Search

Autoantibodies have been detected in leprosy patients, indicating that infection with M. leprae may lead to autoimmune disorders. However, whether autoimmune response last until patients are cured is unknown. Knowing the autoimmune response in cured leprosy patients is essential to identify whether symptoms are caused by leprosy itself or by other immune-related diseases. This knowledge is essential for the ongoing health management in cured leprosy patients where autoimmune disorders still exist. In our study, we selected six autoantibodies, including anticardiolipin antibody of IgG (ACA), anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), extractable nuclear antigen antibody (ENA), anti-streptolysin O (ASO), anti-double stranded DNA antibody (dsDNA), and rheumatoid factor (RF), that had been reported in leprosy patients as typical autoantibodies. We tested the six typical autoantibodies combined with LACC1, which encodes a protein associated with autoimmune disease such as Crohn's disease and is also the susceptible gene conferring leprosy risk, in cured leprosy patients through ELISA to assess the cured patient's immune status. We observed high positive rates of autoantibodies in cured leprosy patients, and the average plasma levels of five (ACA, ANA, ENA, ASO, and RF) out of the six autoantibodies were significantly higher in cured leprosy patients than in controls. The positive detection of autoantibodies is independent of the recovery period. Moreover, the level of these autoantibodies showed a strong positive correlation with the level of LACC1 in both controls and cured patients. This study showed that there is long-term autoimmunological activation in leprosy patients, even after decades of recovery. Autoimmune responses may influence the development and prognosis of leprosy. Special care should be given to posttreatment or cured leprosy patients regarding long-term autoimmunological activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new complex [Pr3NH]+ [Mn(dca)3]− · H2O (dicyanamide = dca−) was synthesized, in which the Mn2+ cations are bridged by end-to-end dca anions to form three-dimensional [Mn(dca)3]nn− networks and tripropylammonium cations reside in the cavities of these networks. The complex has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and magnetic measurements. Magnetic susceptibility data indicate ferromagnetic interactions among the MnII ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new multicage compound [(Me)2EtNH][Mn(N3)3] (Me = methyl, Et = ethyl) with a perovskite-related structure has been synthesized. The manganese(II) cations are bridged by end-to-end (EE) azide anions to form three-dimensional cages with the N,N-dimethylethylammonium cations residing in the cavities of the [Mn(N3)3]nn− cages. The compound has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, second-harmonic generation, and magnetic measurements. The second-harmonic generation results support its noncentrosymmetric polar crystal structure. Magnetic susceptibility measurements show antiferromagnetic interactions among the MnII ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our earlier work has shown that the E3 ligase TRIM56 messenger RNA (mRNA) level and vimentin protein expression followed an inverse correlation in ovarian carcinoma patients; however, the regulatory mechanisms underlying TRIM56 expression is unclear. Steady state expression of TRIM56 mRNA expression in the normal ovarian cell line Moody and ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV‐3, A2780, and Caov‐3 were not significantly different; however, TRIM56 protein expression was significantly lower in the ovarian cancer cell lines compared to the Moody cell line. Polysome profiling showed significant increase in translation of TRIM56 messenger RNA in the Moody cells compared to the SKOV‐3 cells. We performed RNA‐affinity pulldown using biotinylated TRIM56 5 'and 3'‐UTR and postnuclear extracts from Moody and SKOV‐3 cells. Whereas no notable difference was observed in affinity pull‐down obtained with the 5'‐UTR, there was obvious difference in protein binding patterns with the 3'‐UTR. Mass spectrometry was used to determine the most differentially binding protein as poly r (c) binding protein 1 (PCBP1). PCBP1 expression and binding to the 3'‐UTR was both higher in SKOV‐3 cells compared to the Moody cells. Silencing of TRIM56 in Moody cells cause an increase in in vitro migration and invasion, and a similar effect was mimicked by overexpression of PCBP1. Conversely, silencing of PCBP1 or overexpression of TRIM56 in SKOV‐3 cells significantly decreased in vitro migration and invasion. In xenograft assays, SKOV‐3 cells stably overexpressing shRNA targeting PCBP1 decreased metastasis, whereas shRNA‐targeting TRIM56 potentiated detection of metastatic lesions, compared to the parental SKOV‐3 cells themselves. Taken together our results reveal a yet undefined posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism underlying low expression of TRIM56 in ovarian cancer. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 71(1):177–182, 2019 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leprosy is a chronic infectious and neurological disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an unculturable pathogen with massive genomic decay and dependence on host metabolism. We hypothesized that mitochondrial genes PARL and PINK1 would confer risk to leprosy. Thirteen tag SNPs of PARL and PINK1 were analyzed in 3620 individuals with or without leprosy from China. We also sequenced the entire exons of PARL, PINK1 and PARK2 in 80 patients with a family history of leprosy by using the next generation sequencing technology (NGS). We found that PARL SNP rs12631031 conferred a risk to leprosy (Padjusted = 0.019) and multibacillary leprosy (MB, Padjusted = 0.020) at the allelic level. rs12631031 and rs7653061 in PARL were associated with leprosy and MB (dominant model, Padjusted < 0.05) at the genotypic level. PINK1 SNP rs4704 was associated with leprosy at the genotypic level (Padjusted = 0.004). We confirmed that common variants in PARL and PINK1 were associated with leprosy in patients underwent NGS. Furthermore, PARL and PINK1 could physically interact with each other and were involved in the highly connected network formed by reported leprosy susceptibility genes. Together, our results showed that PARL and PINK1 genetic variants are associated with leprosy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]