Tollip SNP rs5743899 modulates human airway epithelial responses to rhinovirus infection

BACKGROUND

Rhinovirus (RV) infection in asthma induces varying degrees of airway inflammation (e.g. neutrophils), but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

OBJECTIVE

The major goal was to determine the role of genetic variation [e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)] of Toll-interacting protein (Tollip) in airway epithelial responses to RV in a type 2 cytokine milieu.

METHODS

DNA from blood of asthmatic and normal subjects was genotyped for Tollip SNP rs5743899 AA, AG and GG genotypes. Human tracheobronchial epithelial (HTBE) cells from donors without lung disease were cultured to determine pro-inflammatory and antiviral responses to IL-13 and RV16. Tollip knockout and wild-type mice were challenged with house dust mite (HDM) and infected with RV1B to determine lung inflammation and antiviral response.

RESULTS

Asthmatic subjects carrying the AG or GG genotype (AG/GG) compared with the AA genotype demonstrated greater airflow limitation. HTBE cells with AG/GG expressed less Tollip. Upon IL-13 and RV16 treatment, cells with AG/GG (vs. AA) produced more IL-8 and expressed less antiviral genes, which was coupled with increased NF-κB activity and decreased expression of LC3, a hallmark of the autophagic pathway. Tollip co-localized and interacted with LC3. Inhibition of autophagy decreased antiviral genes in IL-13- and RV16-treated cells. Upon HDM and RV1B, Tollip knockout (vs. wild-type) mice demonstrated higher levels of lung neutrophilic inflammation and viral load, but lower levels of antiviral gene expression.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Our data suggest that Tollip SNP rs5743899 may predict varying airway response to RV infection in asthma.

Congenital cardiomyopathy and pulmonary hypertension: another fatal variant of cytochrome-c oxidase deficiency

Biventricular hypertrophy was noted at 24 weeks' gestation in a fetus with isolated cytochrome-c oxidase (COX) deficiency. Shock, caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and severe pulmonary hypertension, led to the patient's death on day 6. His phenotype defines a new lethal variant of COX deficiency characterized by prenatal-onset cardiopulmonary pathophysiology.

Tomographic imaging of foam

The morphology of three-dimensional foams is of interest to physicists, engineers, and mathematicians. It is desired to image the 3-dimensional structure of the foam. Many different techniques have been used to image the foam, including magnetic resonance imaging, and short-focal length lenses. We use a camera and apply tomographic algorithms to accurately image a set of bubbles. We correct for the distortion of a curved plexiglas container using ray-tracing.

The 'tubulin-like' S1 protein of Spirochaeta is a member of the hsp65 stress protein family

A 65-kDa protein (called S1) from Spirochaeta bajacaliforniensis was identified as 'tubulin-like' because it cross-reacted with at least four different antisera raised against tubulin and was isolated, with a co-polymerizing 45-kDa protein, by warm-cold cycling procedures used to purify tubulin from mammalian brain. Furthermore, at least three genera of non-cultivable symbiotic spirochetes (Pillotina, Diplocalyx, and Hollandina) that contain conspicuous 24-nm cytoplasmic tubules displayed a strong fluorescence in situ when treated with polyclonal antisera raised against tubulin. Here we summarize results that lead to the conclusion that this 65-kDa protein has no homology to tubulin. S1 is an hsp65 stress protein homologue. Hsp65 is a highly immunogenic family of hsp60 proteins which includes the 65-kDa antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (an active component of Freund's complete adjuvant), Borrelia, Treponema, Chlamydia, Legionella, and Salmonella. The hsp60s, also known as chaperonins, include E. coli GroEL, mitochondrial and chloroplast chaperonins, the pea aphid 'symbionin' and many other proteins involved in protein folding and the stress response.

Evaluation of circulating malignant cells provides prognostic information in cutaneous T cell lymphoma

Peripheral blood lymphocyte morphology was evaluated prospectively by light microscopy of blood smears and E rosette preparations in 160 patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL). Blood involvement was related to the type of cutaneous T-stage, being present in 90% of patients with erythroderma (T4), 27% of those with cutaneous tumors (T3), 9% of those with generalized (T2), and 0% of those with limited skin plaques (T1). Untreated patients with blood involvement (38 of 105) had a higher frequency of CTCL in lymph nodes and viscera and survival inferior to that of patients with normal or nondiagnostic lymphocyte morphology (P less than .001). Multivariate analysis showed skin stage and age to be the most important pretreatment risk factors for survival. Although blood involvement was not an independent risk factor for the entire group, it appeared to have some adverse influence in the T2/T3 subsets (P = .051). Both lymphocytosis and size distribution of the circulating CTCL cells at initial diagnosis influenced survival. Patients with "mixed cell" cytology (greater than 20% large [greater than 11 microns] CTCL cells), had a worse survival than those with predominantly small circulating CTCL cells (P = .009). The former were more likely to have aggressive features, including lymph node effacement by tumor (P less than .001) and visceral disease (P = .074), than were "small cell" patients. Our data indicate that detailed review of the blood lymphocyte morphology in patients with diagnosed or suspected CTCL is helpful in predicting extent of disease and prognosis.

Fc receptor-defined T-lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

The distribution of peripheral blood T cells bearing Fc receptors for IgG (T gamma) and IgM (T mu) was determined in 18 patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (Sézary syndrome, mycosis fungoides) and 15 normal controls. The mean percent of T mu and T gamma cells in the patients with morphologically normal lymphocytes was similar to that of the control subjects. In 13 patients with circulating malignant cells representing 30-100% of their peripheral blood lymphocytes, the mean percentages of T mu and T gamma were low. In 9 patients the majority of the malignant T cells did not exhibit Fc receptors for IgG or IgM. In some patients, however, high blood lymphocyte counts resulted in normal or high concentrations of all the T-cell subsets. Further, in 4 patients, lymphocytes with the characteristic nuclear abnormalities of "Sézary/mycosis" cells were found in both the T mu and T gamma, as well as the Tnon gamma non mu, subpopulations. The heterogeneity of the Fc receptors on cutaneous T-cell lymphoma lymphocytes suggests that these receptors are not useful as clonal markers in these disorders.

Blood and lymph node T lymphocytes in cutaneous T cell lymphoma: evaluation by light microscopy

Cytology of peripheral blood and lymph node lymphocytes from a group of unselected patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) was studied by light microscopy. Twenty of 45 patients had circulating lymphocytes with convoluted nuclei recognized in routine Wright-Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smears. Cytocentrifuge preparations of E-rosetted lymphocytes showed that greater than 10% of the T cells had convoluted nuclei in each of 16 patients with positive blood smears and in six of 17 whose blood smears were negative or inconclusive. Peripheral blood involvement with greater than 10% convoluted T cells was most frequent in patients with erythroderma (100%) including those with normal of decreased lymphocyte counts, and was not uncommon in patients with mycosis fungoides in the plaque or tumor phase (42%). The light-microscopic morphology of the abnormal cells found in the patients with the plaque or tumor phase of mycosis fungoides was not distinguishable from that of the erythrodermic patients. Increased percentages (less than 15%) of T cells having convoluted nuclei were also found in the lymph node cell suspensions from CTCL patients with adenopathy (18 of 25 patients). These results suggest that a high frequency of extracutaneous involvement occurs in patient with CTCL, the clinical significance of which remains to be determined.