ATO (Arsenic Trioxide) Effects on Promyelocytic Leukemia Nuclear Bodies Reveals Antiviral Intervention Capacity.

Human adenoviruses (HAdV) are associated with clinical symptoms such as gastroenteritis, keratoconjunctivitis, pneumonia, hepatitis, and encephalitis. In the absence of protective immunity, as in allogeneic bone marrow transplant patients, HAdV infections can become lethal. Alarmingly, various outbreaks of highly pathogenic, pneumotropic HAdV types have been recently reported, causing severe and lethal respiratory diseases.

Transcriptional activation of the adenoviral genome is mediated by capsid protein VI.

Gene expression of DNA viruses requires nuclear import of the viral genome. Human Adenoviruses (Ads), like most DNA viruses, encode factors within early transcription units promoting their own gene expression and counteracting cellular antiviral defense mechanisms. The cellular transcriptional repressor Daxx prevents viral gene expression through the assembly of repressive chromatin remodeling complexes targeting incoming viral genomes.

Targeting expression of the leukemogenic PML-RARα fusion protein by lentiviral vector-mediated small interfering RNA results in leukemic cell differentiation and apoptosis.

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) results from a chromosomal translocation that gives rise to the leukemogenic fusion protein PML-RARα (promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid α receptor). Differentiation of leukemic cells and complete remission of APL are achieved by treatment of patients with pharmacological doses of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), making APL a model disease for differentiation therapy. However, because patients are resistant to further treatment with ATRA on relapse, it is necessary to develop alternative treatment strategies to specifically target APL.

Forced retinoic acid receptor alpha homodimers prime mice for APL-like leukemia.

RARA becomes an acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) oncogene by fusion with any of five translocation partners. Unlike RARalpha, the fusion proteins homodimerize, which may be central to oncogenic activation. This model was tested by replacing PML with dimerization domains from p50NFkappaB (p50-RARalpha) or the rapamycin-sensitive dimerizing peptide of FKBP12 (F3-RARalpha).

Regulation of MEF2 by histone deacetylase 4- and SIRT1 deacetylase-mediated lysine modifications.

The class II deacetylase histone deacetylase 4 (HDAC4) negatively regulates the transcription factor MEF2. HDAC4 is believed to repress MEF2 transcriptional activity by binding to MEF2 and catalyzing local histone deacetylation. Here we report that HDAC4 also controls MEF2 by a novel SUMO E3 ligase activity.

Small ubiquitin-related modifiers: A novel and independent class of autoantigens in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Serum autoantibodies against components of nuclear dots (anti-NDs), namely PML and Sp100, are specifically detected in 20% to 30% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Although anti-ND antibodies are nonpathogenic, the mechanisms that lead to this unique reactivity are critical to understanding the loss of immune tolerance in PBC. Importantly, Sp100 and PML are both covalently linked to small ubiquitin-related modifiers (SUMOs).

Inhibition of different Lassa virus strains by alpha and gamma interferons and comparison with a less pathogenic arenavirus.

The high pathogenicity of Lassa virus is assumed to involve resistance to the effects of interferon (IFN). We have analyzed the effects of alpha IFN (IFN-alpha), IFN-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) on replication of Lassa virus compared to the related, but less pathogenic, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Three low-passage Lassa virus strains (AV, NL, and CSF), isolated from humans with mild to fulminant Lassa fever, were tested.