Impaired responses to toll-like receptor 4 and toll-like receptor 3 ligands in human cord blood

Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4 signaling pathway plays an essential role in host defense against gram-negative bacteria while TLR-3-mediated signaling is critically involved in anti-viral immunity. To gain insight into the defects responsible for impaired Th1 responses in human newborns, we investigated the responses of human cord blood cells to lipopolysaccharide, LPS, and to polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, Poly (I:C), ligands of TLR-4 and TLR-3, respectively. Measurement of cytokine levels revealed a profound defect in IL-12 (p70) synthesis and an increased release of IL-10 in cord blood exposed to LPS or Poly (I:C), as compared to adult blood. Moreover, Poly (I:C)-induced IFN-alpha production was found to be significantly impaired in cord blood. Phenotypic maturation of myeloid DC in response to LPS or Poly (I:C) was next compared in cord and adult blood. We observed that neonatal myeloid DC displayed decreased upregulation of CD40, CD80 whereas CD86 and HLA-DR upregulation did not differ significantly between adults and neonates. Taken together, these findings might be relevant to the increased vulnerability of human newborns to intracellular pathogens and to their inability to develop efficient Th1-type responses.     

Competitive binding to a charged leucine motif represses transformation by a papillomavirus E6 oncoprotein

E6 oncoproteins from HPV-16 and bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV-1) bind to similar leucine-rich peptides termed charged leucine motifs found on the cellular focal adhesion protein paxillin and the E3 ubiquitin ligase E6AP. BPV-1 E6 (BE6) mutants that do not bind to paxillin are defective at inducing cellular transformation. It is possible, however, that BE6 mutants that do not bind paxillin are defective for transformation for an unrelated reason than the ability to bind to charged leucine motifs. To address the role of BE6 interaction with charged leucine motifs, we fused a BE6-binding charged leucine motif to the amino terminus of BE6, thereby creating an autoinhibitory binding domain. We found that the fusion protein failed to bind to paxillin or transform murine C127 cells. Mutation of the amino terminal binding motif in the fusion protein restored both interaction with paxillin and transformation. This demonstrates that BE6 transformation requires binding to charged leucine motifs on particular cellular proteins and that transformation by papillomavirus oncoproteins can be repressed by competitive interactions with charged leucine motifs.     

Multivariate Genetic Analysis of Brain Structure in an Extended Twin Design

The hunt for genes influencing behavior may be aided by the study of intermediate phenotypes for several reasons. First, intermediate phenotypes may be influenced by only a few genes, which facilitates their detection. Second, many intermediate phenotypes can be measured on a continuous quantitative scale and thus can be assessed in affected and unaffected individuals. Continuous measures increase the statistical power to detect genetic effects (Neale et al., 1994), and allow studies to be designed to collect data from informative subjects such as extreme concordant or discordant pairs. Intermediate phenotypes for discrete traits, such as psychiatric disorders, can be neurotransmitter levels, brain function, or structure. In this paper we conduct a multivariate analysis of data from 111 twin pairs and 34 additional siblings on cerebellar volume, intracranial space, and body height. The analysis is carried out on the raw data and specifies a model for the mean and the covariance structure. Results suggest that cerebellar volume and intracranial space vary with age and sex. Brain volumes tend to decrease slightly with age, and males generally have a larger brain volume than females. The remaining phenotypic variance of cerebellar volume is largely genetic (88%). These genetic factors partly overlap with the genetic factors that explain variance in intracranial space and body height. The applied method is presented as a general approach for the analysis of intermediate phenotypes in which the effects of correlated variables on the observed scores are modeled through multivariate analysis.     

Peptide specificity and HLA restriction do not dictate lymphokine production by allergen-specific T-lymphocyte clones.

Human and murine CD4+ T lymphocytes can be subdivided into distinct subsets [T-helper type 0 (Th0), Th1 or Th2], based on their lymphokine production profiles. Not much is known about the factors that determine these restricted lymphokine secretion profiles. Peptide specificity and human leucocyte antigen (HLA) restriction may be such factors. As it is well established that allergen-specific T lymphocytes from atopic individuals and non-atopic controls differ in their lymphokine secretion profile, we studied two allergen-specific T-lymphocyte clones (TLC) with identical peptide specificity and HLA restriction that were generated from the peripheral blood of an atopic donor and a non-atopic control donor. The two CD4+ TLC recognize the same epitope (20-33) of the house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus major allergen Der p II. Both TLC recognize the epitope in an HLA-DQB1*0602-restricted manner. However, the lymphokine production profiles of these TLC show clear differences after allergen-specific or polyclonal activation. As expected, TLC JBD4 from the atopic donor produced high levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) without detectable interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), whereas TLC PBA1 from the non-atopic donor produced both IFN-gamma and IL-4 upon allergen-specific or polyclonal activation. Inasmuch as both TLC recognized the same epitope of Der p II in association with the same HLA-DQ molecule, these data suggest that peptide specificity and HLA restriction of human allergen-specific TLC do not dictate their lymphokine secretion profile.     

Validation of a screening test for alcohol use,the Russian Federation

ObjectiveTo validate a Russian-language version of the World Health Organization’s Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).MethodsWe invited 2173 patients from 21 rural and urban primary health-care centres in nine Russian regions to participate in the study (143 declined and eight were excluded). In a standardized interview, patients who had consumed alcohol in the past 12 months provided information on their sociodemographic characteristics and completed the Russian AUDIT, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview to identify problem drinking and alcohol use disorders. We assessed the feasibility of administering the test, its internal consistency and its ability to predict hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders in primary health care in the Russian Federation.FindingsOf the 2022 patients included in the study, 1497 were current drinkers with Russian AUDIT scores. The test was internally consistent with good psychometric properties (Cronbach’s α : 0.842) and accurately predicted alcohol use disorders and other outcomes (area under the curve > 75%). A three-item short form of the test correlated well with the full instrument and had similar predictive power (area under the curve > 80%). We determined sex-specific thresholds for all outcomes, as non-specific thresholds resulted in few women being identified.ConclusionWith the validated Russian AUDIT, there is no longer a barrier to introducing screening and brief interventions into primary health care in the Russian Federation to supplement successful alcohol control policies.     

Fournier's gangrene

Fournier's gangrene is a rapidly progressive, necrotizing fasciitis of the perineal, genital or perianal regions. Despite increasing knowledge about aetiology, diagnostic procedures and treatment, the gangrene is still a destructive and potentially lethal disease. In two patients, men aged 54 and 63 years, Fournier's gangrene was diagnosed. The first one died of septic shock 12 hours after admission. Surgical débridement had been performed immediately. He had a latent promyelocytic leukaemia. The second patient recovered fully after extensive surgical and antimicrobial therapy. Fournier's gangrene appears to be caused by the synergistic pathogenic action of various individually non-pathogenic commensal bacteria. Virtually all patients have an underlying systemic disorder, mainly chronic alcoholism or diabetes mellitus. Immunosupression is a predisposing factor. The gangrene requires an aggressive approach, treatment being based on the combination of haemodynamic stabilisation, antibiotic triple therapy and radical surgical débridement.     

Neuroendocrine mediators up-regulate alpha1b- and alpha1d-adrenergic receptor subtypes in human monocytes

Beta2- and alpha2-adrenergic receptors (AR) are thought to be the main AR subtypes to exert the effects of catecholamines on the immune system. However, in the present study, we demonstrate that another subtype of AR can be induced in human monocytes. Expression of alpha1b- and alpha1d-AR mRNA can be obtained by culturing freshly isolated human peripheral blood monocytes with the neuroendocrine mediators dexamethasone or the beta2-AR agonist terbutaline. Using the human monocytic cell line THP-1, we demonstrate that increased levels of alpha1b- and alpha1d-mRNA are accompanied by increased levels of receptor protein as determined by Western blot analysis and radioligand binding assays. This study describes for the first time regulated expression of alpha1-AR subtypes in human monocytes.     

Phenotypic variations in a family with retinal dystrophy as result of different mutations in the ABCR gene

AIMS: To describe two phenotypic variations of autosomal recessive retinal dystrophy occurring in a consanguineous family in a pseudodominant pattern, resulting from mutations in the ATP binding cassette transporter (ABCR) gene. METHODS: Patients of this family underwent an extensive ophthalmic evaluation, including fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and electroretinography (ERG). Genetic analysis comprised sequence analysis of the retina specific ABCR gene. RESULTS: Five patients presented with decreased visual acuity in the second decade, central chorioretinal atrophy associated with a central scotoma, and severely decreased photopic and scotopic ERG responses. This clinical picture, which in our opinion resembles a cone-rod dystrophy (CRD), was associated with compound heterozygosity for IVS30+ 1g -->t and IVS40+5g-->a mutations in the ABCR gene. The four remaining patients presented with night blindness in the first decade because of a retinitis pigmentosa-like (RP-like) dystrophy. In addition to a pale "waxy" optic disc, attenuated retinal vessels and bone spicule deposits, a widespread chorioretinal atrophy was observed. The scotopic ERG was extinguished and the photopic ERG was severely diminished. Genetic analysis revealed a homozygous 5' splice mutation IVS30+1g -->t in the ABCR gene. CONCLUSION: Mutations in the ABCR gene can cause clinical pictures resembling autosomal recessive RP and autosomal recessive CRD.