scholarly journals A new method of producing NS5A antigen of hepatitis C virus

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
T. V. Kuznetsova ◽  
M. S. Smirnova ◽  
O. A. Leonovich ◽  
I. V. Gordeichuk ◽  
I. K. Biriukova ◽  
...  

A task of creating a universal platform for engineering affordable recombinant producers of viral proteins conserving immunogenicity has not been solved yet. High toxicity of the viral proteins for the host cells, low yield and abnormal folding of the products often present severe obstacles to obtaining producers of the viral proteins. In this work, we report a new method of engineering and screening of deletion libraries from the viral antigen genes. This method allows selection of artificial derivatives of these genes adapted for expression in microbial producer cells. The method involves PCR amplification of the gene fragments using a system of randomized and adapter primers, which allows the spontaneous formation of duplexes from the random primers in the absence of the template DNA to be prevented. For selecting variants capable of in vivo expression, the obtained PCR products are cloned to a special vector of a direct phenotypical selection pQL30. It contains E. coli β-galactosidase gene with an inserted polylinker producing a frame-shift mutation. Using this screening method, an artificial variant of hepatitis C (HCV) NS5a gene with optimal biotechnological properties was established. 27 clinical specimens of 1670 bp long HCV1b NS5a fragments were used as a source gene. A PCR bank of the deletion derivatives was produced. 40 LacZ-positive clones based on pQL30 vector with a 50-700 bp long insertion were selected. The LacZ activity of the cell lysates and the immunogenicity of the products were tested. As a result, a single clone encoding a soluble protein with Mr = 114 kDa was selected. Its yield reached 0.3% of the total cell protein. It was highly reactive with sera of HCV 1b infected patients but not with sera of the healthy donors.

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninio ◽  
Nissani ◽  
Meirson ◽  
Domovitz ◽  
Genna ◽  
...  

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the fifth most common cancer worldwide and the third cause of cancer-related mortality. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of chronic hepatitis, which often results in liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and eventually HCC. HCV is the most common risk factor for HCC in western countries and leads to a more aggressive and invasive disease with poorer patient survival rates. However, the mechanism by which the virus induces the metastatic spread of HCC tumor cells through the regulation of invadopodia, the key features of invasive cancer, is still unknown. Here, the integration of transcriptome with functional kinome screen revealed that HCV infection induced invasion and invadopodia-related gene expression combined with activation of host cell tyrosine kinases, leading to invadopodia formation and maturation and consequent cell invasiveness in vitro and in vivo. The promotion of invadopodia following HCV infection was mediated by the sustained stimulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) via the viral NS3/4A protease that inactivates the T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP), which inhibits EGFR signaling. Characterization of an invadopodia-associated gene signature in HCV-mediated HCC tumors correlated with the invasiveness of HCC and poor patient prognosis. These findings might lead to new prognostic and therapeutic strategies for virus-mediated invasive cancer.


2009 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengli Tang ◽  
Henry Grisé

HCV (hepatitis C virus) infects nearly 3% of the population worldwide and has emerged as a major causative agent of liver disease, resulting in acute and chronic infections that can lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatitis C represents the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States and Europe. A positive-strand RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family, HCV contains a single-stranded RNA genome of approx. 9600 nucleotides. The genome RNA serves as both mRNA for translation of viral proteins and the template for RNA replication. Cis-acting RNA elements within the genome regulate RNA replication by forming secondary structures that interact with each other and trans-acting factors. Although structural proteins are clearly dispensable for RNA replication, recent evidence points to an important role of several non-structural proteins in particle assembly and release, turning their designation on its head. HCV enters host cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis, and the process requires the co-ordination of multiple cellular receptors and co-receptors. RNA replication takes place at specialized intracellular membrane structures called ‘membranous webs’ or ‘membrane-associated foci’, whereas viral assembly probably occurs on lipid droplets and endoplasmic reticulum. Liver inflammation plays a central role in the liver damage seen in hepatitis C, but many HCV proteins also directly contribute to HCV pathogenesis. In the present review, the molecular and cellular aspects of the HCV life cycle and the role of viral proteins in pathological liver conditions caused by HCV infection are described.


2010 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 3179-3186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuko Karakama ◽  
Naoya Sakamoto ◽  
Yasuhiro Itsui ◽  
Mina Nakagawa ◽  
Megumi Tasaka-Fujita ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Splicing of messenger RNAs is regulated by site-specific binding of members of the serine-arginine-rich (SR) protein family, and SR protein kinases (SRPK) 1 and 2 regulate overall activity of the SR proteins by phosphorylation of their RS domains. We have reported that specifically designed SRPK inhibitors suppressed effectively several DNA and RNA viruses in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that an SRPK inhibitor, SRPIN340, suppressed in a dose-dependent fashion expression of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) subgenomic replicon and replication of the HCV-JFH1 clone in vitro. The inhibitory effects were not associated with antiproliferative or nonspecific cytotoxic effects on the host cells. Overexpression of SRPK1 or SRPK2 resulted in augmentation of HCV replication, while small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of the SRPKs suppressed HCV replication significantly. Immunocytochemistry showed that SRPKs and the HCV core and NS5A proteins colocalized to some extent in the perinuclear area. Our results demonstrate that SRPKs are host factors essential for HCV replication and that functional inhibitors of these kinases may constitute a new class of antiviral agents against HCV infection.


2006 ◽  
Vol 44 (08) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Hilgard ◽  
R Bröring ◽  
M Trippler ◽  
S Viazov ◽  
G Gerken ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avik Sotira Scientific

UNSTRUCTURED Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by a virus known as SARS-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Without a targeted-medicine, this disease has been causing a massive humanitarian crisis not only in terms of mortality, but also imposing a lasting damage to social life and economic progress of humankind. Therefore, an immediate therapeutic strategy needs to be intervened to mitigate this global crisis. Here, we report a novel KepTide™ (Knock-End Peptide) therapy that nullifies SARS-CoV2 infection. SARS-CoV2 employs its surface glycoprotein “spike” (S-glycoprotein) to interact with angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptor for its infection in host cells. Based on our in-silico-based homology modeling study validated with a recent X-ray crystallographic structure (PDB ID:6M0J), we have identified that a conserved motif of S-glycoprotein that intimately engages multiple hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interactions with ACE-2 enzyme. Accordingly, we designed a peptide, termed as ACIS (ACE-2 Inhibitory motif of Spike), that displayed significant affinity towards ACE-2 enzyme as confirmed by biochemical assays such as BLItz and fluorescence polarization assays. Interestingly, more than one biochemical modifications were adopted in ACIS in order to enhance the inhibitory action of ACIS and hence called as KEpTide™. Consequently, a monolayer invasion assay, plaque assay and dual immunofluorescence analysis further revealed that KEpTide™ efficiently mitigated the infection of SARS-CoV2 in vitro in VERO E6 cells. Finally, evaluating the relative abundance of ACIS in lungs and the potential side-effects in vivo in mice, our current study discovers a novel KepTide™ therapy that is safe, stable, and robust to attenuate the infection of SARS-CoV2 virus if administered intranasally. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.13.337584


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Juan Vélez ◽  
Zahady Velasquez ◽  
Liliana M. R. Silva ◽  
Ulrich Gärtner ◽  
Klaus Failing ◽  
...  

Cryptosporidium parvum is an apicomplexan zoonotic parasite recognized as the second leading-cause of diarrhoea-induced mortality in children. In contrast to other apicomplexans, C.parvum has minimalistic metabolic capacities which are almost exclusively based on glycolysis. Consequently, C. parvum is highly dependent on its host cell metabolism. In vivo (within the intestine) infected epithelial host cells are typically exposed to low oxygen pressure (1–11% O2, termed physioxia). Here, we comparatively analyzed the metabolic signatures of C. parvum-infected HCT-8 cells cultured under both, hyperoxia (21% O2), representing the standard oxygen condition used in most experimental settings, and physioxia (5% O2), to be closer to the in vivo situation. The most pronounced effect of C. parvum infection on host cell metabolism was, on one side, an increase in glucose and glutamine uptake, and on the other side, an increase in lactate release. When cultured in a glutamine-deficient medium, C. parvum infection led to a massive increase in glucose consumption and lactate production. Together, these results point to the important role of both glycolysis and glutaminolysis during C. parvum intracellular replication. Referring to obtained metabolic signatures, we targeted glycolysis as well as glutaminolysis in C. parvum-infected host cells by using the inhibitors lonidamine [inhibitor of hexokinase, mitochondrial carrier protein (MCP) and monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) 1, 2, 4], galloflavin (lactate dehydrogenase inhibitor), syrosingopine (MCT1- and MCT4 inhibitor) and compound 968 (glutaminase inhibitor) under hyperoxic and physioxic conditions. In line with metabolic signatures, all inhibitors significantly reduced parasite replication under both oxygen conditions, thereby proving both energy-related metabolic pathways, glycolysis and glutaminolysis, but also lactate export mechanisms via MCTs as pivotal for C. parvum under in vivo physioxic conditions of mammals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas M. Negretti ◽  
Christopher R. Gourley ◽  
Prabhat K. Talukdar ◽  
Geremy Clair ◽  
Courtney M. Klappenbach ◽  
...  

AbstractCampylobacter jejuni is a foodborne pathogen that binds to and invades the epithelial cells lining the human intestinal tract. Maximal invasion of host cells by C. jejuni requires cell binding as well as delivery of the Cia proteins (Campylobacter invasion antigens) to the host cell cytosol via the flagellum. Here, we show that CiaD binds to the host cell protein IQGAP1 (a Ras GTPase-activating-like protein), thus displacing RacGAP1 from the IQGAP1 complex. This, in turn, leads to the unconstrained activity of the small GTPase Rac1, which is known to have roles in actin reorganization and internalization of C. jejuni. Our results represent the identification of a host cell protein targeted by a flagellar secreted effector protein and demonstrate that C. jejuni-stimulated Rac signaling is dependent on IQGAP1.


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