Hertie Foundation

T cells are pivotal for the generation and regulation of antigen-specific immune responses, butcan alsocause autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. A milestone for multiple sclerosis research was the discovery that effector memory CD4+ T cells reactive against central nervous system (CNS) antigens were the cellular cause of the disease in the animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Since then, protocols have been developed to generate stable, oligoclonal effector T cells reactive against CNS antigens and therefore capable of inducing EAE from primary cultures. Importantly, the discovery that antigen-specific T cells can be efficiently transduced by retroviral vectors without interfering with T cell function made it possible to engineer these cells with a variety of genes, such as fluorescent protein and sensors, that have proven to be powerful tools to uncover T cell function in vivo and in vitro.In this chapter, we provide protocols for the generation of primary effector memory T cell lines from the Lewis rat against CNS and control antigens and fortheir transduction with genes of interest.

After proposing a natural metric for the space in which particles spin which implements the principle of maximum frequency, E=hf is generalised and its inverse Fourier transform is calculated.

BackgroundMechanisms of inflammation and protein accumulation are crucial in inclusion body myositis (IBM). Recent evidence demonstrated that intravenous immunoglobulin failed to suppress cell-stress mediators in IBM. Here we studied the molecular changes in skeletal muscle biopsies from patients with IBM before and after treatment with alemtuzumab.MethodsRelevant inflammatory and degeneration-associated markers were assessed by quantitative-PCR and immunohistochemistry in repeated muscle biopsy specimens from patients with IBM, which had been treated in a previously published uncontrolled proof-of-concept trial with alemtuzumab.ResultsThere were no significant changes of the mRNA expression levels of the pro-inflammatory chemokines CXCL-9, CCL-4, and the cytokines IFN-γ, TGF-β, TNF-α, and IL-1β. Similarly, the degeneration-associated molecules ubiquitin, APP and αB-crystallin did not substantially change. Although no overall beneficial treatment effect was noted except for a 6-month stabilization, some patients experienced a transient improvement in muscle strength. In such responders, a trend towards reduced expression of inflammatory markers was noted. In contrast, the expression remained unchanged in the others who did not experience any change. The expression levels of IL-1β and MHC-I correlated with the positive clinical effect. By immunohistochemistry, some inflammatory mediators like CD8, CXCL-9, and MHC-I were downmodulated. However, no consistent changes were noted for ubiquitin, nitrotyrosin and β-amyloid.ConclusionsAlemtuzumab showed a trend towards downregulation of the expression of some inflammatory molecules in skeletal muscle of IBM patients but has no effect on several crucial markers of cell stress and degeneration. The data are helpful to explain the molecular treatment effects of future lymphocyte-targeted immunotherapies in IBM.

A 48-year-old male patient presented with personality changes and progressive memory loss over 2 years with initially suspected Hashimoto's encephalopathy. Strategy of diagnostic workup of early onset dementia included dementia from neurodegenerative, neuroinflammatory, metabolic/toxic, and psychiatric origin. The patient's neurological exam was normal. MRI revealed a leukencephalopathy, predominantly in the frontal periventricular white matter, without notable changes over 2 years. On neurophysiological examination, prolonged central conduction times and a sensorimotor polyneuropathy were noted. Neuropsychological impairment included disorientation in place and a reduced short time memory. Behavioral alterations were predominated by sudden mood changes and disinhibition. Cerebrospinal fluid was normal. Despite presence of thyroid autoantibodies, glucocorticosteroid treatment did not improve the dementia. A metachromatic leukodystrophy was diagnosed by decreased arylsulfatase-A activity in leucocytes/fibroblasts and identification of a compound heterozygous mutation in the ARSA gene: c.542T>G (exon 3) and the novel mutation c.1013T>C (exon 6). Pathogenic function was suggested by bioinformatic mutation search. In a patient with early onset dementia, strategic diagnostic workup including genetic assessment revealed an adult-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy with a novel mutation in the arylsulfatase A gene.

A comprehensive analysis of the molecular network of cellular factors establishing and maintaining pluripotency as well as self renewal of pluripotent stem cells is key for further progress in understanding basic stem cell biology. Nanog is necessary for the natural induction of pluripotency in early mammalian development but dispensable for both its maintenance and its artificial induction. To gain further insight into the molecular activity of Nanog, we analyzed the outcomes of Nanog gain-of-function in various cell models employing a recently developed biologically active recombinant cell-permeant protein, Nanog-TAT. We found that Nanog enhances the proliferation of both NIH 3T3 and primary fibroblast cells. Nanog transduction into primary fibroblasts results in suppression of senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity. Investigation of cell cycle factors revealed that transient activation of Nanog correlates with consistent downregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p27KIP1 (also known as CDKN1B). By performing chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis, we confirmed bona fide Nanog-binding sites upstream of the p27KIP1 gene, establishing a direct link between physical occupancy and functional regulation. Our data demonstrates that Nanog enhances proliferation of fibroblasts through transcriptional regulation of cell cycle inhibitor p27 gene.

Nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) has been implicated as an initial Ca2+ trigger in T cell Ca2+ signalling, but its role in formation of the immune synapse in CD4+ effector T cells has not been analysed. CD4+ T cells are activated by the interaction with peptide-MHCII complexes on the surface of antigen-presenting cells. Establishing a two-cell system including primary rat CD4+ T cells specific for myelin basic protein and rat astrocytes enabled us to mirror this activation process in vitro and to analyse Ca2+ signalling, cell shape changes and motility in T cells during formation and maintenance of the immune synapse. After immune synapse formation, T cells showed strong, antigen-dependent increases in free cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+] i ). Analysis of cell shape and motility revealed rounding and immobilization of T cells depending on the amplitude of the Ca2+ signal. NAADP-antagonist BZ194 effectively blocked Ca2+ signals in T cells evoked by the interaction with antigen-presenting astrocytes. BZ194 reduced the percentage of T cells showing high Ca2+ signals thereby supporting the proposed trigger function of NAADP for global Ca2+ signalling. Taken together, the NAADP signalling pathway is further confirmed as a promising target for specific pharmacological intervention to modulate T cell activation.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) resemble embryonic stem cells and can differentiate into cell derivatives of all three germ layers. However, frequently the differentiation efficiency of iPS cells into some lineages is rather poor. Here, we found that fusion of iPS cells with human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) enhances iPS cell differentiation. Such iPS hybrids showed a prominent differentiation bias toward hematopoietic lineages but also toward other mesendodermal lineages. Additionally, during differentiation of iPS hybrids, expression of early mesendodermal markers-Brachyury (T), MIX1 Homeobox-Like Protein 1 (MIXL1), and Goosecoid (GSC)-appeared with faster kinetics than in parental iPS cells. Following iPS hybrid differentiation there was a prominent induction of NODAL and inhibition of NODAL signaling blunted mesendodermal differentiation. This indicates that NODAL signaling is critically involved in mesendodermal bias of iPS hybrid differentiation. In summary, we demonstrate that iPS cell fusion with HSCs prominently enhances iPS cell differentiation.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) constitute a highly pleiotropic class of drugs predominantly employed in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In our search for new mechanisms of action, we identified a hitherto unknown effect of GCs in the gastrointestinal tract. We found that oral administration of dexamethasone (Dex) to mice caused an enlargement of the stomach due to the induction of gastroparesis and that this effect was abolished in GR(dim) mice carrying the A458T mutation in the GC receptor (GR). Gastroparesis was unrelated to the enhanced gastric acid secretion observed after Dex treatment, although both effects were mediated by the same molecular mechanism of the GR. Using conditional GR-knockout mice, we could further rule out that GC effects on enterocytes or myeloid cells were involved in the induction of gastroparesis. In contrast, we found that Dex upregulated arginase 2 (Arg2) in the stomach both at the mRNA and protein level. This suggests that GC treatment leads to a depletion of l-arginine thereby impeding the production of nitric oxide (NO), which is required for gastric motility. We tested this hypothesis by supplementing the drinking water of the mice with exogenous l-arginine to compensate for the presumed shortage of this major substrate of NO synthases. Importantly, this measure completely prevented both the enlargement of the stomach and the induction of gastroparesis after Dex treatment. Our findings raise considerations of combining orally applied GCs with l-arginine to improve tolerability of GC treatment and provide a possible explanation for the antiemetic effects of GCs widely exploited in chemotherapy.