Cationic Lipid-based Intracellular Delivery of Bacterial Effectors for Rewiring Malignant Cell Signaling

The abundance of bacterial effectors have inspired us to explore their potential in rewiring malignant cell signaling. Their incapability for entering cells, however, hinders such application. Herein we developed a cationic lipid-based high throughput library screening platform for effective intracellular delivery of bacterial effectors. As the misregulated MAPK signaling is a hallmark of many types of cancer, we turned to the Shigella effector OspF which irreversibly inactivates ERK, the terminal component of MAPK cascade. We created a function-based screening assay to obtain AMPA-O16B lipid nanoparticles for effective OspF intracellular delivery, which inhibited the malignant MAPK signaling and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the optimized lipid nanoparticle formulation can deliver OspF to modulate the immunosuppressive responses in macrophages. Our work is a general strategy to explore the therapeutic potentials of naturally evolved bacterial effectors.     

几种效应物对黑曲霉果胶酶活力的影响

研究了几种效应物对黑曲霉果胶酶活力的影响。结果表明：变性剂脲与SDS对果胶酶活力的抑制作用呈现出浓度效应，0．5mmol／L SDS能使酶活力下降95．9％，5mol／L的脲能使果胶酶活力下降95．6％；三种伯醇和丙酮对果胶酶活力具有抑制作用，15％的甲醇、乙醇、正丙醇和丙酮可分别使果胶酶活力下降18．8％、25．5％、36．1％和84．4％；而乙二醇和丙三醇对酶活力的影响表现为激活效应，15％的乙二醇和丙三醇可分别使酶活性提高22．9％和6．9％；Cu^2＋和Fe^3＋对果胶酶活力的抑制作用呈浓度梯度效应，EDTA对酶活力没有影响，说明果胶酶为非金属酶类。     

Modulation of oxygen-carrying capacity of artificial red cells

The oxygen-carrying capacity of artificial red cells (ARC), which were prepared by encapsulating hemoglobin (Hb) into polymerized lipid vesicles, has been investigated in detail. It was found that the effects of inositol hexaphosphate (IHP) on the oxygen affinity of stromafree Hb and ARC are quite different. By co-encapsulating IHP at a IHP:Hb molar ratio of 1.0, the oxygen affinity of the encapsulated Hb in ARC was decreased to such an extent that P₅₀ was about 60–65 mmHg, and only about 70–80% of the encapsulated Hb could be oxygenated at an oxygen partial pressure (Po₂) of about 100 mmHg. As pyridoxal 5-phosphate (PLP) and chloride ions were coencapsulated instead of IHP, P₅₀ and the Hill coefficient of the obtained ARC were adjusted to 25–30 mmHg and 2.5–2.8 respectively. The oxygen-transporting efficiency of PLP-modulated ARC was similar to or better than that of red blood cells.     

iT4SE-EP: Accurate Identification of Bacterial Type IV Secreted Effectors by Exploring Evolutionary Features from Two PSI-BLAST Profiles

Many gram-negative bacteria use type IV secretion systems to deliver effector molecules to a wide range of target cells. These substrate proteins, which are called type IV secreted effectors (T4SE), manipulate host cell processes during infection, often resulting in severe diseases or even death of the host. Therefore, identification of putative T4SEs has become a very active research topic in bioinformatics due to its vital roles in understanding host-pathogen interactions. PSI-BLAST profiles have been experimentally validated to provide important and discriminatory evolutionary information for various protein classification tasks. In the present study, an accurate computational predictor termed iT4SE-EP was developed for identifying T4SEs by extracting evolutionary features from the position-specific scoring matrix and the position-specific frequency matrix profiles. First, four types of encoding strategies were designed to transform protein sequences into fixed-length feature vectors based on the two profiles. Then, the feature selection technique based on the random forest algorithm was utilized to reduce redundant or irrelevant features without much loss of information. Finally, the optimal features were input into a support vector machine classifier to carry out the prediction of T4SEs. Our experimental results demonstrated that iT4SE-EP outperformed most of existing methods based on the independent dataset test.     

Recent Developments in Targeting RAS Downstream Effectors for RAS-Driven Cancer Therapy

Aberrant activity of oncogenic rat sarcoma virus (RAS) protein promotes tumor growth and progression. RAS-driven cancers comprise more than 30% of all human cancers and are refractory to frontline treatment strategies. Since direct targeting of RAS has proven challenging, efforts have been centered on the exploration of inhibitors for RAS downstream effector kinases. Two major RAS downstream signaling pathways, including the Raf/MEK/Erk cascade and the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, have become compelling targets for RAS-driven cancer therapy. However, the main drawback in the blockade of a single RAS effector is the multiple levels of crosstalk and compensatory mechanisms between these two pathways that contribute to drug resistance against monotherapies. A growing body of evidence reveals that the sequential or synergistic inhibition of multiple RAS effectors is a more convenient route for the efficacy of cancer therapy. Herein, we revisit the recent developments and discuss the most promising modalities targeting canonical RAS downstream effectors for the treatment of RAS-driven cancers.     

Diverse ubiquitin codes in the regulation of inflammatory signaling

Ubiquitin is a small protein used for posttranslational modification and it regulates every aspect of biological functions. Through a three-step cascade of enzymatic action, ubiquitin is conjugated to a substrate. Because ubiquitin itself can be post-translationally modified, this small protein generates various ubiquitin codes and triggers differing regulation of biological functions. For example, ubiquitin itself can be ubiquitinated, phosphorylated, acetylated, or SUMOylated. Via the type three secretion system, some bacterial effectors also modify the ubiquitin system in host cells. This review describes the general concept of the ubiquitin system as well as the fundamental functions of ubiquitin in the regulation of cellular responses during inflammation and bacterial infection.     

Cationic Lipid‐based Intracellular Delivery of Bacterial Effectors for Rewiring Malignant Cell Signaling

The abundance of bacterial effectors have inspired us to explore their potential in rewiring malignant cell signaling. Their incapability for entering cells, however, hinders such application. Herein we developed a cationic lipid‐based high throughput library screening platform for effective intracellular delivery of bacterial effectors. As the misregulated MAPK signaling is a hallmark of many types of cancer, we turned to the Shigella effector OspF which irreversibly inactivates ERK, the terminal component of MAPK cascade. We created a function‐based screening assay to obtain AMPA‐O16B lipid nanoparticles for effective OspF intracellular delivery, which inhibited the malignant MAPK signaling and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the optimized lipid nanoparticle formulation can deliver OspF to modulate the immunosuppressive responses in macrophages. Our work is a general strategy to explore the therapeutic potentials of naturally evolved bacterial effectors.     

An elegant nano-injection machinery for sabotaging the host: Role of Type III secretion system in virulence of different human and animal pathogenic bacteria

Various Gram-negative bacteria possess a specialized membrane-bound protein secretion system known as the Type III secretion system (T3SS), which transports the bacterial effector proteins into the host cytosol thereby helping in bacterial pathogenesis. The T3SS has a special needle-like translocon that can sense the contact with the host cell membrane and translocate effectors. The export apparatus of T3SS recognizes these effector proteins bound to chaperones and translocates them into the host cell. Once in the host cell cytoplasm, these effector proteins result in modulation of the host system and promote bacterial localization and infection. Using molecular biology, bioinformatics, genetic techniques, electron microscopic studies, and mathematical modeling, the structure and function of the T3SS and the corresponding effector proteins in various bacteria have been studied. The strategies used by different human pathogenic bacteria to modulate the host system and thereby enhance their virulence mechanism using T3SS have also been well studied. Here we review the history, evolution, and general structure of the T3SS, highlighting the details of its comparison with the flagellar export machinery. Also, this article provides mechanistic details about the common role of T3SS in subversion and manipulation of host cellular processes. Additionally, this review describes specific T3SS apparatus and the role of their specific effectors in bacterial pathogenesis by considering several human and animal pathogenic bacteria.     

Rho蛋白调控分子机理研究进展

Rho蛋白作为信号通路重要的开关分子,在所有的真核细胞中发挥着重要的生理功能,因而对Rho蛋白调控的分子机理研究就极为重要.从Rho蛋白的结构、功能、调节Rho蛋白鸟苷酸结合形式的蛋白以及Rho蛋白已知效应物等方面总结了Rho蛋白调控分子机理的研究现状.