Podoplanin expressing macrophages and their involvement in tertiary lymphoid structures in mouse models of Sjögren's disease.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) are formed in tissues targeted by chronic inflammation processes, such as infection and autoimmunity. In Sjögren's disease, the organization of immune cells into TLS is an important part of disease progression. Here, we investigated the dynamics of tissue resident macrophages in the induction and expansion of salivary gland TLS.

Advanced methods and novel biomarkers in autoimmune diseases ‑ a review of the recent years progress in systemic lupus erythematosus.

There are several autoimmune and rheumatic diseases affecting different organs of the human body. Multiple sclerosis (MS) mainly affects brain, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) mainly affects joints, Type 1 diabetes (T1D) mainly affects pancreas, Sjogren's syndrome (SS) mainly affects salivary glands, while systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects almost every organ of the body. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by production of autoantibodies, activation of immune cells, increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and activation of type I interferons.

Kidney Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Lupus Nephritis Develop into Large Interconnected Networks and Resemble Lymph Nodes in Gene Signature.

Immune aggregates organized as tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are observed within the kidneys of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis (LN). Renal TLS was characterized in lupus-prone New Zealand black × New Zealand white F1 mice analyzing cell composition and vessel formation. RNA sequencing was performed on transcriptomes isolated from lymph nodes, macrodissected TLS from kidneys, and total kidneys of mice at different disease stages by using a personal genome machine and RNA sequencing.

Biochemical characterization of ferric uptake regulator (Fur) from Aliivibrio salmonicida. Mapping the DNA sequence specificity through binding studies and structural modelling.

Iron is an essential nutrient for bacteria, however its propensity to form toxic hydroxyl radicals at high intracellular concentrations, requires its acquisition to be tightly regulated. Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a metal-dependent DNA-binding protein that acts as a transcriptional regulator in maintaining iron metabolism in bacteria and is a highly interesting target in the design of new antibacterial drugs. Fur mutants have been shown to exhibit decreased virulence in infection models.

Lupus nephritis progression in FcγRIIB-/-yaa mice is associated with early development of glomerular electron dense deposits and loss of renal DNase I in severe disease.

FcγRIIB-/-yaa mice develop severe lupus glomerulonephritis due to lack of an inhibitory immune cell receptor combined with a Y-chromosome linked autoimmune accelerator mutation. In the present study, we have investigated nephritis development and progression in FcγRIIB-/-yaa mice to find shared features with NZB/NZW F1 lupus prone mice and human disease. We sacrificed 25 male FcγRIIB-/-yaa mice at various disease stages, and grouped them according to activity and chronicity indices for lupus nephritis.

Murine and Human Lupus Nephritis: Pathogenic Mechanisms and Theoretical Strategies for Therapy.

Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus, and represents one of the criteria implemented to classify systemic lupus erythematosus. Although studied for decades, no consensus has been reached related to the basic cellular, molecular, and immunologic mechanism(s) responsible for lupus nephritis. No causal treatments have been developed; therapy is approached mainly with nonspecific immunosuppressive medications.

Structure determination of uracil-DNA N-glycosylase from Deinococcus radiodurans in complex with DNA.

Uracil-DNA N-glycosylase (UNG) is a DNA-repair enzyme in the base-excision repair (BER) pathway which removes uracil from DNA. Here, the crystal structure of UNG from the extremophilic bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans (DrUNG) in complex with DNA is reported at a resolution of 1.35 Å.

Prediction, microarray and northern blot analyses identify new intergenic small RNAs in Aliivibrio salmonicida.

Bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) are trans-encoded regulatory RNAs that typically bind mRNAs by short-sequence complementarities and change the expression of the corresponding proteins. Some of the well-characterized sRNAs serve critical steps in the regulation of important cellular processes, such as quorum sensing (Qrr), iron homeostasis (RyhB), oxidative stress (OxyS), and carbon metabolism (Spot 42). However, many sRNAs remain to be identified, and the functional roles of sRNAs are known for only a small fraction.

Experimental and computational characterization of the ferric uptake regulator from Aliivibrio salmonicida (Vibrio salmonicida).

The Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a global transcription factor that affects expression of bacterial genes in an iron-dependent fashion. Although the Fur protein and its iron-responsive regulon are well studied, there are still important questions that remain to be answered. For example, the consensus Fur binding site also known as the "Fur box" is under debate, and it is still unclear which Fur residues directly interact with the DNA.

The first structure of a cold-adapted superoxide dismutase (SOD): biochemical and structural characterization of iron SOD from Aliivibrio salmonicida.

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are metalloenzymes that catalyse the dismutation of the superoxide radical anion into O(2) and H(2)O(2) in a two-step reaction. The crystal structure of the iron superoxide dismutase from the cold-adapted and fish-pathogenic bacterium Aliivibrio salmonicida (asFeSOD) has been determined and refined to 1.7 A resolution.