Serum Chemokine-release Profiles in AML-patients Might Contribute to Predict the Clinical Course of the Disease

In cancer or hematologic disorders, chemokines act as growth- or survival factors, regulating hematopoiesis and angiogenesis, determining metastatic spread and controlling leukocyte infiltration into tumors to inhibit antitumor immune responses. The aim was to quantify the release of CXCL8, -9, -10, CCL2, -5, and IL-12 in AML/MDS-pts' serum by cytometric bead array and to correlate data with clinical subtypes and courses. Minimal differences in serum-levels subdivided into various groups (e.g. age groups, FAB-types, blast-proportions, cytogenetic-risk-groups) were seen, but higher release of CXCL8, -9, -10 and lower release of CCL2 and -5 tendentially correlated with more favorable subtypes (<50 years of age, <80% blasts in PB). Comparing different stages of the disease higher CCL5-release in persisting disease and a significantly higher CCL2-release at relapse were found compared to first diagnosis - pointing to a change of 'disease activity' on a chemokine level. Correlations with later on achieved response to immunotherapy and occurrence of GVHD were seen: Higher values of CXCL8, -9, -10 and CCL2 and lower CCL5-values correlated with achieved response to immunotherapy. Predictive cut-off-values were evaluated separating the groups in 'responders' and 'non-responders'. Higher levels of CCL2 and -5 but lower levels of CXCL8, -9, -10 correlated with occurrence of GVHD. We conclude, that in AML-pts' serum higher values of CXCL8, -9, -10 and lower values of CCL5 and in part of CCL2 correlate with more favorable subtypes and improved antitumor'-reactive function. This knowledge can contribute to develop immune-modifying strategies that promote antileukemic adaptive immune responses.

The adsorption protein of filamentous phage fd: assignment of its disulfide bridges and identification of the domain incorporated in the coat

The mature adsorption protein (g3p) of filamentous phage fd consists of 406 amino acids. It contains eight cysteine residues in total. To determine the disulfide bond pattern, purified g3p was proteolytically digested, and the resulting peptides were separated using RP-HPLC. N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrometry of cysteine-containing fragments showed that each cysteine is involved in an intramolecular disulfide bond. The cystine sites are Cys7-Cys36, Cys46-Cys53, Cys188-Cys201, and Cys354-Cys371. In the native conformation of g3p, none of the disulfide bridges is accessible to alkylating agents after treatment with DTT. The cystine sites seem therefore to be located in the interior of the folded molecule or are shielded by components of the phage envelope. The part of g3p which is incorporated in the phage coat and hence is inaccessible to proteolytic cleavage was identified after treatment of phage particles with subtilisin: Immunoblots performed with antibody directed against g3p revealed essentially one g3p fragment with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 17,000 which resisted the proteolytic attack. The amino terminus of this peptide was determined to be glycine 254. This amino acid position correlates with the carboxy-terminal end of the second glycine-rich region (amino acids 218-256) in the primary structure of g3p. The notion that the extended carboxy-terminal g3p fragment is indeed entirely buried within the phage envelope is further supported by the fact that only polyclonal antibodies raised against purified g3p are able to react with this peptide, whereas those against phage coat-associated g3p are not.

Subtilisin removes the surface layer of the phage fd coat

The major coat protein of native filamentous phage fd is vulnerable to digestion by subtilisin, but not by any of a number of other proteolytic enzymes. Degradation by the non-specific protease subtilisin occurs at specific sites in the N-terminal portion of g8p. The N-terminal part of the protein is considered to be the outer layer of a two-layered coat. Thus, subtilisin treatment results in a monolayered phage particle. These particles possess the morphology and stability of native phage fd. Furthermore, subtilisin proteolysis proved to be an efficient instrument in detecting variations in the topology of the g8p of related filamentous phages.