Loss of CD4+ T cell-intrinsic arginase 1 accelerates Th1 response kinetics and reduces lung pathology during influenza infection

Arginase 1 (Arg1), the enzyme catalyzing the conversion of arginine to ornithine, is a hallmark of IL-10-producing immunoregulatory M2 macrophages. However, its expression in T cells is disputed. Here, we demonstrate that induction of Arg1 expression is a key feature of lung CD4+ T cells during mouse in vivo influenza infection. Conditional ablation of Arg1 in CD4+ T cells accelerated both virus-specific T helper 1 (Th1) effector responses and its resolution, resulting in efficient viral clearance and reduced lung pathology. Using unbiased transcriptomics and metabolomics, we found that Arg1-deficiency was distinct from Arg2-deficiency and caused altered glutamine metabolism. Rebalancing this perturbed glutamine flux normalized the cellular Th1 response. CD4+ T cells from rare ARG1-deficient patients or CRISPR-Cas9-mediated ARG1-deletion in healthy donor cells phenocopied the murine cellular phenotype. Collectively, CD4+ T cell-intrinsic Arg1 functions as an unexpected rheostat regulating the kinetics of the mammalian Th1 lifecycle with implications for Th1-associated tissue pathologies

Herpesviruses: Harmonious Pathogens but Relevant Cofactors in Other Diseases?

Most vertebrates are infected with one or more herpesviruses and remain so for the rest of their lives. The relationship of immunocompetent healthy host with herpesviruses may sometime be considered as harmonious. However, clinically severe diseases can occur when host immunity is compromised due to aging, during some stress response, co-infections or during neoplastic disease conditions. Discord can also occur during iatrogenic immunosuppression used for controlling graft rejection, in some primary genetic immunodeficiencies as well as when the virus infects a non-native host. In this review, we discuss such issues and their influence on host-herpesvirus interaction

Isolation, antifungal activity and characterization of soil actinomycetes

491-497Actinomycetes were isolated from eight samples of two different habitats, i.e., garden soil and cultivated field soil. Isolation of actinomycetes was carried out on soil extract agar medium using serial dilution method and forty seven isolates were obtained. All these actinomycetes were then assessed for their antifungal activity against two fungal pathogens i.e., Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger by cross streak method. Eleven actinomycetes were found to inhibit A. niger. Out of 11 actinomycetes, only 6 showed antifungal activity against both test organisms. On the basis of screening, one potential actinomycete GS 22 was selected for further studies. The antibitiotic was extracted with methanol from cellular extract of actinomycete GS 22. The extract of GS 22 culture filtrate produced a clear zone of 27 mm against C. albicans by agar well diffusion method. Actinomycete strain GS 22 was further characterized on the basis of morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics and identified using probabilistic identification of bacteria (PIBWin) software as Streptomyces phaeochromogenes

Galectin-3 Regulates γ-Herpesvirus Specific CD8 T Cell Immunity

Kaur, Manpreet et al. "Galectin-3 Regulates γ-Herpesvirus Specific CD8 T Cell Immunity." iScience 9 (November 2018): P101-119 © 2018 The Author(s

Recovery of bromelain from pineapple stem residues using aqueous micellar two-phase systems with ionic liquids as co-surfactants

Pineapple processing industries produce a large amount of residues; for example, the pineapple stem, which is rich in bromelain. Bromelain is a group of cysteine proteinases that have major importance in the pharmaceutical field due to, among others, their anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and fibrinolytic activities. Since Brazil is one of the largest producers of pineapples in the world, the development of an ecofriendly and cost-effective process to extract and purify bromelain from food/fruit residues would be significant. In this study, aqueous micellar two-phase systems composed of ionic liquids as co-surfactants were evaluated in the extraction of bromelain from the pineapple stem crude extract. The main results showed that bromelain partitions preferentially toward the micelle-poor phase, with enzyme recoveries above 90% for the studied systems. Moreover, a stabilizing effect of the ionic liquids toward the enzyme was observed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved