A Role for Drosophila dFoxO and dFoxO 5′UTR Internal Ribosomal Entry Sites during Fasting

One way animals may cope with nutrient deprivation is to broadly repress translation by inhibiting 5′-cap initiation. However, under these conditions specific proteins remain essential to survival during fasting. Such peptides may be translated through initiation at 5′UTR Internal Ribosome Entry Sites (IRES). Here we show that the Drosophila melanogaster Forkhead box type O (dFoxO) transcription factor is required for adult survival during fasting, and that the 5′UTR of dfoxO has the ability to initiate IRES-mediated translation in cell culture. Previous work has shown that insulin negatively regulates dFoxO through AKT-mediated phosphorylation while dFoxO itself induces transcription of the insulin receptor dInR, which also harbors IRES. Here we report that IRES-mediated translation of both dFoxO and dInR is activated in fasted Drosophila S2 cells at a time when cap-dependent translation is reduced. IRES mediated translation of dFoxO and dInR may be essential to ensure function and sensitivity of the insulin signaling pathway during fasting

Hemagglutinin from the H5N1 Virus Activates Janus Kinase 3 to Dysregulate Innate Immunity

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) cause severe disease in humans. There are no effective vaccines or antiviral therapies currently available to control fatal outbreaks due in part to the lack of understanding of virus-mediated immunopathology. In our study, we used hemagglutinin (HA) of H5N1 virus to investigate the related signaling pathways and their relationship to dysregulated innate immune reaction. We found the HA of H5N1 avian influenza triggered an abnormal innate immune signalling in the pulmonary epithelial cells, through an unusual process involving activation of Janus kinase 3 (JAK3) that is exclusively associated with γc chain and is essential for signaling via all γc cytokine receptors. By using a selective JAK3 inhibitor and JAK3 knockout mice, we have, for the first time, demonstrated the ability to target active JAK3 to counteract injury to the lungs and protect immunocytes from acute hypercytokinemia -induced destruction following the challenge of H5N1 HA in vitro and in vivo. On the basis of the present data, it appears that the efficacy of selective JAK3 inhibition is likely based on its ability to block multiple cytokines and protect against a superinflammatory response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) attack. Our findings highlight the potential value of selective JAK3 inhibitor in treating the fatal immunopathology caused by H5N1 challenge

DING Proteins from Phylogenetically Different Species Share High Degrees of Sequence and Structure Homology and Block Transcription of HIV-1 LTR Promoter

Independent research groups reported that DING protein homologues isolated from bacterial, plant and human cells demonstrate the anti-HIV-1 activity. This might indicate that diverse organisms utilize a DING-mediated broad-range protective innate immunity response to pathogen invasion, and that this mechanism is effective also against HIV-1. We performed structural analyses and evaluated the anti-HIV-1 activity for four DING protein homologues isolated from different species. Our data show that bacterial PfluDING, plant p38SJ (pDING), human phosphate binding protein (HPBP) and human extracellular DING from CD4 T cells (X-DING-CD4) share high degrees of structure and sequence homology. According to earlier reports on the anti-HIV-1 activity of pDING and X-DING-CD4, other members of this protein family from bacteria and humans were able to block transcription of HIV-1 and replication of virus in cell based assays. The efficacy studies for DING-mediated HIV-1 LTR and HIV-1 replication blocking activity showed that the LTR transcription inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) values ranged from 0.052–0.449 ng/ml; and the HIV-1 replication IC50 values ranged from 0.075–0.311 ng/ml. Treatment of cells with DING protein alters the interaction between p65-NF-κB and HIV-1 LTR. Our data suggest that DING proteins may be part of an innate immunity defense against pathogen invasion; the conserved structure and activity makes them appealing candidates for development of a novel therapeutics targeting HIV-1 transcription

Synthetic Plasmodium-Like Hemozoin Activates the Immune Response: A Morphology - Function Study

Increasing evidence points to an important role for hemozoin (HZ), the malaria pigment, in the immunopathology related to this infection. However, there is no consensus as to whether HZ exerts its immunostimulatory activity in absence of other parasite or host components. Contamination of native HZ preparations and the lack of a unified protocol to produce crystals that mimic those of Plasmodium HZ (PHZ) are major technical limitants when performing functional studies with HZ. In fact, the most commonly used methods generate a heterogeneous nanocrystalline material. Thus, it is likely that such aggregates do not resemble to PHZ and differ in their inflammatory properties. To address this issue, the present study was designed to establish whether synthetic HZ (sHZ) crystals produced by different methods vary in their morphology and in their ability to activate immune responses. We report a new method of HZ synthesis (the precise aqueous acid-catalyzed method) that yields homogeneous sHZ crystals (Plasmodium-like HZ) which are very similar to PHZ in their size and physicochemical properties. Importantly, these crystals are devoid of protein and DNA contamination. Of interest, structure-function studies revealed that the size and shape of the synthetic crystals influences their ability to activate inflammatory responses (e.g. nitric oxide, chemokine and cytokine mRNA) in vitro and in vivo. In summary, our data confirm that sHZ possesses immunostimulatory properties and underline the importance of verifying by electron microscopy both the morphology and homogeneity of the synthetic crystals to ensure that they closely resemble those of the parasite. Periodic quality control experiments and unification of the method of HZ synthesis are key steps to unravel the role of HZ in malaria immunopathology

The Role of Response Elements Organization in Transcription Factor Selectivity: The IFN-β Enhanceosome Example

What is the mechanism through which transcription factors (TFs) assemble specifically along the enhancer DNA? The IFN-β enhanceosome provides a good model system: it is small; its components' crystal structures are available; and there are biochemical and cellular data. In the IFN-β enhanceosome, there are few protein-protein interactions even though consecutive DNA response elements (REs) overlap. Our molecular dynamics (MD) simulations on different motif combinations from the enhanceosome illustrate that cooperativity is achieved via unique organization of the REs: specific binding of one TF can enhance the binding of another TF to a neighboring RE and restrict others, through overlap of REs; the order of the REs can determine which complexes will form; and the alternation of consensus and non-consensus REs can regulate binding specificity by optimizing the interactions among partners. Our observations offer an explanation of how specificity and cooperativity can be attained despite the limited interactions between neighboring TFs on the enhancer DNA. To date, when addressing selective TF binding, attention has largely focused on RE sequences. Yet, the order of the REs on the DNA and the length of the spacers between them can be a key factor in specific combinatorial assembly of the TFs on the enhancer and thus in function. Our results emphasize cooperativity via RE binding sites organization

A Novel Role for IκBζ in the Regulation of IFNγ Production

IκBζ is a novel member of the IκB family of NFκB regulators, which modulates NFκB activity in the nucleus, rather than controlling its nuclear translocation. IκBζ is specifically induced by IL-1β and several TLR ligands and positively regulates NFκB-mediated transcription of genes such as IL-6 and NGAL as an NFκB binding co-factor. We recently reported that the IL-1 family cytokines, IL-1β and IL-18, strongly synergize with TNFα for IFNγ production in KG-1 cells, whereas the same cytokines alone have minimal effects on IFNγ production. Given the striking similarities between the IL-1R and IL-18R signaling pathways we hypothesized that a common signaling event or gene product downstream of these receptors is responsible for the observed synergy. We investigated IκBζ protein expression in KG-1 cells upon stimulation with IL-1β, IL-18 and TNFα. Our results demonstrated that IL-18, as well as IL-1β, induced moderate IκBζ expression in KG-1 cells. However, TNFα synergized with IL-1β and IL-18, whereas by itself it had a minimal effect on IκBζ expression. NFκB inhibition resulted in decreased IL-1β/IL-18/TNFα-stimulated IFNγ release. Moreover, silencing of IκBζ expression led to a specific decrease in IFNγ production. Overall, our data suggests that IκBζ positively regulates NFκB-mediated IFNγ production in KG-1 cells

Calcium Dependent CAMTA1 in Adult Stem Cell Commitment to a Myocardial Lineage

The phenotype of somatic cells has recently been found to be reversible. Direct reprogramming of one cell type into another has been achieved with transduction and over expression of exogenous defined transcription factors emphasizing their role in specifying cell fate. To discover early and novel endogenous transcription factors that may have a role in adult-derived stem cell acquisition of a cardiomyocyte phenotype, mesenchymal stem cells from human and mouse bone marrow and rat liver were co-cultured with neonatal cardiomyocytes as an in vitro cardiogenic microenvironment. Cell-cell communications develop between the two cell types as early as 24 hrs in co-culture and are required for elaboration of a myocardial phenotype in the stem cells 8-16 days later. These intercellular communications are associated with novel Ca(2+) oscillations in the stem cells that are synchronous with the Ca(2+) transients in adjacent cardiomyocytes and are detected in the stem cells as early as 24-48 hrs in co-culture. Early and significant up-regulation of Ca(2+)-dependent effectors, CAMTA1 and RCAN1 ensues before a myocardial program is activated. CAMTA1 loss-of-function minimizes the activation of the cardiac gene program in the stem cells. While the expression of RCAN1 suggests involvement of the well-characterized calcineurin-NFAT pathway as a response to a Ca(2+) signal, the CAMTA1 up-regulated expression as a response to such a signal in the stem cells was unknown. Cell-cell communications between the stem cells and adjacent cardiomyocytes induce Ca(2+) signals that activate a myocardial gene program in the stem cells via a novel and early Ca(2+)-dependent intermediate, up-regulation of CAMTA1