Improved hypocrellin A production in Shiraia bambusicola by light-dark shift.

Hypocrellin A (HA) is a major bioactive perylenequinone from the fruiting body of Shiraia bambusicola used for the treatment of skin diseases and developed as a photodynamic therapy (PDT) agent against cancers and viruses. The mycelial culture of S. bambusicola under dark is a biotechnological alternative for HA production but with low yield.

The Lipid Kinase PIKfyve Coordinates the Neutrophil Immune Response through the Activation of the Rac GTPase.

Neutrophils rapidly arrive at an infection site because of their unparalleled chemotactic ability, after which they unleash numerous attacks on pathogens through degranulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, as well as by phagocytosis, which sequesters pathogens within phagosomes. Phagosomes then fuse with lysosomes and granules to kill the enclosed pathogens. A complex signaling network composed of kinases, GTPases, and lipids, such as phosphoinositides, helps to coordinate all of these processes.

Neutrophils Increase Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Invasion through an Invadopodia-Dependent Pathway.

Neutrophils have recently been shown to promote invasion and correlate with a poor prognosis in different cancers, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. In this study, we analyze the effects of neutrophils in the invasion of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) using a combination of conditioned media, direct and indirect coculture of human peripheral blood neutrophils, and UMSCC47 cells (OSCC cell line). Invasion and matrix degradation were determined using a modified in vitro invasion assay and an invadopodia assay, respectively.

Tooth retention through endodontic microsurgery or tooth replacement using single implants: a systematic review of treatment outcomes.

Introduction: Clinicians are regularly confronted with difficult choices. Should a tooth that has not healed through nonsurgical root canal treatment be treated through endodontic microsurgery or be replaced using a single implant? Acquiring complete, unbiased information to help clinicians and their patients make these choices requires a systematic review of the literature on treatment outcomes. The purpose of this systematic review was to compare the outcomes of tooth retention through endodontic microsurgery to tooth replacement using an implant supported single crown.

Global analysis of neutrophil responses to Neisseria gonorrhoeae reveals a self-propagating inflammatory program.

An overwhelming neutrophil-driven response causes both acute symptoms and the lasting sequelae that result from infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Neutrophils undergo an aggressive opsonin-independent response to N. gonorrhoeae, driven by the innate decoy receptor CEACAM3.

Hyperplastic dental follicle - review of literature and report of two cases in one family.

Hyperplastic dental follicle is an extremely rare lesion. The practitioner should be able to differentiate it from a dentigerous cyst. The present article will review related literature and report on two cases in one family.

The axonal repellent, Slit2, inhibits directional migration of circulating neutrophils.

In inflammatory diseases, circulating neutrophils are recruited to sites of injury. Attractant signals are provided by many different chemotactic molecules, such that blockade of one may not prevent neutrophil recruitment effectively. The Slit family of secreted proteins and their transmembrane receptor, Robo, repel axonal migration during CNS development.

Rac1 and Rac2 differentially regulate actin free barbed end formation downstream of the fMLP receptor.

Actin assembly at the leading edge of migrating cells depends on the availability of high-affinity free barbed ends (FBE) that drive actin filament elongation and subsequent membrane protrusion. We investigated the specific mechanisms through which the Rac1 and Rac2 small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) generate free barbed ends in neutrophils. Using neutrophils lacking either Rac1 or Rac2 and a neutrophil permeabilization model that maintains receptor signaling to the actin cytoskeleton, we assessed the mechanisms through which these two small GTPases mediate FBE generation downstream of the formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine receptor.

The major outer sheath protein of Treponema denticola selectively inhibits Rac1 activation in murine neutrophils.

Treponema denticola major outer sheath protein (Msp) inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro, but key regulatory mechanisms have not been identified. Because the Rac small GTPases regulate directional migration in response to chemoattractants, the objective was to analyse the effects of Msp on formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP)-mediated neutrophil polarization and Rac activation in murine neutrophils. Msp pretreatment of neutrophils inhibited both polarization and chemotactic migration in response to fMLP.

Timing of neutrophil tissue repopulation predicts restoration of innate immune protection in a murine bone marrow transplantation model.

It has been suggested that neutrophil tissue repopulation following bone marrow transplantation (BMT) serves as an earlier and more relevant marker of susceptibility to infection than circulating neutrophil counts. In a previous study using an oral rinse protocol, we found that oral neutrophil recovery always preceded blood neutrophil engraftment and that the day of oral neutrophil detection served as a predictor of patient susceptibility to infection after BMT. Consequently, we have developed and validated a mouse BMT model which uses bone marrow transplants containing enhanced green fluorescent protein-expressing neutrophils to follow neutrophil tissue repopulation after BMT.

Modulation of human neutrophil functions in vitro by Treponema denticola major outer sheath protein.

In this study of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), pretreatment with Treponema denticola major outer sheath protein (Msp) inhibited formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP)-induced chemotaxis, phagocytosis of immunoglobulin G-coated microspheres, fMLP-stimulated calcium transients, and actin assembly. Msp neither altered oxidative responses to phorbol myristate or fMLP nor induced apoptosis. Msp selectively impairs chemotaxis and phagocytosis by impacting the PMN cytoskeleton.

Identification of a mouse synaptic glycoprotein gene in cultured neurons.

Neuronal differentiation and aging are known to involve many genes, which may also be differentially expressed during these developmental processes. From primary cultured cerebral cortical neurons, we have previously identified various differentially expressed gene transcripts from cultured cortical neurons using the technique of arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR). Among these transcripts, clone 0-2 was found to have high homology to rat and human synaptic glycoprotein.

The role of Rac1 and Rac2 in bacterial killing.

The small Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) Rac1 and Rac2 have distinct roles in regulating neutrophil chemotaxis; however, little is known about their possible unique roles in mediating bacterial killing. To elucidate the relative roles of Rac1 and Rac2 in regulating neutrophil-mediated bacterial killing, we utilized the previously described mice model in which mouse neutrophils are deficient in either Rac1, Rac2, or both isoforms. We demonstrate here that while both Rac isoforms are required for normal neutrophil chemotaxis and bacterial killing, they have non-overlapping roles in bacterial phagocytosis and NADPH oxidase function.

Rac1 is the small GTPase responsible for regulating the neutrophil chemotaxis compass.

Although both of the small Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) Rac1 and Rac2 have been demonstrated to play a role in chemotaxis, the precise and possible unique roles performed by each of these 2 Rac isoforms in neutrophil chemotaxis have not been defined. To elucidate the specific roles of Rac1 and Rac2 in neutrophils during the process of chemotaxis, we generated mice deficient in Rac1, Rac2, or in both Rac1 and Rac2 in cells of myeloid lineage including neutrophils by mating Rac2 null mice with mice carrying a conditional allele for Rac1 and expressing the Cre recombinase downstream of a specific myeloid promoter, lysozyme M. We demonstrate here that although Rac1 null neutrophils display normal chemokinesis, they are unable to migrate toward the source of the chemoattractant.