Engineered dendritic cells from cord blood and adult blood accelerate effector T cell immune reconstitution against HCMV.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) harmfully impacts survival after peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (PB-HSCT). Delayed immune reconstitution after cord blood (CB)-HSCT leads to even higher HCMV-related morbidity and mortality. Towards a feasible dendritic cell therapy to accelerate de novo immunity against HCMV, we validated a tricistronic integrase-defective lentiviral vector (coexpressing GM-CSF, IFN-α, and HCMV pp65 antigen) capable to directly induce self-differentiation of PB and CB monocytes into dendritic cells processing pp65 ("SmyleDCpp65").

LDI and ESI MS as well as low energy CID of a self-assembling nanorod-forming fullerene derivative.

An amphiphatic fullerene derivative (8-(N-Methyl-Fullero-Pyrrolidinium-1-yl-chloride)-3,6-Dioxaoctan-1-Ammonium Chloride (MFPDAC)), which is of great interest in nanotechnology due to the fact that it forms self-assembling fullerenic nanorods, has been structurally characterized with emphasis to its purity and thermal treatment of a formed nanorod film (on a LDI target) by means of laser desorption/ionization (LDI) coupled with high-resolution curved field reflectron time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry, and by low energy MS/MS as well as in-source fragmentation experiments applying an quadrupole ion trap (QIT) combined with a two-stage reflectron TOF analyzer. The interpretation of LDI results has been supplemented by ESI QIT MS(n) (n = 1-3), as well as high-resolution ESI reflectron TOF mass spectrometric experiments. Based on the experimental data obtained by both desorption/ionization techniques, various types of analyzers and sample treatments, we could completely characterize MFPDAC and further found out that the investigated sample was not entirely free of impurities.

Intracellular delivery of full length recombinant human mitochondrial L-Sco2 protein into the mitochondria of permanent cell lines and SCO2 deficient patient's primary cells.

Mutations in human SCO2 gene, encoding the mitochondrial inner membrane Sco2 protein, have been found to be responsible for fatal infantile cardioencephalomyopathy and cytochrome c oxidase (COX) deficiency. One potentially fruitful therapeutic approach for this mitochondrial disorder should be considered the production of human recombinant full length L-Sco2 protein and its deliberate transduction into the mitochondria. Recombinant L-Sco2 protein, fused with TAT, a Protein Transduction Domain (PTD), was produced in bacteria and purified from inclusion bodies (IBs).

Heterocycles [h]fused onto 4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid, part IV. Convenient synthesis of substituted hexahydro [1,4]thiazepino[2,3-h]quinoline-9-carboxylic acid and its tetrahydroquino[7,8-b]benzothiazepine homolog.

Substituted [1,4]thiazepino[2,3-h]quinolinecarboxylic acid 3 is prepared by PPA-catalyzed thermal lactamization of the respective 8-amino-7-[(2-carboxyethyl)thio]-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acid 9. The latter synthon is obtained by reduction of the 8-nitro-1,4-dihydroquinoline precursor 8 which, in turn, is made accessible via interaction of 3-mercaptopropionic acid with 7-chloro-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-8-nitro-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acid 7 in the presence of triethylamine. A benzo-homolog of 3, namely tetrahydroquino[7,8-b]benzothiazepine-3-carboxylic acid 6, is analogously prepared via the reaction of 2-mercaptobenzoic acid with 7, followed by reduction of the resulting 7-[(2-carboxyphenyl)thio]-8-nitro product 10 into the corresponding 8-amino derivative 11, and subsequent lactamization.

A novel approach for ganglioside structural analysis based on electrospray multiple-stage mass spectrometry.

A powerful method for detailed structural analysis based on electrospray ionization high-capacity ion-trap multiple-stage mass spectrometry (MS) is for the first time introduced in glycolipidomics. The method was optimized for accurate structural elucidation of human brain gangliosides and specifically applied to normal adult human hippocampus-associated structures. The multiple-stage MS experiments reported here allowed for a complete structural characterization of the oligosaccharide moiety of a GM1 ganglioside species.