The red alga as a host for molecular farming: Efficient production of immunologically active hepatitis C virus glycoprotein.

Microalgae are promising production platforms for the cost-effective production of recombinant proteins. We have recently established that the red alga provides superior transgene expression properties, due to the episomal maintenance of transformation vectors as multicopy plasmids in the nucleus. Here, we have explored the potential of to synthesize complex pharmaceutical proteins to high levels.

The "humanized" N-glycosylation pathway in CRISPR/Cas9-edited Nicotiana benthamiana significantly enhances the immunogenicity of a S/preS1 Hepatitis B Virus antigen and the virus-neutralizing antibody response in vaccinated mice.

The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has taught the world a costly lesson about the devastating consequences of viral disease outbreaks but also, the remarkable impact of vaccination in limiting life and economic losses. Vaccination against human Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), a major human pathogen affecting 290 million people worldwide, remains a key action towards viral hepatitis elimination by 2030. To meet this goal, the development of improved HBV antigens is critical to overcome non-responsiveness to standard vaccines based on the yeast-produced, small (S) envelope protein.

Efficient cellular and humoral immune response and production of virus-neutralizing antibodies by the Hepatitis B Virus S/preS1 antigen.

Despite the availability of improved antiviral therapies, infection with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a3 significant health issue, as a curable treatment is yet to be discovered. Current HBV vaccines relaying on the efficient expression of the small (S) envelope protein in yeast and the implementation of mass vaccination programs have clearly contributed to containment of the disease. However, the lack of an efficient immune response in up to 10% of vaccinated adults, the controversies regarding the seroprotection persistence in vaccine responders and the emergence of vaccine escape virus mutations urge for the development of better HBV immunogens.

Chitosan-Based Materials Featuring Multiscale Anisotropy for Wider Tissue Engineering Applications.

We designed graphene oxide composites with increased morphological and structural variability using fatty acid-coupled polysaccharide co-polymer as the continuous phase. The matrix was synthesized by N, O-acylation of chitosan with palmitic and lauric acid. The obtained co-polymer was crosslinked with genipin and composited with graphene oxide.

FEM Analysis of Textile Reinforced Composite Materials Impact Behavior.

Composite materials reinforced with textile fabrics represent a complex subject. When explaining these materials, one must consider their mechanical behavior in general, and impact resistance in particular, as many applications are characterized by dynamic strains. Impact characteristics must be considered from the early stages of the design process in order to be controlled through structure, layer deposition and direction.

Structure-Based Engineering of Steroidogenic CYP260A1 for Stereo- and Regioselective Hydroxylation of Progesterone.

The production of regio- and stereoselectively hydroxylated steroids is of high pharmaceutical interest and can be achieved by cytochrome P450-based biocatalysts. CYP260A1 from Sorangium cellulosum strain So ce56 catalyzes hydroxylation of C19 or C21 steroids at the very unique 1α-position. However, the conversion of progesterone (PROG) by CYP260A1 is very unselective.

Identification of Inhibitors Targeting Ferredoxin-NADP⁺ Reductase from the Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri Phytopathogenic Bacteria.

Ferredoxin-NADP(H) reductases (FNRs) deliver NADPH or low potential one-electron donors to redox-based metabolism in plastids and bacteria. subsp. () is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for citrus canker disease that affects commercial citrus crops worldwide.

Transcriptome and Metabolite Changes during Hydrogen Cyanamide-Induced Floral Bud Break in Sweet Cherry.

Release of bud dormancy in perennial woody plants is a temperature-dependent process and thus flowering in these species is heavily affected by climate change. The lack of cold winters in temperate growing regions often results in reduced flowering and low fruit yields. This is likely to decrease the availability of fruits and nuts of the spp.

Cyanogenic Glucosides and Derivatives in Almond and Sweet Cherry Flower Buds from Dormancy to Flowering.

Almond and sweet cherry are two economically important species of the genus. They both produce the cyanogenic glucosides prunasin and amygdalin. As part of a two-component defense system, prunasin and amygdalin release toxic hydrogen cyanide upon cell disruption.

Chemical control of flowering time.

Flowering at the right time is of great importance; it secures seed production and therefore species survival and crop yield. In addition to the genetic network controlling flowering time, there are a number of much less studied metabolites and exogenously applied chemicals that may influence the transition to flowering as well as flower opening. Increased emphasis on research within this area has the potential to counteract the negative effects of global warming on flowering time, especially in perennial crop plants.

Impact of cord blood banking technologies on clinical outcome: a Eurocord/Cord Blood Committee (CTIWP), European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation and NetCord retrospective analysis.

Background: Techniques for banking cord blood units (CBUs) as source for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation have been developed over the past 20 years, aimed to improve laboratory efficiency without altering the biologic properties of the graft. A large-scale, registry-based assessment of the impact of the banking variables on the clinical outcome is currently missing.

Study Design And Methods: A total of 677 single cord blood transplants (CBTs) carried out for acute leukemia in complete remission in centers affiliated with the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation were selected.

Intranasally applied neuropeptide S shifts a high-anxiety electrophysiological endophenotype in the ventral hippocampus towards a "normal"-anxiety one.

The neurobiological basis of pathological anxiety and the improvement of its pharmacological treatment are a matter of intensive investigation. Here, using electrophysiological techniques in brain slices from animals of the high anxiety-related behavior (HAB) and normal anxiety-related behavior (NAB) mouse model, we show that basal neurotransmission at ventral hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses is weaker in HAB compared to NAB mice. We further demonstrate that paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and long-term potentiation (LTP) at these synapses are more pronounced in slices from HAB animals.

Identification and characterization of HPA-axis reactivity endophenotypes in a cohort of female PTSD patients.

Analysis of the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis in patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has hitherto produced inconsistent findings, inter alia in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). To address these inconsistencies, we compared a sample of 23 female PTSD patients with either early life trauma (ELT) or adult trauma (AT) or combined ELT and AT to 18 age-matched non-traumatized female healthy controls in the TSST which was preceded by intensive baseline assessments. During the TSST, we determined a variety of clinical, psychological, endocrine and cardiovascular parameters as well as expression levels of four HPA-axis related genes.

A role for synapsin in FKBP51 modulation of stress responsiveness: Convergent evidence from animal and human studies.

Both the molecular co-chaperone FKBP51 and the presynaptic vesicle protein synapsin (alternatively spliced from SYN1-3) are intensively discussed players in the still insufficiently explored pathobiology of psychiatric disorders such as major depression, schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To address their still unknown interaction, we compared the expression levels of synapsin and five other neurostructural and HPA axis related marker proteins in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the hippocampus of restrained-stressed and unstressed Fkbp5 knockout mice and corresponding wild-type littermates. In addition, we compared and correlated the gene expression levels of SYN1, SYN2 and FKBP5 in three different online datasets comprising expression data of human healthy subjects as well as of predominantly medicated patients with different psychiatric disorders.

Identification of a role for the ventral hippocampus in neuropeptide S-elicited anxiolysis.

Neuropeptide S (NPS) increasingly emerges as a potential novel treatment option for anxiety diseases like panic and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, the neural underpinnings of its anxiolytic action are still not clearly understood. Recently, we reported that neurons of the ventral hippocampus (VH) take up intranasally administered fluorophore-conjugated NPS and, moreover, that application of NPS to mouse brain slices affects neurotransmission and plasticity at hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses.

Long-lasting hippocampal synaptic protein loss in a mouse model of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Despite intensive research efforts, the molecular pathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and especially of the hippocampal volume loss found in the majority of patients suffering from this anxiety disease still remains elusive. We demonstrated before that trauma-induced hippocampal shrinkage can also be observed in mice exhibiting a PTSD-like syndrome. Aiming to decipher the molecular correlates of these trans-species posttraumatic hippocampal alterations, we compared the expression levels of a set of neurostructural marker proteins between traumatized and control mice at different time points after their subjection to either an electric footshock or mock treatment which was followed by stressful re-exposure in several experimental groups.

Intranasally administered neuropeptide S (NPS) exerts anxiolytic effects following internalization into NPS receptor-expressing neurons.

Experiments in rodents revealed neuropeptide S (NPS) to constitute a potential novel treatment option for anxiety diseases such as panic and post-traumatic stress disorder. However, both its cerebral target sites and the molecular underpinnings of NPS-mediated effects still remain elusive. By administration of fluorophore-conjugated NPS, we pinpointed NPS target neurons in distinct regions throughout the entire brain.

FK506 binding protein 5 shapes stress responsiveness: modulation of neuroendocrine reactivity and coping behavior.

Background: The Hsp90 cochaperone FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5) is an established regulator of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and numerous genetic studies have linked it to stress-related diseases such as major depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. However, translational studies including genetic animal models are lacking.

Methods: Mice deficient of FKBP5 were generated and analyzed in comparison with wildtype littermates.

Double cord blood transplantation: extending the use of unrelated umbilical cord blood cells for patients with hematological diseases.

Unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) has been widely used to treat patients lacking a well-matched HLA donor. Cell dose is a critical determinant of outcomes in cord blood transplantation, limiting the use of this strategy for low body weight patients. To overcome this limitation, infusion of two partially HLA-matched cord units was adopted as a new strategy.

Long-term follow-up and factors influencing outcomes after related HLA-identical cord blood transplantation for patients with malignancies: an analysis on behalf of Eurocord-EBMT.

We analyzed risk factors influencing outcomes after related (R) human leukocyte antigen-identical cord blood transplantation (CBT) for 147 patients with malignancies reported to Eurocord-European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. CBT has been performed since 1990; median follow-up was 6.7 years.

Risk factor analysis of outcomes after unrelated cord blood transplantation in patients with hurler syndrome.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is considered effective in preventing disease progression in patients with Hurler syndrome (HS). Unrelated umbilical cord blood (UCB) grafts are suggested as an alternative to bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). We studied 93 HS patients receiving an UCB graft to analyze risk factors for outcomes.

Results of unrelated cord blood transplant in fanconi anemia patients: risk factor analysis for engraftment and survival.

We retrospectively analyzed results of unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in 93 Fanconi anemia (FA) patients. Median age at transplantation was 8.6 years (1-45).

Simulation of soft tissue failure using the material point method.

Understanding the factors that control the extent of tissue damage as a result of material failure in soft tissues may provide means to improve diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue injuries. The objective of this research was to develop and test a computational framework for the study of the failure of anisotropic soft tissues subjected to finite deformation. An anisotropic constitutive model incorporating strain-based failure criteria was implemented in an existing computational solid mechanics software based on the material point method (MPM), a quasi-meshless particle method for simulations in computational mechanics.