Publications by authors named "Mario Kirschner"

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and fatal disease of the pleural lining. Up to 80% of the MPM cases are linked to asbestos exposure. Even though its use has been banned in the industrialized countries, the cases continue to increase.

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Immune-regulatory mechanisms of drug-free remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are unknown. We hypothesized that synovial tissue macrophages (STM), which persist in remission, contribute to joint homeostasis. We used single-cell transcriptomics to profile 32,000 STMs and identified phenotypic changes in patients with early/active RA, treatment-refractory/active RA and RA in sustained remission.

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We have described a novel C-to-T mutation in the APP gene that corresponds to an alanine to valine substitution at position 673 in APP (A673V), or position 2 of the amyloid-β (Aβ) sequence. This mutation is associated with the early onset of AD-type dementia in homozygous individuals, whereas it has a protective effect in the heterozygous state. Correspondingly, we observed differences in the aggregation properties of the wild-type and mutated Aβ peptides and their mixture.

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Prion protein (PrP) amyloid formation is a central feature of genetic and acquired prion diseases such as Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The major component of GSS amyloid is a PrP fragment spanning residues approximately 82-146, which when synthesized as a peptide, readily forms fibrils featuring GSS amyloid. The present study employed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to characterize the binding events underlying PrP82-146 oligomerization at the first stages of fibrillization, according to evidence suggesting a pathogenic role of prefibrillar oligomers rather than mature amyloid fibrils.

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Prion protein (PrP) amyloid formation is a central feature of genetic and acquired forms of prion disease such as Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker disease (GSS) and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The major component of GSS amyloid is a PrP fragment spanning residues approximately 82-146. To investigate the determinants of the physicochemical properties of this fragment, we synthesized PrP-(82-146) and variants thereof, including entirely and partially scrambled peptides.

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A method to quantitate lysophosphatidylserine by fast atom bombardment-mass spectrometry using 1-hexa-decanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-L-serine as internal standard is described. The standard curve is linear with a correlation coefficient r2 = 0.999 from 10 to 1000 ng.

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Eight phospholipidic classes from bovine brain cortex and soybean were prepared and purified by preparative high-performance and liquid chromatography, and their molecular species were identified by negative ion fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry using the 'surface precipitation' method. Its main advantages are: (i) clear-cut and abundant diagnostic ions for structural elucidation of the species; (ii) fragments characteristic of the main fatty acids, the polar head-group and the molecule frame in phospholipids; (iii) less background caused by the liquid matrix.

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