Disease tolerance and immunity in host protection against infection

The deposited article is a pre-print version.This publication hasn't any creative commons license associated.This deposit is composed by the main article which contains attached the supplementary materials.The immune system probably evolved to limit the negative effects exerted by pathogens on host homeostasis. This defence strategy relies on the concerted action of innate and adaptive components of the immune system, which sense and target pathogens for containment, destruction or expulsion. Resistance to infection refers to these immune functions, which reduce the pathogen load of an infected host as the means to preserve homeostasis. Immune-driven resistance to infection is coupled to an additional, and arguably as important, defence strategy that limits the extent of dysfunction imposed on host parenchymal tissues during infection, without exerting a direct negative effect on pathogens. This defence strategy, known as disease tolerance, relies on tissue damage control mechanisms that prevent the deleterious effects of pathogens and that uncouples immune-driven resistance mechanisms from immunopathology and disease. In this Review, we provide a unifying view of resistance and disease tolerance in the framework of immunity to infection.Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia grants: (PTDC/SAU-TOX/116627/2010, HMSP-ICT/0022/2010, PTDC/BEX-GMG/3128/2014); ERC grants: (ERC-2011-AdG 294709-DAMAGECONTROL, ERC-2014-CoG 647888-iPROTECTION).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Celastrol: A Spectrum of Treatment Opportunities in Chronic Diseases

This deposit is composed by the main article, and it hasn't any supplementary materials associated.The identification of new bioactive compounds derived from medicinal plants with significant therapeutic properties has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Such is the case of the Tripterygium wilfordii (TW), an herb used in Chinese medicine. Clinical trials performed so far using its root extracts have shown impressive therapeutic properties but also revealed substantial gastrointestinal side effects. The most promising bioactive compound obtained from TW is celastrol. During the last decade, an increasing number of studies were published highlighting the medicinal usefulness of celastrol in diverse clinical areas. Here we systematically review the mechanism of action and the therapeutic properties of celastrol in inflammatory diseases, namely, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel diseases, osteoarthritis and allergy, as well as in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and hearing loss. We will also focus in the toxicological profile and limitations of celastrol formulation, namely, solubility, bioavailability, and dosage issues that still limit its further clinical application and usefulness.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia grants: (SFRH/BPD/92860/2013, PTDC/BIM-MEC/4665/2014); European Research Council grants: (ERC-2014-CoG 647888-iPROTECTION).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Celastrol: A Spectrum of Treatment Opportunities in Chronic Diseases

The identification of new bioactive compounds derived from medicinal plants with significant therapeutic properties has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Such is the case of the Tripterygium wilfordii (TW), an herb used in Chinese medicine. Clinical trials performed so far using its root extracts have shown impressive therapeutic properties but also revealed substantial gastrointestinal side effects. The most promising bioactive compound obtained from TW is celastrol. During the last decade, an increasing number of studies were published highlighting the medicinal usefulness of celastrol in diverse clinical areas. Here we systematically review the mechanism of action and the therapeutic properties of celastrol in inflammatory diseases, namely, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inflammatory bowel diseases, osteoarthritis and allergy, as well as in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and other diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis, and hearing loss. We will also focus in the toxicological profile and limitations of celastrol formulation, namely, solubility, bioavailability, and dosage issues that still limit its further clinical application and usefulness

Complement-Like Protein TEP1 Is a Determinant of Vectorial Capacity in the Malaria Vector Anopheles gambiae

AbstractAnopheles mosquitoes are major vectors of human malaria in Africa. Large variation exists in the ability of mosquitoes to serve as vectors and to transmit malaria parasites, but the molecular mechanisms that determine vectorial capacity remain poorly understood. We report that the hemocyte-specific complement-like protein TEP1 from the mosquito Anopheles gambiae binds to and mediates killing of midgut stages of the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei. The dsRNA knockdown of TEP1 in adults completely abolishes melanotic refractoriness in a genetically selected refractory strain. Moreover, in susceptible mosquitoes this knockdown increases the number of developing parasites. Our results suggest that the TEP1-dependent parasite killing is followed by a TEP1-independent clearance of dead parasites by lysis and/or melanization. Further elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of TEP1-mediated parasite killing will be of great importance for our understanding of the principles of vectorial capacity in insects

A spatial data warehouse to predict megaliths slabs sources: mixing geochemistry, petrology, cartography and archaeology for spatial analysis

MEGAGEO - Moving megaliths in the Neolithic is a project that aims to find the provenience of slabs used in the construction of dolmens. A multidisciplinary approach has been carried out with researchers from the several fields of knowledge involved. In this work it is presented a spatial data warehouse specially developed for the project, which comprises information from national archaeological databases, geographic and geological information and new geochemical and petrographic data obtained during the project. Redondo area is used as a case study for the application of the spatial data warehouse to analyze relationships between geochemistry, geology and the dolmens of the regio

Semaphorin 4B is an ADAM17-cleaved adipokine that inhibits adipocyte differentiation and thermogenesis

Objective: The metalloprotease ADAM17 (also called TACE) plays fundamental roles in homeostasis by shedding key signaling molecules from the cell surface. Although its importance for the immune system and epithelial tissues is well-documented, little is known about the role of ADAM17 in metabolic homeostasis. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of ADAM17 expression, specifically in adipose tissues, on metabolic homeostasis.Methods: We used histopathology, molecular, proteomic, transcriptomic, in vivo integrative physiological and ex vivo biochemical approaches to determine the impact of adipose tissue-specific deletion of ADAM17 upon adipocyte and whole organism metabolic physiology.Results: ADAM17adipoq-creD/D mice exhibited a hypermetabolic phenotype characterized by elevated energy consumption and increased levels of adipocyte thermogenic gene expression. On a high fat diet, these mice were more thermogenic, while exhibiting elevated expression levels of genes associated with lipid oxidation and lipolysis. This hypermetabolic phenotype protected mutant mice from obesogenic challenge, limiting weight gain, hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. Activation of beta-adrenoceptors by the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, a key regulator of adipocyte physiology, triggered the shedding of ADAM17 substrates, and regulated ADAM17 expression at the mRNA and protein levels, hence identifying a functional connection between thermogenic licensing and the regulation of ADAM17. Proteomic studies identified Semaphorin 4B (SEMA4B), as a novel ADAM17-shed adipokine, whose expression is regulated by physiological thermogenic cues, that acts to inhibit adipocyte differentiation and dampen thermogenic responses in adipocytes. Transcriptomic data showed that cleaved SEMA4B acts in an autocrine manner in brown adipocytes to repress the expression of genes involved in adipogenesis, thermogenesis, and lipid uptake, storage and catabolism.Conclusions: Our findings identify a novel ADAM17-dependent axis, regulated by beta-adrenoceptors and mediated by the ADAM17-cleaved form of SEMA4B, that modulates energy balance in adipocytes by inhibiting adipocyte differentiation, thermogenesis and lipid catabolism.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Ribosome-Targeting Antibiotics Impair T Cell Effector Function and Ameliorate Autoimmunity by Blocking Mitochondrial Protein Synthesis

While antibiotics are intended to specifically target bacteria, most are known to affect host cell physiology. In addition, some antibiotic classes are reported as immunosuppressive for reasons that remain unclear. Here, we show that Linezolid, a ribosomal-targeting antibiotic (RAbo), effectively blocked the course of a T cell mediated autoimmune disease. Linezolid and other RAbos were strong inhibitors of T helper-17 cell effector function in vitro, showing that this effect was independent of their antibiotic activity. Perturbing mitochondria! translation in differentiating T cells, either with RAbos or through the inhibition of mitochondria! elongation factor G1 (mEF-G1) progressively compromised the integrity of the electron transport chain. Ultimately, this led to deficient oxidative phosphorylation, diminishing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide concentrations and impairing cytokine production in differentiating T cells. In accordance, mice lacking mEF-G1 in T cells were protected from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, demonstrating that this pathway is crucial in maintaining T cell function and pathogenicity

Novel HIV-1 Knockdown Targets Identified by an Enriched Kinases/Phosphatases shRNA Library Using a Long-Term Iterative Screen in Jurkat T-Cells

HIV-1 is a complex retrovirus that uses host machinery to promote its replication. Understanding cellular proteins involved in the multistep process of HIV-1 infection may result in the discovery of more adapted and effective therapeutic targets. Kinases and phosphatases are a druggable class of proteins critically involved in regulation of signal pathways of eukaryotic cells. Here, we focused on the discovery of kinases and phosphatases that are essential for HIV-1 replication but dispensable for cell viability. We performed an iterative screen in Jurkat T-cells with a short-hairpin-RNA (shRNA) library highly enriched for human kinases and phosphatases. We identified 14 new proteins essential for HIV-1 replication that do not affect cell viability. These proteins are described to be involved in MAPK, JNK and ERK pathways, vesicular traffic and DNA repair. Moreover, we show that the proteins under study are important in an early step of HIV-1 infection before viral integration, whereas some of them affect viral transcription/translation. This study brings new insights for the complex interplay of HIV-1/host cell and opens new possibilities for antiviral strategies