Search results for " Biochemistry"

Clinical efficacy of α4 integrin block with natalizumab in ankylosing spondylitis

2016

We describe the impact of α4-β1/7 blockade with natalizumab, a recombinant humanised immunoglobulin (Ig) G4κ monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeted to the α4 subunit of the α4β1 and α4β7 integrins, on the gut and spine inflammation in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) who developed multiple sclerosis after treatment with tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-blocking agents. A 45-year-old man with human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27-positive AS was admitted in January 2007. He had been diagnosed with AS 4 years earlier based on the presence of inflammatory back pain, peripheral arthritis, radiographic bilateral grade 2 sacroiliitis, HLA-B27 positivity. At that time, he had evidence of chronic int…

Response to: 'Artery tertiary lymphoid organs in giant cell arteritis are not exclusively located in the media of temporal arteries' by Graver et al

2017

We thank Graver  et al 1 for their interest in our recently published article on artery tertiary lymphoid organs (ATLOs) in giant cell arteritis (GCA).2 The authors stained temporal artery biopsies of 21 biopsy-proven GCA patients (71% female, mean duration of disease of 2.3±0.9 months) that fulfilled the 1990 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria with anti-CD20 and anti-CD3 antibodies. On the basis of this experimental approach, they confirmed the presence of ATLOs only in the adventitia of inflamed arteries of GCA patients and not in the media as demonstrated in our study. This statement, however, is not supported in our opinion by the experimental approach chosen …

2017

AbstractBy moving essential body fluids and molecules, motile cilia and flagella govern respiratory mucociliary clearance, laterality determination and the transport of gametes and cerebrospinal fluid. Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an autosomal recessive disorder frequently caused by non-assembly of dynein arm motors into cilia and flagella axonemes. Before their import into cilia and flagella, multi-subunit axonemal dynein arms are thought to be stabilized and pre-assembled in the cytoplasm through a DNAAF2–DNAAF4–HSP90 complex akin to the HSP90 co-chaperone R2TP complex. Here, we demonstrate that large genomic deletions as well as point mutations involving PIH1D3 are responsible for…

2017

Despite rapid progress, many problems and limitations persist and limit the applicability of gene-editing techniques. Making use of meganucleases, TALENs, or CRISPR/Cas9-based tools requires an initial step of pre-screening to determine the efficiency and specificity of the designed tools. This step remains time consuming and material consuming. Here we propose a simple, cheap, reliable, time-saving, and highly sensitive method to evaluate a given gene-editing tool based on its capacity to induce chromosomal translocations when combined with a reference engineered nuclease. In the proposed technique, designated engineered nuclease-induced translocations (ENIT), a plasmid coding for the DNA-…

Complete Genome Sequence of an Aquaculture-Associated Phage, FL-1, Infecting Flavobacterium spp

2017

Flavobacterium spp. are abundant and widespread in freshwater environments (1, 2). Despite the prevalence of the members in this genus, the phages infecting Flavobacterium spp. are less known. So far, most of the phages studied in detail infect fish pathogenic members of the genus, such as F. psychrophilum (3). The phage FL-1 and its Flavobacterium sp. host strain B183 were previously isolated from a water sample from a fish farm in Central Finland. Transmission electron microscopy revealed FL-1 to be a member of the family Myoviridae (4). In addition to the isolation host, FL-1 also infects multiple Flavobacterium sp. isolates and strains of the fish pathogen F. columnare, the causative ag…

Dissecting genome reduction and trait loss in insect endosymbionts

2016

Symbiosis has played a major role in eukaryotic evolution beyond the origin of the eukaryotic cell. Thus, organisms across the tree of life are associated with diverse microbial partners, conferring to the host new adaptive traits that enable it to explore new niches. This is the case for insects thriving on unbalanced diets, which harbor mutualistic intracellular microorganisms, mostly bacteria that supply them with the required nutrients. As a consequence of the lifestyle change, from free-living to host-associated mutualist, a bacterium undergoes many structural and metabolic changes, of which genome shrinkage is the most dramatic. The trend toward genome size reduction in endosymbiotic …

Zebrafish as a Model for the Study of Chaperonopathies

2016

There is considerable information on the clinical manifestations and mode of inheritance for many genetic chaperonopathies but little is known on the molecular mechanisms underlying the cell and tissue abnormalities that characterize them. This scarcity of knowledge is mostly due to the lack of appropriate animal models that mimic closely the human molecular, cellular, and histological characteristics. In this article we introduce zebrafish as a suitable model to study molecular and cellular mechanisms pertaining to human chaperonopathies. Genetic chaperonopathies manifest themselves from very early in life so it is necessary to examine the impact of mutant chaperone genes during developmen…

Evaluation of the RYR1 gene genetic diversity in the Latvian White pig breed

2016

The ryanodine receptor 1 (RYR1) is a calcium ion channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal muscle. Multiple polymorphic loci have been identified in the RYR1 gene in human and animals and some of them are associated with certain phenotypes. However, there are still few data on the RYR1 genetic variability in pig and only the missense mutation Arg615Cys, associated with the malignant hyperthermia, porcine stress syndrome and meat quality, has been studied in several commercial and local breeds. Aim. To genotype the rs344435545 (C1972T, Arg615Cys), rs196953058 (T8434C, Phe2769Leu) and rs323041392 (G12484A, Asp4119Asn) in the Latvian local pig breed Latvian White and to evaluate the ev…

The dark side of centromeres: types, causes and consequences of structural abnormalities implicating centromeric DNA

2018

Centromeres are the chromosomal domains required to ensure faithful transmission of the genome during cell division. They have a central role in preventing aneuploidy, by orchestrating the assembly of several components required for chromosome separation. However, centromeres also adopt a complex structure that makes them susceptible to being sites of chromosome rearrangements. Therefore, preservation of centromere integrity is a difficult, but important task for the cell. In this review, we discuss how centromeres could potentially be a source of genome instability and how centromere aberrations and rearrangements are linked with human diseases such as cancer.

DNA Damage Signaling Instructs Polyploid Macrophage Fate in Granulomas.

2018

Granulomas are immune cell aggregates formed in response to persistent inflammatory stimuli. Granuloma macrophage subsets are diverse and carry varying copy numbers of their genomic information. The molecular programs that control the differentiation of such macrophage populations in response to a chronic stimulus, though critical for disease outcome, have not been defined. Here, we delineate a macrophage differentiation pathway by which a persistent Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 signal instructs polyploid macrophage fate by inducing replication stress and activating the DNA damage response. Polyploid granuloma-resident macrophages formed via modified cell divisions and mitotic defects and not…