The NIH-led research response to COVID-19

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Placental origins of adverse pregnancy outcomes: potential molecular targets: an Executive Workshop Summary of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Although much progress is being made in understanding the molecular pathways in the placenta that are involved in the pathophysiology of pregnancy-related disorders, a significant gap exists in the utilization of this information for the development of new drug therapies to improve pregnancy outcome. On March 5-6, 2015, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health sponsored a 2-day workshop titled Placental Origins of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: Potential Molecular Targets to begin to address this gap. Particular emphasis was given to the identification of important molecular pathways that could serve as drug targets and the advantages and disadvantages of targeting these particular pathways. This article is a summary of the proceedings of that workshop. A broad number of topics were covered that ranged from basic placental biology to clinical trials. This included research in the basic biology of placentation, such as trophoblast migration and spiral artery remodeling, and trophoblast sensing and response to infectious and noninfectious agents. Research findings in these areas will be critical for the formulation of the development of future treatments and the development of therapies for the prevention of a number of pregnancy disorders of placental origin that include preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction, and uterine inflammation. Research was also presented that summarized ongoing clinical efforts in the United States and in Europe that has tested novel interventions for preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction, including agents such as oral arginine supplementation, sildenafil, pravastatin, gene therapy with virally delivered vascular endothelial growth factor, and oxygen supplementation therapy. Strategies were also proposed to improve fetal growth by the enhancement of nutrient transport to the fetus by modulation of their placental transporters and the targeting of placental mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress to improve placental health. The roles of microRNAs and placental-derived exosomes, as well as messenger RNAs, were also discussed in the context of their use for diagnostics and as drug targets. The workshop discussed the aspect of safety and pharmacokinetic profiles of potential existing and new therapeutics that will need to be determined, especially in the context of the unique pharmacokinetic properties of pregnancy and the hurdles and pitfalls of the translation of research findings into practice. The workshop also discussed novel methods of drug delivery and targeting during pregnancy with the use of macromolecular carriers, such as nanoparticles and biopolymers, to minimize placental drug transfer and hence fetal drug exposure. In closing, a major theme that developed from the workshop was that the scientific community must change their thinking of the pregnant woman and her fetus as a vulnerable patient population for which drug development should be avoided, but rather be thought of as a deprived population in need of more effective therapeutic interventions.

HUPO Brain Proteome Project: Summary of the pilot phase and introduction of a comprehensive data reprocessing strategy

The Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) initiated several projects focusing on the proteome analysis of distinct human organs. The Brain Proteome Project (BPP) is the initiative dedicated to the brain, its development and correlated diseases. Two pilot studies have been performed aiming at the comparison of techniques, laboratories and approaches. With the help of the results gained, objective data submission, storage and reprocessing workflow have been established. The biological relevance of the data will be drawn from the inter-laboratory comparisons as well as from the re-calculation of all data sets submitted by the different groups. In the following, results of the single groups as well as the centralised reprocessing effort will be summarised and compared, showing the added value of this concerted work.

Posttranslational modification of human alphaA-crystallin: correlation with electrophoretic migration

alphaA-crystallin is a major protein component of the human lens. It is known to undergo posttranslational modification. This study was done to further elucidate the temporal and spatial nature of these posttranslational modifications and to correlate the modified forms with electrophoretic migration. We dissected normal human lenses into concentric shells of fiber cells, separated the proteins by two-dimensional electrophoresis, and identified modified forms by mass spectrometry. We found that alphaA-crystallin migrated as a major spot and in over 20 additional protein spots. The extent of modification correlated with the age of the fiber cells and the depth within a lens. A correlation was also seen between these parameters and the concentration of modified forms that had full-length sequences but migrated at more acidic positions. These proteins were phosphorylated, acetylated, and/or deamidated. A few proteins migrated to a more basic position than the major form of alphaA-crystallin. The locations of several species that were truncated after C-terminal residues Ser172 and Ser162 were identified. Each of these species had intact N termini. The similarity of the C-terminal cleavage sites found in alphaA- and alphaB-crystallins was noted.

Differential mobilization of fatty acids from adipose tissue

Are the different fatty acids mobilized into plasma in proportion to their concentrations in adipose tissue triglyceride? To answer this question, we fed weaning rabbits a special diet to label the fat stores with a variety of dietary fatty acids. The release of adipose tissue fatty acids into the plasma was then induced by ACTH-stimulated lipolysis. The compositions of the resulting plasma free fatty acids and of the adipose tissue triglyceride were then compared. Plasma free fatty acids increased from 625 mumol/L at baseline to 2938 mumol/L after ACTH and represented fatty acids released from adipose tissue. The relative mobilization of these fatty acids from adipose tissue was defined as the ratio between their percentage in the plasma free fatty acid fraction to their percentage in adipose tissue triglyceride. For the 24 fatty acids examined, the relative mobilization ranged from 0.11 for 22:1 n-11 to 5.06 for 20:5 n-3, a 46-fold difference. Relative mobilization correlated positively with unsaturation and negatively with chain length. The relative mobilization for essential fatty acids was in the order of 20:5 n-3 > 20:4 n-6 > 18:3 n-3 > 22:6 n-3 > 18:2 n-6. Saturated fatty acids, along with oleic acid, were much less well mobilized than the entire group of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Our data indicate that the mobilization of fatty acids into plasma was not proportional to their content in adipose tissue, but rather was influenced by their molecular structure. Eicosapentaenoic acid 20:5 n-3 (EPA), and arachidonic acid 20:4 n-6, precursors of two different prostaglandins, were the fatty acids with the highest mobilization into the plasma.