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Iron plays a critical role in immune responses. However, its role in T helper cell differentiation and function remains poorly understood. In this study, it is shown that the restraint of iron availability through blocking CD71-mediated iron endocytosis impaired the differentiation and pathogenicity of T H 17 cells. Administrations of anti-CD71 mAb could relieve the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Mechanistically, the iron deficiency due to the blocking of CD71 enhanced IL-2 expression, which further restrained the differentiation of T H 17 cells. Meanwhile, CD71 blockade impaired histone modifications of Il17 gene and reduced the recruitment of RORγt to Il17a locus. In sum, the findings reveal that iron plays a pivotal role in regulating T H 17 cell differentiation and function in autoimmune diseases., (©2021 Society for Leukocyte Biology.)

Aims: A persistent cardiac T-cell response initiated by myocardial infarction is linked to subsequent adverse ventricular remodelling and progression of heart failure. No data exist on T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire changes in combination with phenotypic characterization of T cells in ischaemic failing human hearts., Methods and Results: Analysis of TCR repertoire with high-throughput sequencing revealed that compared with T cells in control hearts, those in ischaemic failing hearts showed a clonally expanded TCR repertoire but similar usage patterns of TRBV-J rearrangements and V gene segments; compared with T cells in peripheral blood, those in ischaemic failing hearts exhibited a restricted and clonally expanded TCR repertoire and different usage patterns of TRBV-J rearrangements and V gene segments, suggesting the occurrence of tissue-specific T-cell expansion in ischaemic failing hearts. Consistently, TCR clonotype sharing was prominent in ischaemic failing hearts, especially in hearts of patients who shared human leucocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Furthermore, ischaemia heart failure (IHF) heart-associated clonotypes were more frequent in peripheral blood of IHF patients than in that of controls. Heart-infiltrating T cells displayed memory- and effector-like characteristics. Th1 cells were the predominant phenotype among CD4+ T cells; CD8+ T cells were equally as abundant as CD4+ T cells and produced high levels of interferon-γ, granzyme B, and perforin., Conclusion: We provide novel evidence for a tissue-specific T-cell response predominated by Th1 cells and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in ischaemic failing human hearts that may contribute to the progression of heart failure., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2019. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Unlabelled: The control efficacy of tea polyphenol (TP) in combination with tea saponin (TS) against nectarine grey mould decay caused by Botrytis cinerea and the underlying mechanism were investigated. The in vitro experiments showed that both TP and TS inhibited the mycelial growth in a dose-dependent manner, and their combinations exhibited synergistic antifungal interactions with the synergistic ratios (SR) exceeding 1·5. The in vivo experiments showed that disease incidence and lesion diameter of grey mould of inoculated fruit were significantly lowered after being treated with the combination of TP and TS; furthermore, the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), peroxidase (POD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase of inoculated fruit as well as the contents of total phenolic and lignin were significantly induced, the respiration rate of inoculated fruit was significantly decreased and therefore the quality decrease was accordingly retarded. These results revealed that TP in combination with TS could control grey mould of inoculated nectarines and their mechanism of action might be attributed to their active components, the induction of defensive system and the regulation of respiration., Significance and Impact of the Study: This study demonstrates that the combination of TP and TS has exhibited synergistic antifungal interactions against Botrytis cinerea, and it suggests that their combination may be useful and effective agents for the control of nectarine grey mould decay. Such natural products therefore represent a promising alternative to synthetic fungicides in the control of nectarine postharvest diseases., (© 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

We have expressed the pqqABCDE gene cluster from Gluconobacter oxydans, which is involved in pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) biosynthesis, in Escherichia coli, resulting in PQQ accumulation in the medium. Since the gene cluster does not include the tldD gene needed for PQQ production, this result suggests that the E. coli tldD gene, which shows high homology to the G. oxydans tldD gene, carries out that function. The synthesis of PQQ activated d-glucose dehydrogenase in E. coli and the growth of the recombinant was improved. In an attempt to increase the production of PQQ, which acts as a vitamin or growth factor, we transformed E. coli with various recombinant plasmids, resulting in the overproduction of the PQQ synthesis enzymes and, consequently, PQQ accumulation--up to 6 mM--in the medium. This yield is 21.5-fold higher than that obtained in previous studies.

We evaluated the effects of a casein hydrolysate (CH) prepared from Aspergillus oryzae protease on rat adjuvant arthritis, a model of human rheumatoid arthritis. CH was administered orally once a day to the animals for 22 d after the adjuvant injection. CH suppressed swelling in the adjuvant-uninjected hind paws, and a higher dose of CH suppressed the increase in arthritic score and swelling of the adjuvant-injected hind paws. A histopathological examination revealed evidence that the higher dose of CH suppressed the articular changes in the rats. In addition, CH suppressed the production of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E(2) in the plasma of the rats. These results suggest that CH had a suppressive effect on adjuvant arthritis by inhibiting the acute and chronic inflammatory reactions.

Lactobacillus casei I-5 isolated from an alcohol fermentation broth enhanced immunity and prevented pathogenic infection as a probiotic. Mice fed with I-5 cells for 11 days prior to an intraperitoneal challenge with pathogenic Escherichia coli Juhl exhibited a high survival rate compared with the control group. Rats fed with I-5 cells for 10 days significantly increased the phagocytosis of peritoneal macrophages. In a cell culture system employing peritoneal macrophages from rats, the I-5 administration activated NF-kappaB stimulated by LPS. It also enhanced LPS-stimulated IL-12 and TNF-alpha production, but not IL-6 production. These results show that L. casei I-5 effectively prevented infection by pathogenic E. coli possibly through the activation of peritoneal macrophages. The strain would be useful to prevent pathogenic microbial infections in humans and farm animals.

In this study, we demonstrate that receptor-associated protein 80 (RAP80) interacts with estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) in an agonist-dependent manner. The interaction is specific for ERalpha as ERbeta and several other nuclear receptors tested did not interact with RAP80. Interaction between RAP80 and ERalpha was supported by mammalian two-hybrid, GST pull-down, and co-immunoprecipitation analyses. The hinge/ligand-binding domain of ERalpha is sufficient for interaction with RAP80. RAP80 overexpression reduces ERalpha polyubiquitination, increases the level of ERalpha protein, and enhances ERalpha-mediated transactivation. Knockdown of endogenous RAP80 expression by small-interfering RNA (siRNA) reduced ERalpha protein level and the E2-dependent induction of pS2. In this study, we also demonstrate that RAP80 contains two functional ubiquitin-interaction motifs (UIMs) that are able to bind ubiquitin and to direct monoubiquitination of RAP80. Deletion of these UIMs does not affect the ability of RAP80 to interact with ERalpha, but eliminates the effects of RAP80 on ERalpha polyubiquitination, the level of ERalpha protein, and ERalpha-mediated transcription. These data indicate that the UIMs in RAP80 are critical for the function of RAP80. Our study identifies ERalpha as a new RAP80-interacting protein and suggests that RAP80 may be an important modulator of ERalpha activity.

Overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) by tumours results in multidrug resistance (MDR) to structurally and functionally unrelated chemotherapeutic drugs. Combined therapy with MDR-related cytotoxins and MDR modulators is a promising strategy to overcome clinical MDR. This study was performed to explore the MDR reversal activity of a novel compound 2-[4-(2-pyridin-2-yl-vinyl) phenyl]-4,5-bis-(4-N,N-diethylaminophenyl)-1(H)-imidazole (FG020318) in-vitro and in-vivo. Tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to evaluate the ability of FG020318 to reverse drug resistance in two P-gp-expressing tumour cell lines, KBv200 and MCF-7/adr. Intracellular doxorubicin accumulation was determined by fluorescence spectrophotometry in MCF-7/adr cell line. The effect of FG020318 on P-gp function was demonstrated by rhodamine 123 (Rh123) accumulation in KBv200 cells. KBv200 cell xenograft models were established to study the in-vivo effect of FG020318 on reversing MDR. FG020318 was not cytotoxic by itself against P-gp expressing KBv200 cells and MCF-7/adr cells and their parental drug-sensitive KB cells and MCF-7 cells. FG020318 could significantly increase the sensitivity of MDR cells to antitumour drugs including doxorubicin and vincristine in MCF-7/adr cells and KBv200 cells, respectively. It was much stronger than the positive control verapamil in reversal of MDR. FG020318 also increased the intracellular accumulation of doxorubicin in a concentration-dependent manner in MCF-7/adr cells, but did not affect the accumulation of doxorubicin in drug-sensitive MCF-7 cells. The Rh123 accumulation in resistant KBv200 cells was also increased by the addition of FG020318, but Rh123 accumulation was not affected by FG020318 in drug-sensitive KB cells. FG020318 potentiated the antitumour activity of vincristine to KBv200 xenografts and was an efficacious modulator in-vivo. Our results suggested that FG020318 was a highly potent, efficacious MDR modulator not only in-vitro but also in-vivo. The reversal of drug resistance by FG020318 was probably related to the increased anticancer drug accumulation and its inhibition of P-gp function of MDR tumour cells.

The inducible nitric oxide synthase isoform (iNOS) is upregulated by cytokines and endotoxins in many types of cells, including cardiac myocytes. Nitric oxide (NO) induced by cytokines can be cytotoxic, and has been implicated in the pathophysiology of myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, and septic shock. To examine the role of iNOS in the ischemic myocardium, we studied: 1) the time course of expression of iNOS mRNA after myocardial infarction (MI) in male Sprague-Dawley rat hearts and expression of iNOS protein in the infarcted region; 2) whether hypoxia in vitro is a potential mediator of the induction of iNOS mRNA; and 3) whether inhibition of iNOS by two different selective inhibitors (aminoguanidine and S-methylisothiourea sulfate) in vivo influences infarct size. Myocardial infarction was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), and tissue was collected at selected times thereafter from both ligated and sham-operated rats. iNOS mRNA was induced in the infarcted region of the left ventricle for 7 days; iNOS protein was also detected in the infarcted area. We next tested whether hypoxia would induce iNOS in vitro. In cultured neonatal ventricular myocytes, iNOS mRNA was slightly induced by 6 to 24 h of hypoxia; however, iNOS protein was only detected when the cytokine interleukin-1beta was present. To study whether iNOS activity contributed to myocardial damage (eg, infarct size), we administered the first dose of the NOS inhibitors 24 h before LAD occlusion and then a second dose after surgery. Inhibition of iNOS activity with aminoguanidine reduced infarct size by 20% but had no effect on infiltration by neutrophils, whereas the more selective inhibitor S-methylisothiourea sulfate reduced infarct size by 41%. These data suggest that NO derived from the iNOS isoform contributes to some of the myocardial injury following MI, possibly by causing myocardial cell death in areas bordering the ischemic region of the heart.