A Topical Microbicide Gel Formulation of CCR5 Antagonist Maraviroc Prevents HIV-1 Vaginal Transmission in Humanized RAG-hu Mice

For prevention of HIV infection many currently licensed anti-HIV drugs and new ones in the pipeline show potential as topically applied microbicides. While macaque models have been the gold standard for in vivo microbicide testing, they are expensive and sufficient numbers are not available. Therefore, a small animal model that facilitates rapid evaluation of potential candidates for their preliminary efficacy is urgently needed in the microbicide field. We previously demonstrated that RAG-hu humanized mouse model permits HIV-1 mucosal transmission via both vaginal and rectal routes and that oral pre-exposure chemo-prophylactic strategies could be tested in this system. Here in these proof-of-concept studies, we extended this system for topical microbicide testing using HIV-1 as the challenge virus. Maraviroc, a clinically approved CCR5 inhibitor drug for HIV treatment, was formulated as a microbicide gel at 5 mM concentration in 2.2% hydroxyl ethyl cellulose. Female RAG-hu mice were challenged vaginally with HIV-1 an hour after intravaginal application of the maraviroc gel. Our results showed that maraviroc gel treated mice were fully protected against vaginal HIV-1 challenge in contrast to placebo gel treated mice which all became infected. These findings highlight the utility of the humanized mouse models for microbicide testing and, together with the recent data from macaque studies, suggest that maraviroc is a promising candidate for future microbicide clinical trials in the field

Detecting early kidney damage in horses with colic by measuring matrix metalloproteinase -9 and -2, other enzymes, urinary glucose and total proteins

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate urine matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-2 and -9) activity, alkaline phosphatase/creatinine (U-AP/Cr) and gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase/creatinine (U-GGT/Cr) ratios, glucose concentration, and urine protein/creatinine (U-Prot/Cr) ratio and to compare data with plasma MMP-2 and -9 activity, cystatin-C and creatinine concentrations in colic horses and healthy controls. Horses with surgical colic (n = 5) were compared to healthy stallions (n = 7) that came for castration. Blood and urine samples were collected. MMP gelatinolytic activity was measured by zymography. RESULTS: We found out that horses with colic had significantly higher urinary MMP-9 complex and proMMP-9 activities than horses in the control group. Colic horses also had higher plasma MMP-2 activity than the control horses. Serum creatinine, although within reference range, was significantly higher in the colic horses than in the control group. There was no significant increase in urinary alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase or total proteins in the colic horses compared to the control group. A human cystatin-C test (Dako Cytomation latex immunoassay(® )based on turbidimetry) did not cross react with equine cystatin-C. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that plasma MMP-2 may play a role in the pathogenesis of equine colic and urinary MMP-9 in equine kidney damage

Oral Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis by Anti-Retrovirals Raltegravir and Maraviroc Protects against HIV-1 Vaginal Transmission in a Humanized Mouse Model

Sexual HIV-1 transmission by vaginal route is the most predominant mode of viral transmission, resulting in millions of new infections every year. In the absence of an effective vaccine, there is an urgent need to develop other alternative methods of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Many novel drugs that are currently approved for clinical use also show great potential to prevent viral sexual transmission when administered systemically. A small animal model that permits rapid preclinical evaluation of potential candidates for their systemic PrEP efficacy will greatly enhance progress in this area of investigation. We have previously shown that RAG-hu humanized mouse model permits HIV-1 mucosal transmission via both vaginal and rectal routes and displays CD4 T cell loss typical to that seen in the human. Thus far systemic PrEP studies have been primarily limited to RT inhibitors exemplified by tenofovir and emtricitabine. In these proof-of-concept studies we evaluated two new classes of clinically approved drugs with different modes of action namely, an integrase inhibitor raltegravir and a CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc as potential systemically administered chemo-prophylactics. Our results showed that oral administration of either of these drugs fully protects against vaginal HIV-1 challenge in the RAG-hu mouse model. Based on these results both these drugs show great promise for further development as orally administered PrEPs

Multiple Determinants of Whole and Regional Brain Volume among Terrestrial Carnivorans

Mammalian brain volumes vary considerably, even after controlling for body size. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this variation, most research in mammals on the evolution of encephalization has focused on primates, leaving the generality of these explanations uncertain. Furthermore, much research still addresses only one hypothesis at a time, despite the demonstrated importance of considering multiple factors simultaneously. We used phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate simultaneously the importance of several factors previously hypothesized to be important in neural evolution among mammalian carnivores, including social complexity, forelimb use, home range size, diet, life history, phylogeny, and recent evolutionary changes in body size. We also tested hypotheses suggesting roles for these variables in determining the relative volume of four brain regions measured using computed tomography. Our data suggest that, in contrast to brain size in primates, carnivoran brain size may lag behind body size over evolutionary time. Moreover, carnivore species that primarily consume vertebrates have the largest brains. Although we found no support for a role of social complexity in overall encephalization, relative cerebrum volume correlated positively with sociality. Finally, our results support negative relationships among different brain regions after accounting for overall endocranial volume, suggesting that increased size of one brain regions is often accompanied by reduced size in other regions rather than overall brain expansion

Islet-Specific CTL Cloned from a Type 1 Diabetes Patient Cause Beta-Cell Destruction after Engraftment into HLAA2 Transgenic NOD/SCID/IL2RG Null Mice

Despite increasing evidence that autoreactive CD8 T-cells are involved in both the initiation of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and the destruction of beta-cells, direct evidence for their destructive role in-vivo is lacking. To address a destructive role for autoreactive CD8 T-cells in human disease, we assessed the pathogenicity of a CD8 T-cell clone derived from a T1D donor and specific for an HLA-A2-restricted epitope of islet-specific glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic-subunit related protein (IGRP). HLA-A2/IGRP tetramer staining revealed a higher frequency of IGRP-specific CD8 T-cells in the peripheral blood of recent onset human individuals than of healthy donors. IGRP(265-273)-specific CD8 T-cells that were cloned from the peripheral blood of a recent onset T1D individual were shown to secrete IFNγ and Granzyme B after antigen-specific activation and lyse HLA-A2-expressing murine islets in-vitro. Lytic capacity was also demonstrated in-vivo by specific killing of peptide-pulsed target cells. Using the HLA-A2 NOD-scid IL2rγ(null) mouse model, HLA-A2-restricted IGRP-specific CD8 T-cells induced a destructive insulitis. Together, this is the first evidence that human HLA-restricted autoreactive CD8 T-cells target HLA-expressing beta-cells in-vivo, demonstrating the translational value of humanized mice to study mechanisms of disease and therapeutic intervention strategies

Methodologies used to estimate tobacco-attributable mortality: a review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One of the most important measures for ascertaining the impact of tobacco on a population is the estimation of the mortality attributable to its use. To measure this, a number of indirect methods of quantification are available, yet there is no consensus as to which furnishes the best information. This study sought to provide a critical overview of the different methods of attribution of mortality due to tobacco consumption.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A search was made in the Medline database until March 2005 in order to obtain papers that addressed the methodology employed for attributing mortality to tobacco use.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the total of 7 methods obtained, the most widely used were the prevalence methods, followed by the approach proposed by Peto et al, with the remainder being used in a minority of studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Different methodologies are used to estimate tobacco attributable mortality, but their methodological foundations are quite similar in all. Mainly, they are based on the calculation of proportional attributable fractions. All methods show limitations of one type or another, sometimes common to all methods and sometimes specific.</p

Human Cytomegalovirus IE1 Protein Elicits a Type II Interferon-Like Host Cell Response That Depends on Activated STAT1 but Not Interferon-γ

Human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) is a highly prevalent pathogen that, upon primary infection, establishes life-long persistence in all infected individuals. Acute hCMV infections cause a variety of diseases in humans with developmental or acquired immune deficits. In addition, persistent hCMV infection may contribute to various chronic disease conditions even in immunologically normal people. The pathogenesis of hCMV disease has been frequently linked to inflammatory host immune responses triggered by virus-infected cells. Moreover, hCMV infection activates numerous host genes many of which encode pro-inflammatory proteins. However, little is known about the relative contributions of individual viral gene products to these changes in cellular transcription. We systematically analyzed the effects of the hCMV 72-kDa immediate-early 1 (IE1) protein, a major transcriptional activator and antagonist of type I interferon (IFN) signaling, on the human transcriptome. Following expression under conditions closely mimicking the situation during productive infection, IE1 elicits a global type II IFN-like host cell response. This response is dominated by the selective up-regulation of immune stimulatory genes normally controlled by IFN-γ and includes the synthesis and secretion of pro-inflammatory chemokines. IE1-mediated induction of IFN-stimulated genes strictly depends on tyrosine-phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) and correlates with the nuclear accumulation and sequence-specific binding of STAT1 to IFN-γ-responsive promoters. However, neither synthesis nor secretion of IFN-γ or other IFNs seems to be required for the IE1-dependent effects on cellular gene expression. Our results demonstrate that a single hCMV protein can trigger a pro-inflammatory host transcriptional response via an unexpected STAT1-dependent but IFN-independent mechanism and identify IE1 as a candidate determinant of hCMV pathogenicity