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Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is highly effective in preventing disease progression of rabies when used in timely and appropriate manner. The key treatment for PEP is infiltration of rabies immune globulin (RIG) into lesion site after bite exposure, besides wound care and vaccination. Unfortunately, however, RIG is expensive and its supply is limited. Currently, several anti-rabies virus monoclonal antibody (mAb) products are under development as alternatives to RIG, and two recently received regulatory approval in India. In this study, fully human mAbs that recognize different rabies virus glycoprotein conformational antigenic site (II and III) were created from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of heathy vaccinated subjects. These mAbs neutralized a diverse range of lyssavirus types. As at least two anti-rabies virus mAbs are recommended for use in human PEP to ensure broad coverage against diverse lyssaviruses and to minimize possible escape variants, two most potent mAbs, NP-19-9 and 11B6, were selected to be used as cocktail treatment. These two mAbs were broadly reactive to different types of lyssaviruses isolates, and were shown to have no interference with each other. These results suggest that NP-19-9 and 11B6 are potent candidates to be used for PEP, suggesting further studies involving clinical studies in human.

Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CIAKI) is a leading cause of acute kidney injury following radiographic procedures. Intrarenal oxidative stress plays a critical role in CIAKI. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide 3-phosphate (NADPH) oxidases (Noxs) are important sources of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Among the various types of Noxs, Nox4 is expressed predominantly in the kidney in rodents. Here, we evaluated the role of Nox4 and benefit of Nox4 inhibition on CIAKI using in vivo and in vitro models. HK-2 cells were treated with iohexol, with or without Nox4 knockdown, or the most specific Nox1/4 inhibitor (GKT137831). Effects of Nox4 inhibition on CIAKI mice were examined. Expression of Nox4 in HK-2 cells was significantly increased following iohexol exposure. Silencing of Nox4 rescued the production of ROS, downregulated pro-inflammatory markers (particularly phospho-p38) implicated in CIAKI, and reduced Bax and caspase 3/7 activity, which resulted in increased cellular survival in iohexol-treated HK-2 cells. Pretreatment with GKT137831 replicated these effects by decreasing levels of phospho-p38. In a CIAKI mouse model, even though the improvement of plasma blood urea nitrogen was unclear, pretreatment with GKT137831 resulted in preserved structure, reduced expression of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), and reduced number of TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling)-positive cells. These results suggest Nox4 as a key source of reactive oxygen species responsible for CIAKI and provide a novel potential option for prevention of CIAKI.

Current post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies virus infection has several limitations in terms of supply, cost, safety, and efficacy. Attempts to replace human or equine rabies immune globulins (HRIG or ERIG) have been made by several companies and institutes. We developed potent monoclonal antibodies to neutralize a broad spectrum of rabies viruses by screening hybridomas received from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two kinds of chimeric human antibodies (chimeric #7 and #17) were constructed by cloning the variable regions from selected hybridomas and the constant region of a human antibody. Two antibodies were bound to antigenic site III and I/IV, respectively, and were able to neutralize 51 field isolates of rabies virus that were isolated at different times and places such as Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Australia. These two antibodies neutralize rabies viruses with high efficacy in an in vivo test using Syrian hamster and mouse models and show low risk for adverse immunogenicity.

Osteoclasts seem to be metabolic active during their differentiation and bone-resorptive activation. However, the functional role of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), a tetrameric enzyme consisting of an A and/or B subunit that catalyzes interconversion of pyruvate to lactate, in RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation is not known. In this study, RANKL treatment induced gradual gene expression and activation of the LDH A2B2 isotype during osteoclast differentiation as well as the LDH A1B3 and B4 isotypes during osteoclast maturation after pre-osteoclast formation. Glucose consumption and lactate production in growth media were accelerated during osteoclast differentiation, together with enhanced expression of H+-lactate co-transporter and increased extracellular acidification, demonstrating that glycolytic metabolism was stimulated during differentiation. Further, oxygen consumption via mitochondria was stimulated during osteoclast differentiation. On the contrary, depletion of LDH-A or LDH-B subunit suppressed both glycolytic and mitochondrial metabolism, resulting in reduced mature osteoclast formation via decreased osteoclast precursor fusion and down-regulation of the osteoclastogenic critical transcription factor NFATc1 and its target genes. Collectively, our findings suggest that RANKL-induced LDH activation stimulates glycolytic and mitochondrial respiratory metabolism, facilitating mature osteoclast formation via osteoclast precursor fusion and NFATc1 signaling.

Directed methods for differentiating human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into dopaminergic (DA) precursor cells using stromal cells co-culture systems are already well established. However, not all of the hESCs differentiate into DA precursors using these methods. HSF6, H1, H7, and H9 cells differentiate well into DA precursors, but CHA13 and CHA15 cells hardly differentiate. To overcome this problem, we modified the differentiation system to include a co-culturing step that exposes the cells to noggin early in the differentiation process. This was done using γ-irradiated noggin-overexpressing CF1-mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF-noggin) and MS5 stromal cells (MS5-noggin and MS5-sonic hedgehog). After directed differentiation, RT-PCR analyses revealed that engrailed-1 (En-1), Lmx1b, and Nurr1, which are midbrain DA markers, were expressed regardless of differentiation stage. Moreover, tyrosine hydroxylase (Th) and an A9 midbrain-specific DA marker (Girk2) were expressed during differentiation, whereas levels of Oct3/4, an undifferentiated marker, decreased. Immunocytochemical analyses revealed that protein levels of the neuronal markers TH and TuJ1 increased during the final differentiation stage. These results demonstrate that early noggin exposure may play a specific role in the directed differentiation of DA cells from human embryonic stem cells.

Although the role of glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) in osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) is well-characterized as a negative regulator of β-catenin, its effect on osteogenesis of adipose-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) is poorly understood. Here, we show that GSK3β positively regulates osteogenic differentiation of murine ADSCs. Gain-of-function studies showed that GSK3β promotes in vitro osteogenesis of ADSCs. Regulation of GSK3β activity in ADSCs, either by small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated GSK3β silencing or by pharmacological inhibitors, blunted osteogenesis and the expression of osteogenic markers. Importantly, we demonstrated that transgenic mice, engineered to overexpress the constitutively active GSK3β (GSK3β-S9A) mutant, exhibited a marked increase in osteogenesis, whereas expression of the catalytically inactive GSK3β (GSK3β-K85A) in mice inhibits osteogenic differentiation. Molecular analyses showed that the enhanced osteoblast differentiation induced by GSK3β was mediated by downregulation of β-catenin. Remarkably, β-catenin silencing enhances osteogenesis and osteoblast marker gene expression such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osterix. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a novel role for GSK3β in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation in ADSCs.

Cytoplasmic presence of Hsp60, which is principally a nuclear gene-encoded mitochondrial chaperonin, has frequently been stated, but its role in intracellular signaling is largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that the cytosolic Hsp60 promotes the TNF-alpha-mediated activation of the IKK/NF-kappaB survival pathway via direct interaction with IKKalpha/beta in the cytoplasm. Selective loss or blockade of cytosolic Hsp60 by specific antisense oligonucleotide or neutralizing antibody diminished the IKK/NF-kappaB activation and the expression of NF-kappaB target genes, such as Bfl-1/A1 and MnSOD, which thus augmented intracellular ROS production and ASK1-dependent cell death, in response to TNF-alpha. Conversely, the ectopic expression of cytosol-targeted Hsp60 enhanced IKK/NF-kappaB activation. Mechanistically, the cytosolic Hsp60 enhanced IKK activation via upregulating the activation-dependent serine phosphorylation in a chaperone-independent manner. Furthermore, transgenic mouse study showed that the cytosolic Hsp60 suppressed hepatic cell death induced by diethylnitrosamine in vivo. The cytosolic Hsp60 is likely to be a regulatory component of IKK complex and it implicates the first mitochondrial factor that regulates cell survival via NF-kappaB pathway.

BACKGROUND: Although cesarean delivery and prenatal exposure to antibiotics are likely to affect the gut microbiome in infancy, their effect on the development of atopic dermatitis (AD) in infancy is unclear. The influence of individual genotypes on these relationships is also unclear. To evaluate with a prospective birth cohort study whether cesarean section, prenatal exposure to antibiotics, and susceptible genotypes act additively to promote the development of AD in infancy. METHODS: The Cohort for Childhood of Asthma and Allergic Diseases (COCOA) was selected from the general Korean population. A pediatric allergist assessed 412 infants for the presence of AD at 1 year of age. Their cord blood DNA was subjected to interleukin (IL)-13 (rs20541) and cluster-of-differentiation (CD)14 (rs2569190) genotype analysis. RESULTS: The combination of cesarean delivery and prenatal exposure to antibiotics associated significantly and positively with AD (adjusted odds ratio, 5.70; 95% CI, 1.19-27.3). The association between cesarean delivery and AD was significantly modified by parental history of allergic diseases or risk-associated IL-13 (rs20541) and CD14 (rs2569190) genotypes. There was a trend of interaction between IL-13 (rs20541) and delivery mode with respect to the subsequent risk of AD. (P for interaction = 0.039) Infants who were exposed prenatally to antibiotics and were born by cesarean delivery had a lower total microbiota diversity in stool samples at 6 months of age than the control group. As the number of these risk factors increased, the AD risk rose (trend p