Effect of varenicline on smoking cessation through smoking reduction: a randomized clinical trial

Some cigarette smokers may not be ready to quit immediately but may be willing to reduce cigarette consumption with the goal of quitting

Human guanylate binding proteins potentiate the anti-chlamydia effects of interferon-gamma

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens that are sensitive to pro-inflammatory cytokine interferon-gamma. IFN-gamma-inducible murine p47 GTPases have been demonstrated to function in resistance to chlamydia infection in vivo and in vitro. Because the human genome does not encode IFN-gamma-inducible homologues of these proteins, the significance of the p47 GTPase findings to chlamydia pathogenesis in humans is unclear. Here we report a pair of IFN-gamma-inducible proteins, the human guanylate binding proteins (hGBPs) 1 and 2 that potentiate the anti-chlamydial properties of IFN-gamma. hGBP1 and 2 localize to the inclusion membrane, and their anti-chlamydial functions required the GTPase domain. Alone, hGBP1 or 2 have mild, but statistically significant and reproducible negative effects on the growth of Chlamydia trachomatis, whilst having potent anti-chlamydial activity in conjunction with treatment with a sub-inhibitory concentration of IFN-gamma. Thus, hGBPs appear to potentiate the anti-chlamydial effects of IFN-gamma. Indeed, depletion of hGBP1 and 2 in cells treated with IFN-gamma led to an increase in inclusion size, indicative of better growth. Interestingly, chlamydia species/strains harboring the full-length version of the putative cytotoxin gene, which has been suggested to confer resistance to IFN-gamma was not affected by hGBP overexpression. These findings identify the guanylate binding proteins as potentiators of IFN-gamma inhibition of C. trachomatis growth, and may be the targets of the chlamydial cytotoxin