisory Board and Management Committee for their support of our study and the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre for funding. K.D. is funded as a HSST trainee by NHS Health Education England. M.F. is funded from the BLUEPRINT Grant Code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510 and the BHF Cambridge Centre of Excellence [RE/13/6/30180]. J.R.S. is funded by a MRC CASE Industrial studentship, co-funded by Pfizer. J.D. is a British Heart Foundation Professor, European Research Council Senior Investigator, and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. S.M., S.T, M.H, K.M. and L.D. are supported by the NIHR BioResource-Rare Diseases, which is funded by NIHR. Research in the Ouwehand laboratory is supported by program grants from the NIHR to W.H.O., the European Commission (HEALTH-F2-2012-279233), the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to W.J.A. and D.R. under numbers RP-PG-0310-1002 and RG/09/12/28096 and Bristol Myers-Squibb; the laboratory also receives funding from NHSBT. W.H.O is a NIHR Senior Investigator. The INTERVAL academic coordinating centre receives core support from the UK Medical Research Council (G0800270), the BHF (SP/09/002), the NIHR and Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, as well as grants from the European Research Council (268834), the European Commission Framework Programme 7 (HEALTH-F2-2012-279233), Merck and Pfizer. DJR and DA were supported by the NIHR Programme ‘Erythropoiesis in Health and Disease’ (Ref. NIHR-RP-PG-0310-1004). N.S. is supported by the Wellcome Trust (Grant Codes WT098051 and WT091310), the EU FP7 (EPIGENESYS Grant Code 257082 and BLUEPRINT Grant Code HEALTH-F5-2011-282510). The INTERVAL study is funded by NHSBT and has been supported by the NIHR-BTRU in Donor Health and Genomics at the University of Cambridge in partnership with NHSBT. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health of England or NHSBT. D.G. is supported by a “la Caixa”-Severo Ochoa pre-doctoral fellowship

Device for retaining and recirculating cells in a continuous-flow or batch-flow vessel, comprises channels, means for fumigation of external surfaces and/or spaces between the channels, and a generating mean

Die Erfindung betrifft eine Vorrichtung und ein Verfahren zur Rückhaltung und Rückführung von Zellen in einem kontinuierlich oder absatzweise durchströmten Gefäß. Ferner betrifft die Erfindung ein Verfahren zur Herstellung einer Vorrichtung, mit dem Zellen in einem kontinuierlich oder absatzweise durchströmten Gefäß zurückgehalten und zurückgeführt werden können.The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for retaining and recirculating cells in a continuous-flow or batch-flow vessel. The invention further relates to a method for producing an apparatus which allows cells to be retained and recirculated in a continuous-flow or batch-flow vessel

Consequences of cathepsin C inactivation for membrane exposure of proteinase 3, the target antigen in autoimmune vasculitis

Membrane-bound proteinase 3 (PR3m) is the main target antigen of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) in granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a systemic small-vessel vasculitis. Binding of ANCA to PR3m triggers neutrophil activation with the secretion of enzymatically active PR3 and related neutrophil serine proteases, thereby contributing to vascular damage. PR3 and related proteases are activated from pro-forms by the lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin C (CatC) during neutrophil maturation. We hypothesized that pharmacological inhibition of CatC provides an effective measure to reduce PR3m and therefore has implications as a novel therapeutic approach in granulomatosis with polyangiitis. We first studied neutrophilic PR3 from 24 patients with Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome (PLS), a genetic form of CatC deficiency. PLS neutrophil lysates showed a largely reduced but still detectable (0.5-4%) PR3 activity when compared with healthy control cells. Despite extremely low levels of cellular PR3, the amount of constitutive PR3m expressed on the surface of quiescent neutrophils and the typical bimodal membrane distribution pattern were similar to what was observed in healthy neutrophils. However, following cell activation, there was no significant increase in the total amount of PR3m on PLS neutrophils, whereas the total amount of PR3m on healthy neutrophils was significantly increased. We then explored the effect of pharmacological CatC inhibition on PR3 stability in normal neutrophils using a potent cell-permeable CatC inhibitor and a CD34+ hematopoietic stem cell model. Human CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells were treated with the inhibitor during neutrophil differentiation over 10 days. Weobserved strong reductions in PR3m, cellular PR3 protein, and proteolytic PR3 activity, whereas neutrophil differentiation was not compromised

Inflammation-induced emergency megakaryopoiesis driven by hematopoietic stem cell-like megakaryocyte progenitors

Infections are associated with extensive platelet consumption, representing a high risk for health. However, the mechanism coordinating the rapid regeneration of the platelet pool during such stress conditions remains unclear. Here, we report that the phenotypic hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) compartment contains stem-like megakaryocyte-committed progenitors (SL-MkPs), a cell population that shares many features with multipotent HSCs and serves as a lineage-restricted emergency pool for inflammatory insults. During homeostasis, SL-MkPs are maintained in a primed but quiescent state, thus contributing little to steady-state megakaryopoiesis. Even though lineage-specific megakaryocyte transcripts are expressed, protein synthesis is suppressed. In response to acute inflammation, SL-MkPs become activated, resulting in megakaryocyte protein production from pre-existing transcripts and a maturation of SL-MkPs and other megakaryocyte progenitors. This results in an efficient replenishment of platelets that are lost during inflammatory insult. Thus, our study reveals an emergency machinery that counteracts life-threatening platelet depletions during acute inflammation