scholarly journals Internalization of a Bacillus anthracis Protective Antigen-c-Myc Fusion Protein Mediated by Cell Surface Anti-c-Myc Antibodies

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mini Varughese ◽  
Angela Chi ◽  
Avelino V. Teixeira ◽  
Peter J. Nicholls ◽  
Jerry M. Keith ◽  
...  
Vaccine ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (44) ◽  
pp. 5009-5014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip R. Pittman ◽  
Diana Fisher ◽  
Xiaofei Quinn ◽  
Trevor Schmader ◽  
Julio G. Barrera-Oro

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 671-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mabry ◽  
Kathleen Brasky ◽  
Robert Geiger ◽  
Ricardo Carrion ◽  
Gene B. Hubbard ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Several strategies that target anthrax toxin are being developed as therapies for infection by Bacillus anthracis. Although the action of the tripartite anthrax toxin has been extensively studied in vitro, relatively little is known about the presence of toxins during an infection in vivo. We developed a series of sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for detection of both the protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF) components of the anthrax exotoxin in serum. The assays utilize as capture agents an engineered high-affinity antibody to PA, a soluble form of the extracellular domain of the anthrax toxin receptor (ANTXR2/CMG2), or PA itself. Sandwich immunoassays were used to detect and quantify PA and LF in animals infected with the Ames or Vollum strains of anthrax spores. PA and LF were detected before and after signs of toxemia were observed, with increasing levels reported in the late stages of the infection. These results represent the detection of free PA and LF by ELISA in the systemic circulation of two animal models exposed to either of the two fully virulent strains of anthrax. Simple anthrax toxin detection ELISAs could prove useful in the evaluation of potential therapies and possibly as a clinical diagnostic to complement other strategies for the rapid identification of B. anthracis infection.


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trudy H. Grossman ◽  
Michael S. Anderson ◽  
Lindsay Drabek ◽  
Melanie Gooldy ◽  
Henry S. Heine ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The fluorocycline TP-271 was evaluated in mouse and nonhuman primate (NHP) models of inhalational anthrax. BALB/c mice were exposed by nose-only aerosol to Bacillus anthracis Ames spores at a level of 18 to 88 lethal doses sufficient to kill 50% of exposed individuals (LD50). When 21 days of once-daily dosing was initiated at 24 h postchallenge (the postexposure prophylaxis [PEP] study), the rates of survival for the groups treated with TP-271 at 3, 6, 12, and 18 mg/kg of body weight were 90%, 95%, 95%, and 84%, respectively. When 21 days of dosing was initiated at 48 h postchallenge (the treatment [Tx] study), the rates of survival for the groups treated with TP-271 at 6, 12, and 18 mg/kg TP-271 were 100%, 91%, and 81%, respectively. No deaths of TP-271-treated mice occurred during the 39-day posttreatment observation period. In the NHP model, cynomolgus macaques received an average dose of 197 LD50 of B. anthracis Ames spore equivalents using a head-only inhalation exposure chamber, and once-daily treatment of 1 mg/kg TP-271 lasting for 14 or 21 days was initiated within 3 h of detection of protective antigen (PA) in the blood. No (0/8) animals in the vehicle control-treated group survived, whereas all 8 infected macaques treated for 21 days and 4 of 6 macaques in the 14-day treatment group survived to the end of the study (56 days postchallenge). All survivors developed toxin-neutralizing and anti-PA IgG antibodies, indicating an immunologic response. On the basis of the results obtained with the mouse and NHP models, TP-271 shows promise as a countermeasure for the treatment of inhalational anthrax.


2001 ◽  
Vol 358 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simi ALI ◽  
Adrian C. V. PALMER ◽  
Sarah J. FRITCHLEY ◽  
Yvonne MALEY ◽  
John A. KIRBY

Chemokines interact with specific G-protein-coupled cell-surface receptors and with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), such as heparan sulphate. Although chemokines often form multimers in solution, this process may be enhanced following interaction with GAGs on the cell surface, or within the extracellular matrix. However, the significance of multimerization for chemokine function remains controversial. In the present study, a fusion protein was prepared between the prototypical human CC chemokine, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1; also known as CCL-2) and a large secreted placental alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) moiety. This fusion protein (MCP-1–SEAP) remained monomeric under conditions that promote oligomerization of the native chemokine. Radioligand binding showed that both native MCP-1 and MCP-1–SEAP competed for the same site on the surface of HEK-293 cells expressing the CCR2b chemokine receptor. The interaction between either chemokine species and endothelial cell surface GAGs was antagonized by the addition of the heparan sulphate-like molecule, heparin. Both MCP-1 and MCP-1–SEAP induced a Ca2+-flux in the THP-1 monocytic cell line, and were equally effective at promoting transendothelial chemotaxis of mononuclear immune cells, with maximal migration being produced by treatment with 12nM of either species. In each case this chemotactic response was almost completely antagonized by the addition of heparin. The importance of interaction between either native MCP-1 or MCP-1–SEAP and cell-surface GAGs for transcellular migration was demonstrated by the almost complete absence of leucocyte chemotaxis across monolayers of GAG-deficient mutant cells. In summary, this study shows that multimerization is neither necessary for, nor potentiates, the biological activity of MCP-1. However, the results do clearly demonstrate the importance of the interaction between MCP-1 and cell-surface heparan sulphate for transmonolayer leucocyte chemotaxis.


1995 ◽  
Vol 106 (5) ◽  
pp. 783-802 ◽  
Author(s):  
G B Melikyan ◽  
W D Niles ◽  
F S Cohen

Time-resolved admittance measurements were used to follow formation of individual fusion pores connecting influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA)-expressing cells to planar bilayer membranes. By measuring in-phase, out-of-phase, and dc components of currents, pore conductances were resolved with millisecond time resolution. Fusion pores developed in stages, from small pores flickering open and closed, to small successful pores that remained open until enlarging their lumens to sizes greater than those of viral nucleocapsids. The kinetics of fusion and the properties of fusion pores were studied as functions of density of the fusion protein HA. The consequences of treating cell surfaces with proteases that do not affect HA were also investigated. Fusion kinetics were described by waiting time distributions from triggering fusion, by lowering pH, to the moment of pore formation. The kinetics of pore formation became faster as the density of active HA was made greater or when cell surface proteins were extensively cleaved with proteases. In accord with this faster kinetics, the intervals between transient pore openings within the flickering stage were shorter for higher HA density and more extensive cell surface treatment. Whereas the kinetics of fusion depended on HA density, the lifetimes of open fusion pores were independent of HA density. However, the lifetimes of open pores were affected by the proteolytic treatment of the cells. Faster fusion kinetics correlated with shorter pore openings. We conclude that the density of fusion protein strongly affects the kinetics of fusion pore formation, but that once formed, pore evolution is not under control of fusion proteins but rather under the influence of mechanical forces, such as membrane bending and tension.


2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (9) ◽  
pp. 3596-3601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Rolando ◽  
Patrick Munro ◽  
Caroline Stefani ◽  
Patrick Auberger ◽  
Gilles Flatau ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Systemic injection of Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin (LT) produces vascular leakage and animal death. Recent studies suggest that LT triggers direct endothelial cell cytotoxicity that is responsible for the vascular leakage. LT is composed of heptamers of protective antigen (PA), which drives the endocytosis and translocation into host cells of the lethal factor (LF), a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase protease. Here we investigated the consequences of injection of an endothelium-permeabilizing factor using LT as a “molecular syringe.” To this end, we generated the chimeric factor LE, corresponding to the PA-binding domain of LF (LF1-254) fused to EDIN exoenzyme. EDIN ADP ribosylates RhoA, leading to actin cable disruption and formation of transcellular tunnels in endothelial cells. We report that systemic injection of LET (LE plus PA) triggers a PA-dependent increase in the pulmonary endothelium permeability. We also report that native LT induces a progressive loss of endothelium barrier function. We established that there is a direct correlation between the extent of endothelium permeability induced by LT and the cytotoxic activity of LT. This suggests new ways to design therapeutic drugs against anthrax directed toward vascular permeability.


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