Publications by authors named "Meelis Kadaja"

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to impose a serious burden on health systems globally. Despite worldwide vaccination, social distancing and wearing masks, the spread of the virus is ongoing. One of the mechanisms by which neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) block virus entry into cells encompasses interaction inhibition between the cell surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2.

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Adult stem cells occur in niches that balance self-renewal with lineage selection and progression during tissue homeostasis. Following injury, culture or transplantation, stem cells outside their niche often display fate flexibility. Here we show that super-enhancers underlie the identity, lineage commitment and plasticity of adult stem cells in vivo.

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Hair follicles (HFs) undergo cyclical periods of growth, which are fueled by stem cells (SCs) at the base of the resting follicle. HF-SC formation occurs during HF development and requires transcription factor SOX9. Whether and how SOX9 functions in HF-SC maintenance remain unknown.

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We have previously demonstrated that the human papillomavirus (HPV) genome replicates effectively in U2OS cells after transfection using electroporation. The transient extrachromosomal replication, stable maintenance, and late amplification of the viral genome could be studied for high- and low-risk mucosal and cutaneous papillomaviruses. Recent findings indicate that the cellular DNA damage response (DDR) is activated during the HPV life cycle and that the viral replication protein E1 might play a role in this process.

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In HPV-related cancers, the "high-risk" human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are frequently found integrated into the cellular genome. The integrated subgenomic HPV fragments express viral oncoproteins and carry an origin of DNA replication that is capable of initiating bidirectional DNA re-replication in the presence of HPV replication proteins E1 and E2, which ultimately leads to rearrangements within the locus of the integrated viral DNA. The current study indicates that the E1- and E2-dependent DNA replication from the integrated HPV origin follows the "onion skin"-type replication mode and generates a heterogeneous population of replication intermediates.

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Papillomaviruses establish their productive life cycle in stratified epithelium or mucosa, where the undifferentiated proliferating keratinocytes are the initial targets for the productive viral infection. Papillomaviruses have evolved mechanisms to adapt to the normal cellular growth control pathways and to adjust their DNA replication and maintenance cycle to contend with the cellular differentiation. We provide overview of the papillomavirus DNA replication in the differentiating epithelium and describe the molecular interactions important for viral DNA replication on all steps of the viral life cycle.

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Development of invasive cervical cancer upon infection by 'high-risk' human papillomavirus (HPV) in humans is a stepwise process in which some of the initially episomal 'high-risk' type of HPVs (HR-HPVs) integrate randomly into the host cell genome. We show that HPV replication proteins E1 and E2 are capable of inducing overamplification of the genomic locus where HPV origin has been integrated. Clonal analysis of the cells in which the replication from integrated HPV origin was induced showed excision, rearrangement and de novo integration of the HPV containing and flanking cellular sequences.

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We have shown previously that transient amplificational replication of reporter plasmids that carry the papillomavirus origin of replication is efficiently blocked by p53 protein in several cell lines. We demonstrate now that the replication of stably maintained episomal bovine papillomavirus BPV1 URR (upstream regulatory region) reporter plasmid is not sensitive to p53. In addition, these two replication modes--initial transient amplificational replication and stable maintenance replication of essentially the same BPV1 URR reporter plasmid--can take place in the same cells, where amplificational replication does not interfere with the stable maintenance replication.

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