Publications by authors named "Karl Valerdi"
Mechanisms of Intracellular Communication in Cancer and Pathogen Spreading.
Results Probl Cell Differ
September 2024
Cell-to-cell interactions are essential for proper development, homeostasis, and complex syncytia/organ formation and function. Intercellular communication are mediated by multiple mechanisms including soluble mediators, adhesion molecules and specific mechanisms of cell to cell communication such as Gap junctions (GJ), tunneling nanotubes (TNT), and exosomes. Only recently, has been discovered that TNTs and exosomes enable the exchange of large signaling molecules, RNA, viral products, antigens, and organelles opening new avenues of research and therapeutic approaches.
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- - Type I interferons (IFN-I) play a crucial role in the body's antiviral immune response, and unanchored polyubiquitin (poly-Ub) is known to influence this process, although few interacting proteins have been identified.
- - Researchers developed a method to isolate unanchored poly-Ub from lung tissue and discovered that the RNA helicase DHX16 acts as a potential pattern recognition receptor (PRR) essential for enhancing IFN-I responses to viruses like influenza, Zika, and SARS-CoV-2.
- - silencing DHX16 reduced IFN-I production, which depends on the cooperation with RIG-I and unanchored K48-poly-Ub produced by the E3-U
Ubiquitination of proteins is a post-translational modification process with many different cellular functions, including protein stability, immune signaling, antiviral functions and virus replication. While ubiquitination of viral proteins can be used by the host as a defense mechanism by destroying the incoming pathogen, viruses have adapted to take advantage of this cellular process. The ubiquitin system can be hijacked by viruses to enhance various steps of the replication cycle and increase pathogenesis.
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