Mechanisms by which Factor H protects from the alternative pathway of complement.

Chagas disease, a chronic disabling disease caused by the protozoan , has no standardized treatment or preventative vaccine. The infective trypomastigote form of is highly resistant to killing by the complement immune system. Factor H (FH), a negative regulator of the alternative pathway (AP) of complement on cell surfaces and in blood, contains 20 short consensus repeat domains.

Multilevel Community Engagement to Inform a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To explore how patients, community-based perinatal support professionals, and health system clinicians and staff perceived facilitators and barriers to implementation of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) designed to optimize Black maternal heart health.

Methods: This article describes the formative work that we believed needed to occur before the start of the Change of H.E.

Trauma-informed interprofessional education: Preliminary evaluation of building student capacity for system-wide collaboration.

Introduction: In urban areas, numerous barriers exist for children and families to access needed behavioral health care. Compounding the general deficit of behavioral health workers in the United States is lack of access to culturally responsive care. Additional challenges include inherent racism and oppression in our health and human service systems and siloed approaches to behavioral health care training and practice.

An optimized Factor H-Fc fusion protein against multidrug-resistant .

Novel therapeutics against the global threat of multidrug-resistant are urgently needed. Gonococci evade killing by complement by binding factor H (FH), a key inhibitor of the alternative pathway. FH comprises 20 short consensus repeat (SCR) domains organized as a single chain.

A Factor H-Fc fusion protein increases complement-mediated opsonophagocytosis and killing of community associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus employs a multitude of immune-evasive tactics to circumvent host defenses including the complement system, a component of innate immunity central to controlling bacterial infections. With antibiotic resistance becoming increasingly common, there is a dire need for novel therapies. Previously, we have shown that S.

Development of Complement Factor H-Based Immunotherapeutic Molecules in Tobacco Plants Against Multidrug-Resistant .

Novel therapeutics against the global threat of multidrug-resistant are urgently needed. Gonococci possess several mechanisms to evade killing by human complement, including binding of factor H (FH), a key inhibitor of the alternative pathway. FH comprises 20 short consensus repeat (SCR) domains organized in a head-to-tail manner as a single chain.

Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 (PCSK9) Single Domain Antibodies Are Potent Inhibitors of Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor Degradation.

Single domain antibodies (sdAbs) correspond to the antigen-binding domains of camelid antibodies. They have the same antigen-binding properties and specificity as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) but are easier and cheaper to produce. We report here the development of sdAbs targeting human PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) as an alternative to anti-PCSK9 mAbs.

Recombinant anthrax toxin receptor-Fc fusion proteins produced in plants protect rabbits against inhalational anthrax.

Inhalational anthrax, a zoonotic disease caused by the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis spores, has a ∼50% fatality rate even when treated with antibiotics. Pathogenesis is dependent on the activity of two toxic noncovalent complexes: edema toxin (EdTx) and lethal toxin (LeTx). Protective antigen (PA), an essential component of both complexes, binds with high affinity to the major receptor mediating the lethality of anthrax toxin in vivo, capillary morphogenesis protein 2 (CMG2).

Secretory IgA antibodies from plants.

Secretory IgA (SIgA) is the antibody type produced in both mammals and birds that protects the body from infection at mucosal surfaces. While monoclonal IgG antibodies, particularly those against tumor antigens, have received a great deal of attention, both scientific and commercial, as immunotherapeutic agents, the potential of SIgA antibodies has only recently begun to be exploited. Part of the reason for this is that SIgA production in vivo normally requires the cooperation of two different cell types, and single animal cell systems for monoclonal SIgA production are inefficient.

Clinical trial of a plant-derived antibody on recolonization of mutans streptococci.

Objective: This double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial tested the safety and efficacy of a topical secretory IgA antibody manufactured in tobacco plants (plantibody) in preventing recolonization of mutans streptococci (MS) in human plaque as measured by whole stimulated saliva samples.

Methods: Following a 9-day antimicrobial treatment with chlorhexidine (CHX), 56 eligible adults (enrollment salivary MS > or = 10(4) CFU/ml; no current caries) were randomized equally to a group receiving 0, 2, 4, or 6 topical applications of plantibody followed by 6, 4, 2, or 0 applications of placebo, respectively, over a 3-week period.

Results: Among the 54 subjects who completed the trial, the CHX regimen eliminated salivary MS in 69%.

Oxygen regulation of a nodule-located carbonic anhydrase in alfalfa.

Control of the permeability to oxygen is critical for the function of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legume nodules. The inner cortex (IC) seems to be a primary site for this regulation. In alfalfa (Medicago sativa) nodules, expression of the Msca1 gene encoding a carbonic anhydrase (CA) was previously found to be restricted to the IC.

Effects of oxygen on nodule physiology and expression of nodulins in alfalfa.

Early nodulin 2 (ENOD2) transcripts and protein are specifically found in the inner cortex of legume nodules, a location that coincides with the site of a barrier to O2 diffusion. The extracellular glycoprotein that binds the monoclonal antibody MAC236 has also been localized to this site. Thus, it has been proposed that these proteins function in the regulation of nodule permeability to O2 diffusion.

The ribosomal protein P0 of soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) has antigenic cross-reactivity to soybean seed lectin.

Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) mutants lacking the ability to produce the lectin normally found in soybean seeds (SBL) are designated Le-.

Stress activation of a bean hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein promoter is superimposed on a pattern of tissue-specific developmental expression.

The HRGP4.1 gene, which encodes a cell wall hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein, was isolated from a genomic library of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).

Monoclonal Antibodies to Glycoprotein Antigens of a Fungal Plant Pathogen, Phytophthora megasperma f. sp. glycinea.

Genetic studies of plants and their pathogens indicate that dominant alleles for resistance in hosts are complemented by corresponding dominant alleles for avirulence in pathogens. Products of these genes have not yet been identified. We have produced murine monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to extracellular antigens of the fungal soybean pathogen Phytophthora megasperma f.

Assimilation of (13)NH 4 (+) by Anthoceros grown with and without symbiotic Nostoc.

The pathways of assimilation of ammonium by pure cultures of symbiont-free Anthoceros punctatus L. and the reconstituted Anthoceros-Nostoc symbiotic association were determined from time-course (5-300 s) and inhibitor experiments using (13)NH 4 (+) . The major product of assimilation after all incubation times was glutamine, whether the tissues were cultured with excess ammonium or no combined nitrogen.

Regulation of expression of nitrate and dinitrogen assimilation by anabaena species.

Anabaena sp. strain 7120 appeared more responsive to nitrogen control than A. cylindrica.