Developing a potentially immunologically inert tetracycline-regulatable viral vector for gene therapy in the peripheral nerve

Viral vector-mediated gene transfer of neurotrophic factors is an emerging and promising strategy to promote the regeneration of injured peripheral nerves. Unfortunately, the chronic exposure to neurotrophic factors results in local trapping of regenerating axons or other unwanted side effects. Therefore, tight control of therapeutic gene expression is required. The tetracycline/doxycycline-inducible system is considered to be one of the most promising systems for regulating heterologous gene expression. However, an immune response directed against the transactivator protein rtTA hampers further translational studies. Immunogenic proteins fused with the Gly-Ala repeat of the Epstein-Barr virus Nuclear Antigen-1 protein have been shown to successfully evade the immune system. In this article, we used this strategy to demonstrate that a chimeric transactivator, created by fusing the Gly-Ala repeat with rtTA and embedded in a lentiviral vector (i) retained its transactivator function in vitro, in muscle explants, and in vivo following injection into the rat peripheral nerve, (ii) exhibited a reduced leaky expression, and (iii) had an immune-evasive advantage over rtTA as shown in a novel bioassay for human antigen presentation. The current findings are an important step toward creating a clinically applicable potentially immune-evasive tetracycline-regulatable viral vector system.

Enantioselective monofluoromethylation of aldehydes with 2-fluoro-1,3-benzodithiole-1,1,3,3-tetraoxide catalyzed by a bifunctional cinchona alkaloid-derived thiourea-titanium complex

A catalytic enantioselective monofluoromethylation of aldehydes using 2-fluoro-1,3-benzodithiole-1,1,3,3-tetraoxide (FBDT) was realized. With a bifunctional thiourea-titanium catalytic system, the monofluoromethylated-adducts were obtained in good yields and high enantioselectivities, up to 96% ee.

Blue LED light exposure develops intracellular reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and subsequent cellular injuries in cultured bovine retinal pigment epithelial cells

The effects of blue light emitter diode (LED) light exposure on retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE cells) were examined to detect cellular damage or change and to clarify its mechanisms. The RPE cells were cultured and exposed by blue (470 nm) LED at 4.8 mW/cm(2). The cellular viability was determined by XTT assay and cellular injury was determined by the lactate dehydrogenase activity in medium. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was determined by confocal laser microscope image analysis using dihydrorhodamine 123 and lipid peroxidation was determined by 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal protein-adducts immunofluorescent staining (HNE). At 24 h after 50 J/cm(2) exposures, cellular viability was significantly decreased to 74% and cellular injury was significantly increased to 365% of control. Immediately after the light exposure, ROS generation was significantly increased to 154%, 177%, and 395% of control and HNE intensity was increased to 211%, 359%, and 746% of control by 1, 10, and 50 J/cm(2), respectively. These results suggest, at least in part, that oxidative stress is an early step leading to cellular damage by blue LED exposure and cellular oxidative damage would be caused by the blue light exposure at even lower dose (1, 10 J/cm(2)).

Adsorption and detection of Escherichia coli using an Au substrate modified with a catecholate-type artificial siderophore-Fe3+ complex

A catecholate-type artificial siderophore with a terminal-NH2 group (1) and its Fe(3+) complex (2) were prepared. Siderophore 1 was characterized by (1)H NMR, FT-IR, and ESI-TOF MS spectroscopy. The corresponding Fe(3+) complex 2 was obtained by reaction of 1 with Fe(acac)3. The absorption band at 500 nm (ε = 4670 M(-1) cm(-1) at pH 7.0) of the electronic absorption spectrum of 2 is assignable as the LMCT (O(catecholate) → Fe(3+)) absorption band. This band indicates the formation of the Fe(3+) complex of 1. The biological activity of 2 with respect to Escherichia coli was clearly confirmed by observing that it permeates into the cell membrane. The self-assembled monolayer of 2 on an Au substrate, 2/Au, was prepared and its preparation was confirmed by FT-IR reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IR-RAS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Furthermore, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) chip modified with 2 effectively adsorbed E. coli. M. flavescens, an organism which is incapable of synthesizing siderophores and must therefore use exogenous hydroxamate-type siderophores for growth, did not adsorb on 2/Au. In contrast, E. coli did not adsorb on the hydroxamate-type artificial siderophore-Fe(3+) complex (3)-modified Au substrate, 3/Au. These results provide preliminary evidence that microbes recognized Fe(3+) ion-bound siderophores on the surface. The detection limit of 2/Au was ∼10(4) CFU mL(-1).

Decontamination of outdoor school swimming pools in Fukushima after the nuclear accident in March 2011

Because of radioactive fallout resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident, water discharge from many outdoor swimming pools in Fukushima was suspended out of concern that radiocesium in the pool water would flow into farmlands. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has reviewed the existing flocculation method for decontaminating pool water and established a practical decontamination method by demonstrating the process at eight pools in Fukushima. In this method, zeolite powder and a flocculant are used for capturing radiocesium present in pool water. The supernatant is discharged if the radiocesium concentration is less than the targeted level. The radioactive residue is collected and stored in a temporary storage space. Radioactivity concentration in water is measured with a NaI(Tl) or Ge detector installed near the pool. The demonstration results showed that the pool water in which the radiocesium concentration was more than a few hundred Bq L was readily purified by the method, and the radiocesium concentration was reduced to less than 100 Bq L. The ambient dose rates around the temporary storage space were slightly elevated; however, the total increase was up to 30% of the background dose rates when the residue was shielded with sandbags.

TRIM3, a tumor suppressor linked to regulation of p21(Waf1/Cip1.)

The TRIM family of genes is largely studied because of their roles in development, differentiation and host cell antiviral defenses; however, roles in cancer biology are emerging. Loss of heterozygosity of the TRIM3 locus in ∼20% of human glioblastomas raised the possibility that this NHL-domain containing member of the TRIM gene family might be a mammalian tumor suppressor. Consistent with this, reducing TRIM3 expression increased the incidence of and accelerated the development of platelet-derived growth factor -induced glioma in mice. Furthermore, TRIM3 can bind to the cdk inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1). Thus, we conclude that TRIM3 is a tumor suppressor mapping to chromosome 11p15.5 and that it might block tumor growth by sequestering p21 and preventing it from facilitating the accumulation of cyclin D1-cdk4.