Recirculating CD4 memory T cells mount rapid secondary responses without major contributions from follicular CD4 effectors and B cells

For weeks after primary immunization with thymus-dependent antigens the responding lymph nodes contain effector CD4 T cells in T zones and germinal centers as well as recirculating memory T cells. Conversely, remote nodes, not exposed to antigen, only receive recirculating memory cells. We assessed whether lymph nodes with follicular effector CD4 T cells in addition to recirculating memory CD4 T cells mount a more rapid secondary response than nodes that only contain recirculating memory cells. Also, the extent to which T cell frequency governs accelerated CD4 T cell recall responses was tested. For this, secondary antibody responses to a superantigen, where the frequency of responding T cells is not increased at the time of challenge, were compared with those to conventional protein antigens. With both types of antigens similar accelerated responses were elicited in the node draining the site of primary immunization and in the contralateral node, not previously exposed to antigen. Thus recirculating memory cells are fully capable of mounting accelerated secondary responses, without the assistance of CD4 effector T cells, and accelerated memory responses are not solely dependent on higher T cell frequencies. Accelerated memory CD4 T cell responses were also seen in B cell-deficient mice.     

Leptin-mediated cytokine release and migration of eosinophils: implications for immunopathophysiology of allergic inflammation

Leptin is a pleiotropic adipocyte-derived cytokine used in hypothalamic regulation of body weight and modulation of immune response by stimulating T cells, macrophages and neutrophils. Leptin has been shown to be an eosinophil survival factor. We examined the immunopathological mechanisms for the activation of human eosinophils from healthy volunteers by leptin in allergic inflammation. Adhesion molecules, cytokines and cell migration were assessed by flow cytometry, ELISA and Boyden chamber assay, respectively. Intracellular signaling molecules were investigated by membrane array and Western blot. Leptin could up-regulate cell surface expression of adhesion molecule ICAM-1 and CD18 but suppress ICAM-3 and L-selectin on eosinophils. Leptin could also stimulate the chemokinesis of eosinophils, and induce the release of inflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and IL-6, and chemokines IL-8, growth-related oncogene-alpha and MCP-1. We found that leptin-mediated induction of adhesion molecules, release of cytokines and chemokines, and chemokinesis were differentially regulated by the activation of ERK, p38 MAPK and NF-kappaB. In view of the above results and elevated production of leptin in patients with allergic diseases such as atopic asthma and atopic dermatitis, leptin could play crucial immunopathophysiological roles in allergic inflammation by activation of eosinophils via differential intracellular signaling cascades.     

A meta-analysis of airborne asbestos fiber concentrations from work with or around asbestos-containing floor tile

In this meta-analysis, exposures to airborne asbestos during work with or around floor tiles were characterized according to several variables: study, sample type, activity, and task. Personal breathing zone, bystander, and area sample exposure concentrations were differentiated and compared against current occupational exposure limits to asbestos. In total, 22 studies, including 804 personal, 57 bystander, and 295 area samples, were included in the analysis. The arithmetic mean airborne fiber concentrations were 0.05, 0.02, and 0.01 f/cm³ for personal, bystander, and area samples, respectively. Arithmetic mean time-weighted-average fiber concentrations over an 8-h working day were 0.02 and 0.01 f/cm³ for personal and bystander samples, respectively. Phase contrast microscopy (PCM) personal airborne fiber concentrations were highest for maintenance activities, followed by removal and installation. Tasks that involved buffing or burnishing, scoring or snapping, and scraping or lifting had the highest personal PCM concentrations, while stripping floor tile and removing it with chemical solvent had the lowest concentrations. Exposures associated with handling asbestos floor tiles, under working conditions normally encountered, do not generally produce airborne concentrations at levels that exceed the current OSHA PEL nor do they appear to approach the threshold cumulative asbestos dose concentrations that have been previously associated with an increased risk of asbestos-related disease.     

Pharmacoperone drugs: targeting misfolded proteins causing lysosomal storage-, ion channels-, and G protein-coupled receptors-associated conformational disorders

Introduction: Conformational diseases are caused by structurally abnormal proteins that cannot fold properly and achieve their native conformation. Misfolded proteins frequently originate from genetic mutations that may lead to loss-of-function diseases involving a variety of structurally diverse proteins including enzymes, ion channels, and membrane receptors. Pharmacoperones are small molecules that cross the cell surface plasma membrane and reach their target proteins within the cell, serving as molecular scaffolds to stabilize the native conformation of misfolded or well-folded but destabilized proteins, to prevent their degradation and promote correct trafficking to their functional site of action. Because of their high specificity toward the target protein, pharmacoperones are currently the focus of intense investigation as therapy for several conformational diseases.

Areas covered: This review summarizes data on the mechanisms leading to protein misfolding and the use of pharmacoperone drugs as an experimental approach to rescue function of distinct misfolded/misrouted proteins associated with a variety of diseases, such as lysosomal storage diseases, channelopathies, and G protein-coupled receptor misfolding diseases.

Expert commentary: The fact that many misfolded proteins may retain function, offers a unique therapeutic opportunity to cure disease by directly correcting misrouting through administering pharmacoperone drugs thereby rescuing function of disease-causing, conformationally abnormal proteins.     

Risks,prices, and positions: A social network analysis of illegal drug trafficking in the world-economy

BackgroundIllegal drug prices are extremely high, compared to similar goods. There is, however, considerable variation in value depending on place, market level and type of drugs. A prominent framework for the study of illegal drugs is the “risks and prices” model (Reuter & Kleiman, 1986). Enforcement is seen as a “tax” added to the regular price. In this paper, it is argued that such economic models are not sufficient to explain price variations at country-level. Drug markets are analysed as global trade networks in which a country's position has an impact on various features, including illegal drug prices.MethodologyThis paper uses social network analysis (SNA) to explain price markups between pairs of countries involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs between 1998 and 2007. It aims to explore a simple question: why do prices increase between two countries? Using relational data from various international organizations, separate trade networks were built for cocaine, heroin and cannabis. Wholesale price markups are predicted with measures of supply, demand, risks of seizures, geographic distance and global positioning within the networks. Reported prices (in $US) and purchasing power parity-adjusted values are analysed.ResultsDrug prices increase more sharply when drugs are headed to countries where law enforcement imposes higher costs on traffickers. The position and role of a country in global drug markets are also closely associated with the value of drugs. Price markups are lower if the destination country is a transit to large potential markets. Furthermore, price markups for cocaine and heroin are more pronounced when drugs are exported to countries that are better positioned in the legitimate world-economy, suggesting that relations in legal and illegal markets are directed in opposite directions.ConclusionConsistent with the world-system perspective, evidence is found of coherent world drug markets driven by both local realities and international relations.     

Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in a Human T Cell Line Is Hampered at Multiple Steps

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is the most frequent cause of severe respiratory disease in children. The main targets of HRSV infection are epithelial cells of the respiratory tract, and the great majority of the studies regarding HRSV infection are done in respiratory cells. Recently, the interest on respiratory virus infection of lymphoid cells has been growing, but details of the interaction of HRSV with lymphoid cells remain unknown. Therefore, this study was done to assess the relationship of HRSV with A3.01 cells, a human CD4⁺ T cell line. Using flow cytometry and fluorescent focus assay, we found that A3.01 cells are susceptible but virtually not permissive to HRSV infection. Dequenching experiments revealed that the fusion process of HRSV in A3.01 cells was nearly abolished in comparison to HEp-2 cells, an epithelial cell lineage. Quantification of viral RNA by RT-qPCR showed that the replication of HRSV in A3.01 cells was considerably reduced. Western blot and quantitative flow cytometry analyses demonstrated that the production of HRSV proteins in A3.01 was significantly lower than in HEp-2 cells. Additionally, using fluorescence in situ hybridization, we found that the inclusion body-associated granules (IBAGs) were almost absent in HRSV inclusion bodies in A3.01 cells. We also assessed the intracellular trafficking of HRSV proteins and found that HRSV proteins colocalized partially with the secretory pathway in A3.01 cells, but these HRSV proteins and viral filaments were present only scarcely at the plasma membrane. HRSV infection of A3.01 CD4⁺ T cells is virtually unproductive as compared to HEp-2 cells, as a result of defects at several steps of the viral cycle: Fusion, genome replication, formation of inclusion bodies, recruitment of cellular proteins, virus assembly, and budding.     

Endolysosomal trafficking of viral G protein-coupled receptor functions in innate immunity and control of viral oncogenesis

The ubiquitin-proteasome system degrades viral oncoproteins and other microbial virulence factors; however, the role of endolysosomal degradation pathways in these processes is unclear. Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the causative agent of Kaposi’s sarcoma, and a constitutively active viral G protein-coupled receptor (vGPCR) contributes to the pathogenesis of KSHV-induced tumors. We report that a recently discovered autophagy-related protein, Beclin 2, interacts with KSHV GPCR, facilitates its endolysosomal degradation, and inhibits vGPCR-driven oncogenic signaling. Furthermore, monoallelic loss of Becn2 in mice accelerates the progression of vGPCR-induced lesions that resemble human Kaposi’s sarcoma. Taken together, these findings indicate that Beclin 2 is a host antiviral molecule that protects against the pathogenic effects of KSHV GPCR by facilitating its endolysosomal degradation. More broadly, our data suggest a role for host endolysosomal trafficking pathways in regulating viral pathogenesis and oncogenic signaling.Phagocytosis and autophagy are two processes that deliver microbes and their constituent proteins to the lysosome for degradation, thereby contributing to the clearance of pathogens and to the presentation of peptide antigens to T cells (1, 2). However, it is not known whether endocytic internalization and lysosomal targeting of virus-encoded cell-surface receptors contributes to the control of viral infection and disease.Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the causative agent of AIDS-related and other forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman’s disease (3–5). KS is a multifocal tumor characterized by proliferating spindle cells (possibly of endothelial origin), angiogenesis, vascular slits, erythrocyte extravasation, and inflammatory cells. Proinflammatory signaling by the dominant KS cell, the spindle cell, is considered the driving force in KS lesions (6). The risk of KSHV-associated malignancies increases with increased lytic viral replication (7–9), suggesting that KSHV-induced oncogenesis may be related to the levels of expression of viral oncoproteins.The oncogenic KSHV G protein-coupled receptor (vGPCR), encoded by the KSHV ORF74 lytic gene, is a constitutively active chemokine receptor expressed in patients with KSHV-associated tumors (10). At least in animal studies, there are strong data that vGPCR substantially contributes to the onset and progression of KSHV-associated neoplasia in vivo (11–19). Although only a small proportion of tumor cells express vGPCR (10), they are both sufficient and necessary for KSHV-induced sarcomagenesis. The endothelial-specific expression of vGPCR (but of neither KSHV latent genes, such as vCyclin, vFlip, and Kaposin, nor other KSHV lytic genes, such as vBcl-2 or vIRF1) or injection of murine endothelial cells stably expressing vGPCR (but not other KSHV genes, such as vCyclin, vFlip, Kaposin, LANA, vIL-6, vBcl-2, and K1) causes multifocal KS-like tumors in mice (15, 18). Furthermore, injection of a small number of endothelial cells expressing vGPCR increases the tumorigenic potential, in a paracrine fashion, of endothelial cells expressing other KSHV latent genes (vCyclin and vFlip), whereas eradication of the small number of vGPCR-expressing cells in established mix-cell tumors induces tumor regression (15, 18). Moreover, in a nude mouse model of KS driven by transfection of a KSHV bacterial artificial chromosome into bone marrow endothelial-lineage cells, siRNA interference (RNAi)-mediated suppression of vGPCR expression dramatically reduces angiogenesis and tumor formation (19). In addition, immunocompetent mice that transgenically express doxycycline (DOX)-inducible KSHV GPCR in endothelial cells (hereafter referred to as ikGPCR⁺) manifest lesions that strongly resemble human Kaposi’s sarcoma (16, 17). Importantly, the progression of lesions in ikGPCR⁺ mice is reversible because DOX withdrawal leads to significant regression of vGPCR-induced lesions (17), suggesting that vGPCR-driven oncogenesis is highly dependent on sustained vGPCR expression and signaling.Based on these previous observations in animal models regarding KSHV GPCR and oncogenesis, we developed the hypothesis that cell-intrinsic mechanisms that decrease vGPCR protein levels may function as an important host defense mechanism for controlling viral oncogenesis. Recently, we showed that the autophagy protein, Beclin 2 (but not the related autophagy protein Beclin 1) is essential for the endolysosomal degradation of certain cellular GPCRs that are regulated by GASP1 rather than by ubiquitination and the endosomal sorting complexes required for the transport pathway (20). This function of Beclin 2, but not Beclin 1, regulates mouse brain cannabinoid receptor levels and metabolism in vivo (20). Therefore, we investigated whether Beclin 2 may play a role in the endolysosomal degradation of viral GPCRs and thereby represent an important host defense mechanism against KSHV GPCR-induced oncogenic effects. Our results demonstrate a crucial role for Beclin 2 in KSHV GPCR trafficking, proinflammatory signaling, and in vivo tumorigenicity, and thus represent a previously undescribed role for endolysosomal trafficking in innate immunity and the control of viral GPCR-driven oncogenesis.     

Sumoylation of the astroglial glutamate transporter EAAT2 governs its intracellular compartmentalization

EAAT2 is a predominantly astroglial glutamate transporter responsible for the majority of synaptic glutamate clearance in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Its dysfunction has been linked with many neurological disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Decreases in EAAT2 expression and function have been implicated in causing motor neuron excitotoxic death in ALS. Nevertheless, increasing EAAT2 expression does not significantly improve ALS phenotype in mouse models or in clinical trials. In the SOD1‐G93A mouse model of inherited ALS, the cytosolic carboxy‐terminal domain is cleaved from EAAT2, conjugated to SUMO1, and accumulated in astrocytes where it triggers astrocyte‐mediated neurotoxic effects as disease progresses. However, it is not known whether this fragment is sumoylated after cleavage or if full‐length EAAT2 is already sumoylated prior to cleavage as part of physiological regulation. In this study, we show that a fraction of full‐length EAAT2 is constitutively sumoylated in primary cultures of astrocytes in vitro and in the CNS in vivo. Furthermore, the extent of sumoylation of EAAT2 does not change during the course of ALS in the SOD1‐G93A mouse and is not affected by the expression of ALS‐causative mutant SOD1 proteins in astrocytes in vitro, indicating that EAAT2 sumoylation is not driven by pathogenic mechanisms. Most interestingly, sumoylated EAAT2 localizes to intracellular compartments, whereas non‐sumoylated EAAT2 resides on the plasma membrane. In agreement, promoting desumoylation in primary astrocytes causes increased EAAT2‐mediated glutamate uptake. These findings could have implications for optimizing therapeutic approaches aimed at increasing EAAT2 activity in the dysfunctional or diseased CNS. GLIA 2014;62:1241–1253