Bradykinin-related peptides, the kinins, are blood-derived peptides that stimulate 2 G protein-coupled receptors, the B and B receptors (BR, BR). The pharmacologic and molecular identities of these 2 receptor subtypes will be succinctly reviewed herein, with emphasis on drug development, receptor expression, signaling, and adaptation to persistent stimulation. Peptide and non-peptide antagonists and fluorescent ligands have been produced for each receptor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman herpesvirus-6A (HHV-6A) and 6B (HHV-6B) are two closely related betaherpesviruses that are associated with various diseases including seizures and encephalitis. The HHV-6A/B genomes have been shown to be present in an integrated state in the telomeres of latently infected cells. In addition, integration of HHV-6A/B in germ cells has resulted in individuals harboring this inherited chromosomally integrated HHV-6A/B (iciHHV-6) in every cell of their body.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKinins are the small and fragile hydrophilic peptides related to bradykinin (BK) and derived from circulating kininogens via the action of kallikreins. Kinins bind to the preformed and widely distributed B receptor (BR) and to the inducible B receptor (BR). BRs and BRs are related G protein coupled receptors that possess natural agonist ligands of nanomolar affinity (BK and Lys BK for BRs, Lys-des-Arg-BK for BR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInherited chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus-6 (iciHHV-6) results in the germ-line transmission of the HHV-6 genome. Every somatic cell of iciHHV-6+ individuals contains the HHV-6 genome integrated in the telomere of chromosomes. Whether having iciHHV-6 predisposes humans to diseases remains undefined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman herpesvirus-6A (HHV-6A) and HHV-6B integrate their genomes into the telomeres of human chromosomes, however, the mechanisms leading to integration remain unknown. HHV-6A/B encode a protein that has been proposed to be involved in integration termed U94, an ortholog of adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV-2) Rep68 integrase. In this report, we addressed whether purified recombinant maltose-binding protein (MBP)-U94 fusion proteins of HHV-6A/B possess biological functions compatible with viral integration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) is a ubiquitous pathogen with frequent reactivation observed in immunocompromised patients such as BM transplant (BMT) recipients. Adoptive immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic avenue for the treatment of opportunistic infections, including herpesviruses. While T-cell immunotherapy can successfully control CMV and EBV reactivations in BMT recipients, such therapy is not available for HHV-6 infections, in part due to a lack of identified protective CD8(+) T-cell epitopes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman herpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B) is a ubiquitous pathogen causing lifelong infections in approximately 95% of humans worldwide. To persist within its host, HHV-6B has developed several immune evasion mechanisms, such as latency, during which minimal proteins are expressed, and the ability to disturb innate and adaptive immune responses. The primary cellular targets of HHV-6B are CD4(+) T cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe C-C chemokine receptor-7 (CCR7) is a G protein coupled receptor that has a role in leukocyte homing, but that is also expressed in aggressive tumor cells. Preclinical research supports that CCR7 is a valid target in oncology. In view of the increasing availability of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies that carry cytotoxic cargoes, we studied the feasibility of forcing intact cells to internalize known monoclonal antibodies by exploiting the cycle of endocytosis and recycling triggered by the CCR7 agonist CCL19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF"Lysosomotropic" cationic drugs are known to concentrate in acidic cell compartments due to low retro-diffusion of the protonated molecule (ion trapping); they draw water by an osmotic mechanism, leading to a vacuolar response. Several aspects of this phenomenon were recently reexamined. (1) The proton pump vacuolar (V)-ATPase is the driving force of cationic drug uptake and ensuing vacuolization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHerpesviruses are extremely well adapted to their hosts and cause persistent infections that span over decades. Typically, these viruses establish latency by maintaining their viral genomes as extrachromosomal episomes and restricting their gene expression to a minimum. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is perhaps one of the most well-adapted human herpesvirus with a prevalence approaching 100%.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocal anesthetics, like many other cationic drugs, induce a vacuolar and macroautophagic cytopathology that has been observed in vivo and in various cell types; some also induce cytotoxicity of mitochondrial origin (apoptosis and necrosis) and it is not known whether the 2 types of toxicity overlap or interact. We compared bupivacaine with a more hydrophilic agent, lidocaine, for morphological, functional, and toxicological responses in a previously exploited nonneuronal system, primary smooth muscle cells. Bupivacaine induced little vacuolization (≥2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocytosis of the bradykinin-stimulated B(2) receptors is parallel to the transport and subsequent degradation of the ligand. To implement biotechnological applications based on receptor-mediated transport, one strategy is to conjugate the agonist ligand to a cargo. Alternatively, we studied whether the B(2) receptor can transport large antibody-based cargoes into intact cells and characterized the ensuing endosomal routing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHerpesviruses are members of a diverse family of viruses that colonize all vertebrates from fish to mammals. Although more than one hundred herpesviruses exist, all are nearly identical architecturally, with a genome consisting of a linear double-stranded DNA molecule (100 to 225 kbp) protected by an icosahedral capsid made up of 162 hollow-centered capsomeres, a tegument surrounding the nucleocapsid, and a viral envelope derived from host membranes. Upon infection, the linear viral DNA is delivered to the nucleus, where it circularizes to form the viral episome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe blood vessels are one of the important target tissues for the mediators of inflammation and allergy; further cytokines affect them in a number of ways. We review the use of the isolated blood vessel mounted in organ baths as an important source of pharmacological information. While its use in the bioassay of vasoactive substances tends to be replaced with modern analytical techniques, contractility assays are effective to evaluate novel synthetic drugs, generating robust potency and selectivity data about agonists, partial agonists and competitive or insurmountable antagonists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Local anesthetics in their therapeutic concentration range cause a vacuolar cytopathology that has been observed in vivo and in various types of mammalian cells. We examined whether active concentration ranges of drugs and the kinetics of the vacuolar response are clinically relevant and whether this phenomenon is associated with cytotoxicity, autophagy, and cell stress signalling.
Methods: We compared procaine and lidocaine for morphological, functional, and signalling responses in a previously exploited non-neuronal system, primary smooth muscle cells.
The expression of tissue factor (TF) in tumors reportedly exacerbates the aggressiveness of several types of cancers. The shedding of TF-containing membrane particles is believed to influence the ability of tumors to expand and metastasize, and these microparticles may also be harmful in the onset of disseminated intravascular coagulation in specific cancers. Furthermore, the intracellular signaling that is elicited after the formation of the TF / coagulation factor VIIa complex at the cell membrane modulates the activity of adhesion molecules and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe antiprotozoal agent quinacrine is a lipophilic cationic drug highly distributed to tissues. It has been used in the present experiments to examine whether the vacuolar and autophagic cytopathology induced by organic amines is independent from the therapeutic class. Furthermore, we tested the presence of the concentrated cationic drug itself in the enlarged vacuoles by exploiting the intense green fluorescence of quinacrine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlike the widely distributed and preformed B(2) receptors, the bradykinin B(1) receptors exhibit a highly regulated expression and minimal agonist-induced endocytosis. To evaluate the potential usefulness of fluorescent B(1) receptor probes applicable to live cell microscopy and cytofluorometry, combined chemical synthesis and pharmacologic evaluation have been conducted on novel 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein [5(6)CF]-containing peptides. Representative agents are the antagonist B-10376 [5(6)CF-epsilon-aminocaproyl-Lys-Lys-[Hyp(3), CpG(5), D-Tic(7), CpG(8)]des-Arg(9)-bradykinin] and the agonist B-10378 [5(6)CF-epsilon-aminocaproyl-Lys-des-Arg(9)-bradykinin].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aims of this study were to investigate whether several histamine receptor agonists and antagonists are subjected to receptor-independent ion trapping into acidic organelles, and whether this sequestration influences their pharmacological or toxicological properties. Vacuolar (V)-ATPase-dependent intracellular sequestration of agonists was recognized as morphological alterations (large fluid-filled vacuoles for betahistine and 1-methylhistamine, granular uptake for fluorescent BODIPY FL histamine) prevented by the specific V-ATPase inhibitor bafilomycin A1 in rabbit vascular smooth muscle cells. Lipophilicity was the major determinant of these cellular effects (order of potency: BODIPY FL histamine>betahistine>1-methylhistamine>histamine) that occurred at high concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCationic drugs frequently exhibit large apparent volumes of distribution, consistent with various forms of cellular sequestration. The contributions of organelles and metabolic processes that may mimic drug transport were defined in human vascular smooth muscle cells. We hypothesized that procainamide-induced vacuolar cytopathology is driven by intense pseudotransport mediated by the vacuolar (V)-ATPase and pursued the characterization of vesicular trafficking alterations in this model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been recently proposed that the second extracellular loop of the human bradykinin (BK) B1 receptor (B1R) contains a conserved HExxH motif also present in peptidases possessing a Zn2+ prosthetic group, such as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), and that ACE inhibitors directly activate B1R signaling in endothelial cells. However, the binding of ACE inhibitors to the B1Rs has never been directly evaluated. Information about binding of a radiolabeled inhibitor to natural or recombinant ACE in intact cells (physiologic ionic composition) was also collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBradykinin (BK)-related peptides stimulate two major classes of receptors, B1 and B2. The B1 receptor (B1R) plays an important role in various pathophysiological states including chronic inflammation, pain, hypotension, trauma and proliferation of cancer. Therefore, there is interest in the development of highly potent peptide BK B1R antagonists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRhinitis of allergic and viral origin is often self-treated by patients with locally applied vasoconstrictor decongestant drugs. In turn, prolonged use of these agents produce an inflammatory condition termed rhinitis medicamentosa. Cationic drugs are sequestered into cells via various mechanisms, including mitochondrial concentration and V-ATPase-driven trapping in vacuoles that swell by an osmotic mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pharmacol Exp Ther
November 2007
The bradykinin B(2) receptor is a heptahelical receptor regulated by a cycle of phosphorylation, endocytosis, and extensive recycling at the cell surface following agonist stimulation. B-9430 (d-Arg-[Hyp(3),Igl(5),D-Igl(7),Oic(8)]-bradykinin) is a second generation peptide antagonist found to be competitive at the human B(2) receptor and insurmountable at the rabbit B(2) receptor (contractility assays, isolated human umbilical and rabbit jugular veins). Two isomers of this peptide were prepared: B-10344 (D-Arg-[Hyp(3),Igl(5),Oic(7),D-Igl(8)]-bradykinin; inverted sequence Oic(7), D-Igl(8)) and B-9972 (D-Arg-[Hyp(3),Igl(5),Oic(7),Igl(8)]-bradykinin); they are low- and high-potency agonists, respectively, in vascular preparations.
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