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Phage display has been widely used to identify peptides binding to a variety of biological targets. In the current work, we planned to select novel peptides targeting CD4 through screening of a commercial phage display library (New England Biolabs Ph.D. TM -7). After three rounds of biopanning, 57 phage clones were Sanger-sequenced. These clones represented 30 unique peptide sequences, which were subjected to phage ELISA, resulting in the identification of two potential target binders. Following peptide synthesis, downstream characterization was conducted using fluorescence plate-based assay, flow cytometry, SPR, and confocal microscopy. The results revealed that neither of the peptides identified in the Sanger-based phage display selection exhibited specific binding toward CD4. The naïve library and the phage pool recovered from the third round of biopanning were then subjected to next-generation sequencing (NGS). The results of NGS indicated corruption of the selection output by a phage already known as a fast-propagating clone whose target-unrelated enrichment can shed light on the misidentification of target-binding peptides through phage display. This work provides an in-depth insight into some of the challenges encountered in peptide phage display selection. Furthermore, our data highlight that NGS, by exploring a broader sequence space and providing a more precise picture of the composition of biopanning output, can be used to refine the selection protocol and avoid misleading the process of ligand identification. We hope that these findings can describe some of the complexities of phage display selection and offer help to fellow researchers who have faced similar situations.

Cancer curing immune responses against heterogeneous solid cancers require that a coordinated immune activation is initiated in the antigen avid but immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). The plastic TME, and the poor systemic tolerability of immune activating drugs are, however, fundamental barriers to generating curative anticancer immune responses. Here, we introduce the CarboCell technology to overcome these barriers by forming an intratumoral sustained drug release depot that provides high payloads of immune stimulatory drugs selectively within the TME. The CarboCell thereby induces a hot spot for immune cell training and polarization and further drives and maintains the tumor-draining lymph nodes in an anticancer and immune activated state. Mechanistically, this transforms cancerous tissues, consequently generating systemic anticancer immunoreactivity. CarboCell can be injected through standard thin-needle technologies and has inherent imaging contrast which secure accurate intratumoral positioning. In particular, here we report the therapeutic performance for a dual-drug CarboCell providing sustained release of a Toll-like receptor 7/8 agonist and a transforming growth factor-β inhibitor in preclinical tumor models in female mice., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has raised a growing interest in phage display research. Sequencing depth is a pivotal parameter for using NGS. In the current study, we made a side-by-side comparison of two NGS platforms with different sequencing depths, denoted as lower-throughput (LTP) and higher-throughput (HTP). The capacity of these platforms for characterization of the composition, quality, and diversity of the unselected Ph.D. TM -12 Phage Display Peptide Library was investigated. Our results indicated that HTP sequencing detects a considerably higher number of unique sequences compared to the LTP platform, thus covering a broader diversity of the library. We found a larger percentage of singletons, a smaller percentage of repeated sequences, and a greater percentage of distinct sequences in the LTP datasets. These parameters suggest a higher library quality, resulting in potentially misleading information when using LTP sequencing for such assessment. Our observations showed that HTP reveals a broader distribution of peptide frequencies, thus revealing increased heterogeneity of the library by the HTP approach and offering a comparatively higher capacity for distinguishing peptides from each other. Our analyses suggested that LTP and HTP datasets show discrepancies in their peptide composition and position-specific distribution of amino acids within the library. Taken together, these findings lead us to the conclusion that a higher sequencing depth can yield more in-depth insights into the composition of the library and provide a more complete picture of the quality and diversity of phage display peptide libraries.

The principal presumption of phage display biopanning is that the naïve library contains an unbiased repertoire of peptides, and thus, the enriched variants derive from the affinity selection of an entirely random peptide pool. In the current study, we utilized deep sequencing to characterize the widely used Ph.DTM-12 phage display peptide library (New England Biolabs). The next-generation sequencing (NGS) data indicated the presence of stop codons and a high abundance of wild-type clones in the naïve library, which collectively result in a reduced effective size of the library. The analysis of the DNA sequence logo and global and position-specific frequency of amino acids demonstrated significant bias in the nucleotide and amino acid composition of the library inserts. Principal component analysis (PCA) uncovered the existence of four distinct clusters in the naïve library and the investigation of peptide frequency distribution revealed a broad range of unequal abundances for peptides. Taken together, our data provide strong evidence for the notion that the naïve library represents substantial departures from randomness at the nucleotide, amino acid, and peptide levels, though not undergoing any selective pressure for target binding. This non-uniform sequence representation arises from both the M13 phage biology and technical errors of the library construction. Our findings highlight the paramount importance of the qualitative assessment of the naïve phage display libraries prior to biopanning.

Coating nanoparticles with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is widely used to achieve long-circulating properties after infusion. While PEG reduces binding of opsonins to the particle surface, immunogenic anti-PEG side-effects show that PEGylated nanoparticles are not truly "stealth" to surface active proteins. A major obstacle for understanding the complex interplay between opsonins and nanoparticles is the averaging effects of the bulk assays that are typically applied to study protein adsorption to nanoparticles. Here, a microscopy-based method for directly quantifying opsonization at the single nanoparticle level is presented. Various surface coatings are investigated on liposomes, including PEG, and show that opsonization by both antibodies and complement C3b is highly dependent on the surface chemistry. It is further demonstrated that this opsonization is heterogeneous, with opsonized and non-opsonized liposomes co-existing in the same ensemble. Surface coatings modify the percentage of opsonized liposomes and/or opsonin surface density on the liposomes, with strikingly different patterns for antibodies and complement. Thus, this assay provides mechanistic details about opsonization at the single nanoparticle level previously inaccessible to established bulk assays., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Systemic administration of toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists have demonstrated impressive preclinical results as an anti-cancer therapy due to their potent innate immune-stimulatory properties. The clinical advancement has, however, been hindered by severe adverse effects due to systemic activation of the immune system. Liposomal drug delivery systems may modify biodistribution, cellular uptake, and extend blood circulation, and thus, potentially enable systemic administration of TLR agonists at therapeutic doses. In this study, we investigated potential barriers for the administration of TLR agonists formulated in polyethylene glycosylated (PEGylated) liposomes with regards to liposome formulation, TLR agonist, administration route, administration schedule, biodistribution, blood clearance, and anti-PEG antibodies. We found that administration of TLR agonists formulated in PEGylated liposomes led to high anti-PEG antibody titers, which upon multiple intravenous administrations, resulted in accelerated blood clearance and acute hypersensitivity reactions. The latter was found to be associated with anti-PEG IgG antibody and not anti-PEG IgM antibody opsonization. This study highlights the need to carefully design and evaluate nanoparticle delivery systems for immunotherapy as anti-nanoparticle immune responses may challenge the therapeutic application., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Quantification of cytokines in cancerous tissue is important for understanding basic tumor biology and for deciphering anti-cancer mechanisms in drug development. Cytokine measurements on protein-level are often done by immunoassays such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISAs) and multiplex assays. However, immunoassays are prone to interference due to the presence of perturbing factors. The sum of these factors is known as the matrix effect, which results in a deviation of the measured cytokine concentration from the actual concentration. In this study, we demonstrated that matrix effects are present in tumor lysates from 11 different syngeneic murine tumors and that it can greatly affect cytokine measurements in ELISAs and multiplex assays. Dilution of tumor lysates and careful selection of lysis buffer components may decrease matrix effects. However, matrix effects are still present, and care should be taken when analyzing cytokine measurements of tumor lysates., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Adoptive T-cell transfer (ACT) offers a curative therapeutic option for subsets of melanoma and hematological cancer patients. To increase response rates and broaden the applicability of ACT, it is necessary to improve the post-infusion performance of the transferred T cells. The design of improved treatment strategies includes transfer of cells with a less differentiated phenotype. Such T cell subsets have high proliferative potential but require stimulatory signals in vivo to differentiate into tumor-reactive effector T cells. Thus, combination strategies are needed to support the therapeutic implementation of less differentiated T cells. Here we show that systemic delivery of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) facilitates in vivo priming and expansion of previously non-activated T cells and enhance the cytotoxicity of activated T cells. To achieve this in vivo priming, we use flexible delivery vehicles of TAAs and a TLR7/8 agonist. Contrasting subcutaneous delivery systems, these vehicles accumulate TAAs in the spleen, thereby achieving close proximity to both cross-presenting dendritic cells and transferred T cells, resulting in robust T-cell expansion and anti-tumor reactivity. This TAA delivery platform offers a strategy to safely potentiate the post-infusion performance of T cells using low doses of antigen and TLR7/8 agonist, and thereby enhance the effect of ACT., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (tobramycin MIC = 0.064 µg/mL) was used to perform agar diffusion tests employing tobramycin-containing tablets. Bacterial growth and formation of inhibition zones were studied by stereomicroscopy and by blotting with microscope slides and staining with methylene blue, Alcian blue and a fluorescent lectin for the P. aeruginosa PSL, which was studied by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Diffusion of tobramycin from the deposit was modelled using a 3D geometric version of Fick's second law of diffusion. The time-dependent gradual increase in the minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) was studied using a Calgary Biofilm Device. The early inhibition zone was visible after 5 h of incubation. The corresponding calculated tobramycin concentration at the border was 1.9 µg/mL, which increased to 3.2 µg/mL and 6.3 µg/mL after 7 h and 24 h, respectively. The inhibition zone increased to the stable final zone after 7 h of incubation. Bacterial growth and small aggregate formation (young biofilms) took place inside the inhibition zone until the small aggregates contained less than ca. 64 cells and production of polysaccharide matrix including PSL had begun; thereafter, the small bacterial aggregates were killed by tobramycin. Bacteria at the border of the stable inhibition zone and beyond continued to grow to a mature biofilm and produced large amount of polysaccharide-containing matrix. Formation of the inhibition zone during agar diffusion antimicrobial susceptibility testing is due to a switch from a planktonic to biofilm mode of growth and gives clinically important information about the increased antimicrobial tolerance of biofilms., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bacterial biofilm infections often involve aggregates of bacteria heterogeneously distributed throughout a tissue or on a surface (such as an implanted medical device). Identification of a biofilm infection requires direct visualization via microscopy, followed by characterization of the microbial community by culturing or sequencing-based approaches. A sample, therefore, must be divided prior to analysis, often leading to inconsistent results. We demonstrate a combined approach, using scanning electron microscopy and next-generation shotgun sequencing, to visually identify a biofilm and characterize the microbial community, without dividing the sample. A clinical sample recovered from a patient following a dental root-filling procedure was prepared and visualized by scanning electron microscopy. DNA was then extracted from the sample several years later and analyzed by shotgun sequencing. The method was subsequently validated on in vitro cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm. Between 19 and 21 different genera and species were identified in the clinical sample with an estimated relative abundance greater than 1% by two different estimation approaches. Only eight genera identified were not associated with endodontic infections. This provides a proof-of-concept for a dual, microscopy and sequencing-based approach to identify and characterize bacterial biofilms, which could also easily be implemented in other scientific fields., (© FEMS 2019.)

The overuse of antibiotics is accelerating the bacterial resistance, and therefore there is a need to reduce the amount of antibiotics used for treatment. Here, we demonstrate in vitro that specific wavelengths in a narrow range around 296 nm are able to eradicate bacteria in the biofilm state (grown for 24 hours) more effectively, than antibiotics and the combination of irradiation and antibiotics is even better, introducing a novel concept light assisted antibiotics. The investigated wavelength range was 249 nm to 338 nm with an approximate step of 5 nm. The novel concept that consists of a UV irradiation treatment followed by a tobramycin treatment can significantly reduce the amount of antibiotics needed for eradicating mature bacterial biofilms. The efficiency of the proposed light assisted antibiotics method was compared to combinatory antibiotic treatment and highly concentrated antibiotic monotherapy. The eradication efficacies, on mature biofilms, achieved by light assisted antibiotic and by the antibiotic monotherapy at approximately 10-fold higher concentration, were equivalent. The present achievement could motivate the development of light assisted antibiotic treatments for treating infections.

The use of fluorescent stains to visually investigate eukaryotic and/or prokaryotic cells is increasing quickly and manuscripts within all areas of research publish results using fluorescent staining techniques. However, in contrast to literature on traditional histological staining techniques, the literature on fluorescent stains and staining techniques does not offer as good an illustration of cellular morphology. The aim of this guideline is to illustrate different fluorescent stains and staining techniques for imaging immune cells, in particular the polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), in combination with infecting bacteria as seen in chronic bacterial infections. Thereby providing the first guideline for the morphology and identification of fluorescently stained PMNs, bacteria and biofilm., (© 2018 APMIS. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Culturing has long been the gold standard for detecting aetiologic agents in bacterial infections. In some cases, however, culturing fails to detect the infection. To further investigate culture-negative samples, amplification and subsequent sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene is often applied. The aim of the present study was to compare the current method used at our Department of Clinical Microbiology, based on the MicroSeq ID system (Applied Biosystems, USA) with the Universal Microbe Detection (UMD) SelectNA kit (Molzym, Germany)., Methods: 76 culture-negative samples were first processed with the MicroSeq ID analysis, where total DNA was extracted and the 16S gene amplified and sequenced with the MicroSeq ID system. Samples were subsequently processed with the UMD SelectNA analysis, where human DNA was removed during the DNA extraction procedure and the 16S gene amplified in a real-time PCR and sequenced., Results: 22 of 76 samples (28.9%) were positive for bacteria with the UMD SelectNA, which was significantly more (p = 0.0055) than the MicroSeq ID where 11 of 76 samples (14.5%) were positive. The UMD SelectNA assay identified more relevant bacterial pathogens than the MicroSeq ID analysis (p = 0.0233), but also found a number of species that were considered contaminations., Conclusions: The UMD SelectNA assay was valuable for the identification of pathogens in culture-negative samples; however, due to the sensitive nature of the assay, extreme care is suggested in order to avoid false positives.

Introduction: The aim was to present a case report of a full-length extrusion of an obturator's core carrier into the maxillary sinus, causing clinical symptoms from the nose region with differential diagnostics aspects, which, in turn, led to several surgical treatments of the nostrils before diagnosis and correct endodontic retreatment of a maxillary right first molar. A 36-year-old man presented in 2012 with complaints from the right nostril region. Medical treatment with antibiotics and surgical procedures because of nasal stenosis resulted only in partial improvement. Five years earlier, a root canal treatment was performed on the maxillary right first molar. Intraoral radiographs revealed 10-mm overfilling of root filling material into the maxillary sinus from the palatal root of tooth #3., Methods: Before surgical removal of the excess root filling material, orthograde revision was performed. Cone-beam computed tomographic imaging was used to localize the position of the root filling material, which protruded through the maxillary sinus and reached the inferior nasal wall., Results: Surgical removal from the palatal aspect revealed that the root filling material was a core carrier of an obturator. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed evidence of microbial biofilm on the core carrier as well as remnants of sinus mucosa. At the long-term follow-ups, the tooth had healed apically, and symptoms of nasal stenosis were markedly reduced., Conclusions: This case report represents a challenging differential diagnostic topic urging the importance of a medical and dental interdisciplinary dialogue. The use of cone-beam computed tomographic imaging was crucial for the surgical retreatment., (Copyright © 2016 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)