Hyaluronidase of Bloodsucking Insects and Its Enhancing Effect on Leishmania Infection in Mice

Hyaluronidases are enzymes degrading the extracellular matrix of vertebrates. Bloodsucking insects use them to cleave the skin of the host, enlarge the feeding lesion and acquire the blood meal. In addition, resulting fragments of extracellular matrix modulate local immune response of the host, which may positively affect transmission of vector-borne diseases, including leishmaniasis. Leishmaniases are diseases with a wide spectrum of clinical forms, from a relatively mild cutaneous affection to life-threatening visceral disease. Their causative agents, protozoans of the genus Leishmania, are transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies. Sand fly saliva was described to enhance Leishmania infection, but the information about molecules responsible for this exacerbating effect is still very limited. In the present work we demonstrated hyaluronidase activity in salivary glands of various Diptera and in fleas. In addition, we showed that hyaluronidase exacerbates Leishmania lesions in mice and propose that salivary hyaluronidase may facilitate the spread of other vector-borne microorganisms

Mycobacteria Exploit Host Hyaluronan for Efficient Extracellular Replication

In spite of the importance of hyaluronan in host protection against infectious organisms in the alveolar spaces, its role in mycobacterial infection is unknown. In a previous study, we found that mycobacteria interact with hyaluronan on lung epithelial cells. Here, we have analyzed the role of hyaluronan after mycobacterial infection was established and found that pathogenic mycobacteria can grow by utilizing hyaluronan as a carbon source. Both mouse and human possess 3 kinds of hyaluronan synthases (HAS), designated HAS1, HAS2, and HAS3. Utilizing individual HAS-transfected cells, we show that HAS1 and HAS3 but not HAS2 support growth of mycobacteria. We found that the major hyaluronan synthase expressed in the lung is HAS1, and that its expression was increased after infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Histochemical analysis demonstrated that hyaluronan profoundly accumulated in the granulomatous legion of the lungs in M. tuberculosis-infected mice and rhesus monkeys that died from tuberculosis. We detected hyaluronidase activity in the lysate of mycobacteria and showed that it was critical for hyaluronan-dependent extracellular growth. Finally, we showed that L-Ascorbic acid 6-hexadecanoate, a hyaluronidase inhibitor, suppressed growth of mycobacteria in vivo. Taken together, our data show that pathogenic mycobacteria exploit an intrinsic host-protective molecule, hyaluronan, to grow in the respiratory tract and demonstrate the potential usefulness of hyaluronidase inhibitors against mycobacterial diseases

Effect of tape stripping and adjuvants on immune response after intradermal DNA electroporation

PURPOSE: DNA vaccines require both efficient delivery methods and appropriate adjuvants. Based on their mechanisms of action, we hypothesised that some adjuvants could enhance vaccine immunogenicity or direct the response towards Th1 profile after intradermal DNA electroporation. METHODS: After intradermal electroporation of plasmid DNA encoding luciferase, mice received hyaluronidase, imiquimod, monophosphoryl lipid A or were tape stripped in order to modulate the immune response against the encoded protein. We measured total immunoglobulin G, IgG1, IgG2a titres and the cytokines produced by splenocyte cultures to assess both humoral and cellular response. The effect of tape stripping on the response against intradermally delivered ovalbumin protein was also assessed. RESULTS: Neither hyaluronidase nor imiquimod improved the immune response against the encoded luciferase. Monophosphoryl lipid A did not modify the cytokines production but increased the anti-luciferase IgG2a titres. Tape stripping significantly increased anti-luciferase IgG2a and IFN-gamma responses. It also enhanced the humoral response after intradermal injection of the ovalbumin protein. CONCLUSIONS: Tape stripping is able to increase the Th1 immune response against both DNA and protein vaccines. Therefore, tape stripping appears to have interesting adjuvant effect on intradermal vaccination

Multifaceted regulation of T cells by CD44

CD44 is a widely-expressed adhesion receptor that is associated with diverse biological processes involving migrating cells, including inflammation, angiogenesis, bone metabolism and wound healing. In the immune system, CD44 is upregulated after activation of naive T lymphocytes during their responses against invading microbes. Once an infection is cleared, elevated levels of CD44 remain on the surface of memory T cells that mediate protection against re-infection. While this has led to the use of highly sustained CD44 expression on T cells as an indicator of a previous immune response, the relevance to T-cell responses or homeostasis has been largely unexplored. Our recent studies demonstrate that CD44 selectively regulates the survival of the Th1 subset of CD4 T cells, but not other T-cell subpopulations. These findings, together with studies of CD44 in other cell types, suggest that differences in the engagement of signaling mechanisms are likely to underlie differential regulation of T-cell responses and underscore the importance of this adhesion receptor to immune cell regulation and protection against viruses and intracellular bacteria

Inhibition by Tyroserleutide (YSL) on the Invasion and Adhesion of the Mouse Melanoma Cell

Tyroserleutide (YSL) is an active, low-molecular-weight polypeptide, comprised of three amino acids, that has shown antitumor effects on human hepatocarcinoma BEL-7402 in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we evaluated the inhibition of YSL on invasion and adhesion of the mouse B16-F10 melanoma cell line by injecting B16-F10 cells into the tail veins of C57BL/6 mice to establish an experimental lung metastasis model. YSL inhibited B16-F10 cell metastasis to lung, reducing the number and area of metastasis lesions. When we treated B16-F10 cells with YSL (0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 μg/mL) in vitro, we found that YSL inhibited the proliferation of B16-F10 cells with a 28.11% rate of inhibition. YSL significantly decreased the adhesiveness of B16-F10 cells to Matrigel with a 29.15% inhibition rate; YSL also significantly inhibited the invasion of B16-F10 cells, producing an inhibition of 35.31%. By analyses with Western blot and real-time RT-PCR, we found that YSL markedly inhibited the expression of ICAM-1 in B16-F10 cells. These data suggest that YSL inhibits the growth, invasion, and adhesion of B16-F10 cells