Rates of convergence for empirical spectral measures: a soft approach

Understanding the limiting behavior of eigenvalues of random matrices is the central problem of random matrix theory. Classical limit results are known for many models, and there has been significant recent progress in obtaining more quantitative, non-asymptotic results. In this paper, we describe a systematic approach to bounding rates of convergence and proving tail inequalities for the empirical spectral measures of a wide variety of random matrix ensembles. We illustrate the approach by proving asymptotically almost sure rates of convergence of the empirical spectral measure in the following ensembles: Wigner matrices, Wishart matrices, Haar-distributed matrices from the compact classical groups, powers of Haar matrices, randomized sums and random compressions of Hermitian matrices, a random matrix model for the Hamiltonians of quantum spin glasses, and finally the complex Ginibre ensemble. Many of the results appeared previously and are being collected and described here as illustrations of the general method; however, some details (particularly in the Wigner and Wishart cases) are new. Our approach makes use of techniques from probability in Banach spaces, in particular concentration of measure and bounds for suprema of stochastic processes, in combination with more classical tools from matrix analysis, approximation theory, and Fourier analysis. It is highly flexible, as evidenced by the broad list of examples. It is moreover based largely on "soft" methods, and involves little hard analysis

Microvesicles and Viral Infection

Cells secrete various membrane-enclosed microvesicles from their cell surface (shedding microvesicles) and from internal, endosome-derived membranes (exosomes). Intriguingly, these vesicles have many characteristics in common with enveloped viruses, including biophysical properties, biogenesis, and uptake by cells. Recent discoveries describing the microvesicle-mediated intercellular transfer of functional cellular proteins, RNAs, and mRNAs have revealed additional similarities between viruses and cellular microvesicles. Apparent differences include the complexity of viral entry, temporally regulated viral expression, and self-replication proceeding to infection of new cells. Interestingly, many virally infected cells secrete microvesicles that differ in content from their virion counterparts but may contain various viral proteins and RNAs. For the most part, these particles have not been analyzed for their content or functions during viral infection. However, early studies of microvesicles (L-particles) secreted from herpes simplex virus-infected cells provided the first evidence of microvesicle-mediated intercellular communication. In the case of Epstein-Barr virus, recent evidence suggests that this tumorigenic herpesvirus also utilizes exosomes as a mechanism of cell-to-cell communication through the transfer of signaling competent proteins and functional microRNAs to uninfected cells. This review focuses on aspects of the biology of microvesicles with an emphasis on their potential contributions to viral infection and pathogenesis

Epstein-Barr Virus LMP1 Modulates Lipid Raft Microdomains and the Vimentin Cytoskeleton for Signal Transduction and Transformation

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an important human pathogen that is associated with multiple cancers. The major oncoprotein of the virus, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), is essential for EBV B-cell immortalization and is sufficient to transform rodent fibroblasts. This viral transmembrane protein activates multiple cellular signaling pathways by engaging critical effector molecules and thus acts as a ligand-independent growth factor receptor. LMP1 is thought to signal from internal lipid raft containing membranes; however, the mechanisms through which these events occur remain largely unknown. Lipid rafts are microdomains within membranes that are rich in cholesterol and sphingolipids. Lipid rafts act as organization centers for biological processes, including signal transduction, protein trafficking, and pathogen entry and egress. In this study, the recruitment of key signaling components to lipid raft microdomains by LMP1 was analyzed. LMP1 increased the localization of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and its activated downstream target, Akt, to lipid rafts. In addition, mass spectrometry analyses identified elevated vimentin in rafts isolated from LMP1 expressing NPC cells. Disruption of lipid rafts through cholesterol depletion inhibited PI3K localization to membranes and decreased both Akt and ERK activation. Reduction of vimentin levels or disruption of its organization also decreased LMP1-mediated Akt and ERK activation and inhibited transformation of rodent fibroblasts. These findings indicate that LMP1 reorganizes membrane and cytoskeleton microdomains to modulate signal transduction

Stein's Method and Characters of Compact Lie Groups

Stein's method is used to study the trace of a random element from a compact Lie group or symmetric space. Central limit theorems are proved using very little information: character values on a single element and the decomposition of the square of the trace into irreducible components. This is illustrated for Lie groups of classical type and Dyson's circular ensembles. The approach in this paper will be useful for the study of higher dimensional characters, where normal approximations need not hold.Comment: 22 pages; same results, but more efficient exposition in Section 3.

Microparticle-mediated transfer of the viral receptors CAR and CD46, and the CFTR channel in a CHO cell model confers new functions to target cells

Cell microparticles (MPs) released in the extracellular milieu can embark plasma membrane and intracellular components which are specific of their cellular origin, and transfer them to target cells. The MP-mediated, cell-to-cell transfer of three human membrane glycoproteins of different degrees of complexity was investigated in the present study, using a CHO cell model system. We first tested the delivery of CAR and CD46, two monospanins which act as adenovirus receptors, to target CHO cells. CHO cells lack CAR and CD46, high affinity receptors for human adenovirus serotype 5 (HAdV5), and serotype 35 (HAdV35), respectively. We found that MPs derived from CHO cells (MP-donor cells) constitutively expressing CAR (MP-CAR) or CD46 (MP-CD46) were able to transfer CAR and CD46 to target CHO cells, and conferred selective permissiveness to HAdV5 and HAdV35. In addition, target CHO cells incubated with MP-CD46 acquired the CD46-associated function in complement regulation. We also explored the MP-mediated delivery of a dodecaspanin membrane glycoprotein, the CFTR to target CHO cells. CFTR functions as a chloride channel in human cells and is implicated in the genetic disease cystic fibrosis. Target CHO cells incubated with MPs produced by CHO cells constitutively expressing GFP-tagged CFTR (MP-GFP-CFTR) were found to gain a new cellular function, the chloride channel activity associated to CFTR. Time-course analysis of the appearance of GFP-CFTR in target cells suggested that MPs could achieve the delivery of CFTR to target cells via two mechanisms: the transfer of mature, membrane-inserted CFTR glycoprotein, and the transfer of CFTR-encoding mRNA. These results confirmed that cell-derived MPs represent a new class of promising therapeutic vehicles for the delivery of bioactive macromolecules, proteins or mRNAs, the latter exerting the desired therapeutic effect in target cells via de novo synthesis of their encoded proteins

Modulation of B-cell exosome proteins by gamma herpesvirus infection

Exosomes are released from tumor cells at high levels, and multiple studies have determined that the secreted exosomes enter recipient cells and can affect their biologic and biochemical properties. In this study, the specific effects of the oncogenic herpesviruses, EBV and Kaposi sarcoma-associated virus, on the proteomes of B-cell exosomes were determined using global quantitative proteomics. The data indicate that the viruses greatly impact the protein content of exosomes with common and distinct changes induced by both viruses. It is likely that these alterations in exosome content modulate the tumor environment, potentially to enhance viral infection and promote tumorigenesis

Monoubiquitination of syntaxin 3 leads to retrieval from the basolateral plasma membrane and facilitates cargo recruitment to exosomes

Syntaxin 3 (Stx3), a SNARE protein located and functioning at the apical plasma membrane of epithelial cells, is required for epithelial polarity. A fraction of Stx3 is localized to late endosomes/lysosomes, although how it traffics there and its function in these organelles is unknown. Here we report that Stx3 undergoes monoubiquitination in a conserved polybasic domain. Stx3 present at the basolateral—but not the apical—plasma membrane is rapidly endocytosed, targeted to endosomes, internalized into intraluminal vesicles (ILVs), and excreted in exosomes. A nonubiquitinatable mutant of Stx3 (Stx3-5R) fails to enter this pathway and leads to the inability of the apical exosomal cargo protein GPRC5B to enter the ILV/exosomal pathway. This suggests that ubiquitination of Stx3 leads to removal from the basolateral membrane to achieve apical polarity, that Stx3 plays a role in the recruitment of cargo to exosomes, and that the Stx3-5R mutant acts as a dominant-negative inhibitor. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) acquires its membrane in an intracellular compartment and we show that Stx3-5R strongly reduces the number of excreted infectious viral particles. Altogether these results suggest that Stx3 functions in the transport of specific proteins to apical exosomes and that HCMV exploits this pathway for virion excretion

Tumor-Derived Microvesicles Induce Proangiogenic Phenotype in Endothelial Cells via Endocytosis

Background: Increasing evidence indicates that tumor endothelial cells (TEC) differ from normal endothelial cells (NEC). Our previous reports also showed that TEC were different from NEC. For example, TEC have chromosomal abnormality and proangiogenic properties such as high motility and proliferative activity. However, the mechanism by which TEC acquire a specific character remains unclear. To investigate this mechanism, we focused on tumor-derived microvesicles (TMV). Recent studies have shown that TMV contain numerous types of bioactive molecules and affect normal stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment. However, most of the functional mechanisms of TMV remain unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we showed that TMV isolated from tumor cells were taken up by NEC through endocytosis. In addition, we found that TMV promoted random motility and tube formation through the activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway in NEC. Moreover, the effects induced by TMV were inhibited by the endocytosis inhibitor dynasore. Our results indicate that TMV could confer proangiogenic properties to NEC partly via endocytosis. Conclusion: We for the first time showed that endocytosis of TMV contributes to tumor angiogenesis. These findings offer new insights into cancer therapies and the crosstalk between tumor and endothelial cells mediated by TMV in the tumor microenvironment

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles 2018 (MISEV2018):a position statement of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles and update of the MISEV2014 guidelines

The last decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of scientific publications describing physiological and pathological functions of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a collective term covering various subtypes of cell-released, membranous structures, called exosomes, microvesicles, microparticles, ectosomes, oncosomes, apoptotic bodies, and many other names. However, specific issues arise when working with these entities, whose size and amount often make them difficult to obtain as relatively pure preparations, and to characterize properly. The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) proposed Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles (“MISEV”) guidelines for the field in 2014. We now update these “MISEV2014” guidelines based on evolution of the collective knowledge in the last four years. An important point to consider is that ascribing a specific function to EVs in general, or to subtypes of EVs, requires reporting of specific information beyond mere description of function in a crude, potentially contaminated, and heterogeneous preparation. For example, claims that exosomes are endowed with exquisite and specific activities remain difficult to support experimentally, given our still limited knowledge of their specific molecular machineries of biogenesis and release, as compared with other biophysically similar EVs. The MISEV2018 guidelines include tables and outlines of suggested protocols and steps to follow to document specific EV-associated functional activities. Finally, a checklist is provided with summaries of key points