Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) infection of the eyes leads to herpes simplex virus keratitis (HSK), the main cause of infectious blindness in the world. As the current therapeutics for HSV-1 infection are rather limited and prolonged use of acyclovir (ACV)/ganciclovir (GCV) and in immunocompromised patients lead to the rise of drug resistant mutants, it underlines the urgent need for new antiviral agents with distinct mechanisms. Our study attempted to establish ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) as a new therapeutic target for HSV-1 infection by using Rac1-specific inhibitors to evaluate the in vitro inhibition of virus growth. Our results showed that increased Rac1 activity facilitated HSV-1 replication and inhibition of Rac1 activity by NSC23766 and Ehop016 significantly reduced HSV-1 replication. Thus, we identified NSC23766 and Ehop016 as possessing potent anti-HSV-1 activities by suppressing the Rac1 activity, suggesting that Rac1 is a potential target for treating HSV-1-related diseases.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1248/bpb.b21-00054 | DOI Listing |
Cardiovasc Res
January 2025
Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College and State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
Aims: Dedicator of Cytokinesis 2 (DOCK2), a member of the DOCK family of Guanine nucleotide exchange factors that specifically act on the Rho GTPases including Rac and Cdc42, plays pivotal roles in the regulation of leukocyte homeostasis. However, its functions in platelets remain unknown.
Methods And Results: Using mice with genetic deficiency of DOCK2 (Dock2-/-), we showed that Dock2-/-mice exhibited a macrothrombocytopenic phenotype characterized as decreased platelet count and enlarged platelet size by transmission electron microscopy.
Food Funct
January 2025
State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Severe Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Research of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, College of Veterinary Medicine Jilin University, Center of Infectious Diseases and Pathogen Biology, Department of Infectious Diseases, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
serovar Typhimurium (STM) causes severe colitis, necessitating the development of effective drugs. Here, the dockings of limonin with the STM T3SS-1 virulence factor SopB or SopE2 showed strong binding activity and was verified by CETSA and DARTS assays . Limonin inhibited the enzyme activities and expression of SopB and SopE2 .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Mol Biol Lett
January 2025
PhD Program in Medical Neuroscience, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.).
Background: Regulation of messenger RNA (mRNA) transport and translation in neurons is essential for dendritic plasticity and learning/memory development. The trafficking of mRNAs along the hippocampal neuron dendrites remains translationally silent until they are selectively transported into the spines upon glutamate-induced receptor activation. However, the molecular mechanism(s) behind the spine entry of dendritic mRNAs under metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-mediated neuroactivation and long-term depression (LTD) as well as the fate of these mRNAs inside the spines are still elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCells under high confinement form highly polarized hydrostatic pressure-driven, stable leader blebs that enable efficient migration in low adhesion, environments. Here we investigated the basis of the polarized bleb morphology of metastatic melanoma cells migrating in non-adhesive confinement. Using high-resolution time-lapse imaging and specific molecular perturbations, we found that EGF signaling via PI3K stabilizes and maintains a polarized leader bleb.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnim Cells Syst (Seoul)
January 2025
School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
βPix is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the Rac1 and Cdc42 small GTPases, which play important roles in dendritic spine morphogenesis by modulating actin cytoskeleton organization. The formation and plasticity of the dendritic spines are essential for normal brain function. Among the alternatively spliced βPix isoforms, βPix-b and βPix-d are expressed specifically in neurons.
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