Listeria monocytogenes infection in macrophages induces vacuolar-dependent host miRNA response.

Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen, causing serious illness in immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women. Upon detection by macrophages, which are key players of the innate immune response against infection, L. monocytogenes induces specific host cell responses which need to be tightly controlled at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.

Two C-type lectins cooperate to defend Anopheles gambiae against Gram-negative bacteria.

C-type lectins (CTLs) are a family of proteins that share a common structural motif, the carbohydrate recognition domain, and may act as receptors in pathogen recognition. Indeed, some vertebrate CTLs, particularly the collectins, are unequivocally implicated in the innate immune response to certain microbes. Although studies in insects and other invertebrates have described CTL activation of effector immune responses in vitro, the contribution of these CTLs to immune defenses in vivo is still poorly understood.

The melanization reaction is not required for survival of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes after bacterial infections.

The melanization reaction of insects requires activation of pro-phenoloxidase by a proteolytic cascade leading to melanin production. Studies in adult mosquitoes have shown that bacteria are efficiently melanized in the hemocoel, but the contribution of melanization to survival after bacterial infections has not been established. Here we show that the Anopheles gambiae noncatalytic serine protease CLIPA8, an essential factor for Plasmodium ookinete melanization, is also required for melanization of bacteria in adult mosquitoes.

13-cis retinoic acid inhibits development and progression of chronic allograft nephropathy.

Chronic allograft nephropathy is characterized by chronic inflammation and fibrosis. Because retinoids exhibit anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic functions, the effects of low and high doses of 13-cis-retinoic acid (13cRA) were studied in a chronic Fisher344-->Lewis transplantation model. In 13cRA animals, independent of dose (2 or 20 mg/kg body weight/day) and start (0 or 14 days after transplantation) of 13cRA administration, serum creatinine was significantly lower and chronic rejection damage was dramatically reduced, including subendothelial fibrosis of preglomerular vessels and chronic tubulointerstitial damage.

Combined application of saponin and chimeric toxins drastically enhances the targeted cytotoxicity on tumor cells.

Immunotoxins have to be administered in high doses due to low cytosolic uptake with the consequence of severe side effects. Recently we found that the cytotoxic activity from Agrostemma githago seeds can be attributed to a synergistic toxicity of a triterpenoid saponin and a ribosome-inactivating protein. Here we investigated whether saponins are able to enhance the efficacy of a receptor-specific chimeric toxin consisting of saporin-3, epidermal growth factor and a molecular adapter previously shown to reduce side effects on non-target cells.

The renal retinoid system: time-dependent activation in experimental glomerulonephritis.

Retinoids reduce renal damage in rat experimental glomerulonephritis. It is unknown, however, how local and systemic retinoid pathways respond to renal injury. We used a rat model of artificially induced acute anti-Thy1.