Efficient and reproducible depletion of hepatitis B virus from plasma derived extracellular vesicles.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are emerging fundamental players in viral infections by shuttling viral components, mediating immune responses and likely the spread of the virus. However, the obstacles involved in purifying EVs and removing contaminating viral particles in a reliable and effective manner bottlenecks the full potential for the development of clinical and diagnostic treatment options targeting EV. Because of the similarities in size, density, membrane composition and mode of biogenesis of EVs and virions there are no standardized approaches for virus-removal from EV preparations yet. Functional EV studies also require EV samples that are devoid of antibody contaminants. Consequently, the study of EVs in virology needs reliable and effective protocols to purify EVs and remove contaminating antibodies and viral particles. Here, we established a protocol for EV purification from hepatitis B virus (HBV)-containing plasma by a combination of size-exclusion chromatography and affinity-based purification. After purification, EV samples were free of virus-sized particles, HBV surface antigen, HBV core antigen, antibodies or infectious material. Viral genomic contamination was also decreased following purification. By using appropriate antibodies and size parameters, this protocol could potentially be applied to purification of EVs from other viral samples. In summary, we established a fast, reproducible and robust approach for the removal of HBV from EV preparations. Looking forward to the point of purifying EVs from clinical samples, this method should enable studies shedding light on the underlying mechanisms of EVs in viral infections and their diagnostic and prognostic potential.

An Evaluation of T-Cell Functionality After Flow Cytometry Sorting Revealed p38 MAPK Activation.

Cell alterations during isolation and preparation for flow cytometry cell sorting by antibodies, temperature, homogenization, buffer composition and mitogens are well known. In contrast, little is known about cell alteration caused by the instrument or the sorting process itself. We systematically evaluated cellular responses to different sorter-induced physical forces. In summary, flow cytometry cell-sorting induced forces can affect cellular signaling cascades, especially the MAPK p38. Functional assays, related to the p38 MAPK pathway, of human primary T cells after flow cytometry sorting did lead to minor physiological modulation but no functional impairments. © 2020 The Authors. Cytometry Part A published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Efficient immunoaffinity chromatography of lymphocytes directly from whole blood.

We show that defined lymphocytes can be rapidly purified by immunoaffinity chromatography starting directly from whole blood. The method relies on low-affinity Fab-fragments attached to a column-matrix combined with the reversible Strep-tag technology. Compared to established cell enrichment protocols, the Strep-tag affinity chromatography of cells is independent of erythrocyte lysis or centrifugation steps, allowing for simple cell-enrichment with good yields, high purities, and excellent functionality of purified cells.

EV-3, an endogenous human erythropoietin isoform with distinct functional relevance.

Generation of multiple mRNAs by alternative splicing is well known in the group of cytokines and has recently been reported for the human erythropoietin (EPO) gene. Here, we focus on the alternatively spliced EPO transcript characterized by deletion of exon 3 (hEPOΔ3). We show co-regulation of EPO and hEPOΔ3 in human diseased tissue. The expression of hEPOΔ3 in various human samples was low under normal conditions, and distinctly increased in pathological states. Concomitant up-regulation of hEPOΔ3 and EPO in response to hypoxic conditions was also observed in HepG2 cell cultures. Using LC-ESI-MS/MS, we provide first evidence for the existence of hEPOΔ3 derived protein EV-3 in human serum from healthy donors. Contrary to EPO, recombinant EV-3 did not promote early erythroid progenitors in cultures of human CD34+ haematopoietic stem cells. Repeated intraperitoneal administration of EV-3 in mice did not affect the haematocrit. Similar to EPO, EV-3 acted anti-apoptotic in rat hippocampal neurons exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation. Employing the touch-screen paradigm of long-term visual discrimination learning, we obtained first in vivo evidence of beneficial effects of EV-3 on cognition. This is the first report on the presence of a naturally occurring EPO protein isoform in human serum sharing non-erythropoietic functions with EPO.

Lymphocyte enrichment using CD81-targeted immunoaffinity matrix.

In mass cytometry, the isolation of pure lymphocytes is very important to obtain reproducible results and to shorten the time spent on data acquisition. To prepare highly purified cell suspensions of peripheral blood lymphocytes for further analysis on mass cytometer, we used the new CD81+ immune affinity chromatography cell isolation approach. Using 21 metal conjugated antibodies in a single tube we were able to identify all basic cell subsets and compare their relative abundance in final products obtained by density gradient (Ficoll-Paque) and immune affinity chromatography (CD81+ T-catch™) isolation approach. We show that T-catch isolation approach results in purer final product than Ficoll-Paque (P values 0.0156), with fewer platelets bound to target cells. As a result acquisition time of 105 nucleated cells was 3.5 shorter. We then applied unsupervised high dimensional analysis viSNE algorithm to compare the two isolation protocols, which allowed us to evaluate the contribution of unsupervised analysis over supervised manual gating. ViSNE algorithm effectively characterized almost all supervised cell subsets. Moreover, viSNE uncovered previously overseen cell subsets and showed inaccuracies in Maxpar™ Human peripheral blood phenotyping panel kit recommended gating strategy. These findings emphasize the use of unsupervised analysis tools in parallel with conventional gating strategy to mine the complete information from a set of samples. They also stress the importance of the impurity removal to sensitively detect rare cell populations in unsupervised analysis. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Co-Expression of Wild-Type P2X7R with Gln460Arg Variant Alters Receptor Function.

The P2X7 receptor is a member of the P2X family of ligand-gated ion channels. A single-nucleotide polymorphism leading to a glutamine (Gln) by arginine (Arg) substitution at codon 460 of the purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) has been associated with mood disorders. No change in function (loss or gain) has been described for this SNP so far. Here we show that although the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant per se is not compromised in its function, co-expression of wild-type P2X7R with P2X7R-Gln460Arg impairs receptor function with respect to calcium influx, channel currents and intracellular signaling in vitro. Moreover, co-immunoprecipitation and FRET studies show that the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant physically interacts with P2X7R-WT. Specific silencing of either the normal or polymorphic variant rescues the heterozygous loss of function phenotype and restores normal function. The described loss of function due to co-expression, unique for mutations in the P2RX7 gene so far, explains the mechanism by which the P2X7R-Gln460Arg variant affects the normal function of the channel and may represent a mechanism of action for other mutations.

Widespread Expression of Erythropoietin Receptor in Brain and Its Induction by Injury.

Erythropoietin (EPO) exerts potent neuroprotective, neuroregenerative and procognitive functions. However, unequivocal demonstration of erythropoietin receptor (EPOR) expression in brain cells has remained difficult since previously available anti-EPOR antibodies (EPOR-AB) were unspecific. We report here a new, highly specific, polyclonal rabbit EPOR-AB directed against different epitopes in the cytoplasmic tail of human and murine EPOR and its characterization by mass spectrometric analysis of immuno-precipitated endogenous EPOR, Western blotting, immunostaining and flow cytometry. Among others, we applied genetic strategies including overexpression, Lentivirus-mediated conditional knockout of EpoR and tagged proteins, both on cultured cells and tissue sections, as well as intracortical implantation of EPOR-transduced cells to verify specificity. We show examples of EPOR expression in neurons, oligodendroglia, astrocytes and microglia. Employing this new EPOR-AB with double-labeling strategies, we demonstrate membrane expression of EPOR as well as its localization in intracellular compartments such as the Golgi apparatus. Moreover, we show injury-induced expression of EPOR. In mice, a stereotactically applied stab wound to the motor cortex leads to distinct EpoR expression by reactive GFAP-expressing cells in the lesion vicinity. In a patient suffering from epilepsy, neurons and oligodendrocytes of the hippocampus strongly express EPOR. To conclude, this new analytical tool will allow neuroscientists to pinpoint EPOR expression in cells of the nervous system and to better understand its role in healthy conditions, including brain development, as well as under pathological circumstances, such as upregulation upon distress and injury.

High-efficiency system for the construction of adenovirus vectors and its application to the generation of representative adenovirus-based cDNA expression libraries.

We here describe a convenient system for the production of recombinant adenovirus vectors and its use for the construction of a representative adenovirus-based cDNA expression library. The system is based on direct site-specific insertion of transgene cassettes into a replicating donor virus. The transgene is inserted into a donor plasmid containing the viral 5' inverted terminal repeat, the complete viral packaging signal, and a single loxP site. The plasmid is then transfected into a Cre recombinase-expressing packaging cell line that has been infected with a donor virus containing a partially deleted packaging signal flanked by loxP sites. Cre recombinase, by two steps of action, sequentially catalyzes the generation of a nonpackageable donor virus acceptor substrate and the generation of the desired recombinant adenovirus vector. Due to its growth impairment, residual donor virus can efficiently be counterselected during amplification of the recombinant adenovirus vector. By using this adenovirus construction system, a plasmid-based human liver cDNA library was converted by a single step into an adenovirus-based cDNA expression library with about 10(6) independent adenovirus clones. The high-titer purified library was shown to contain about 44% of full-length cDNAs with an average insert size of 1.3 kb. cDNAs of a gene expressed at a high level (human alpha(1)-antitrypsin) and a gene expressed at a relatively low level (human coagulation factor IX) in human liver were isolated from the adenovirus-based library using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based screening procedure.

Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes in the chromosome 12Q24.31 region points to P2RX7 as a susceptibility gene to bipolar affective disorder.

Previous results from our genetic analyses using pedigrees from a French Canadian population suggested that the interval delimited by markers on chromosome 12, D12S86 and D12S378, was the most probable genomic region to contain a susceptibility gene for affective disorders. Association studies with microsatellite markers using a case/control sample from the same population (n = 427) revealed significant allelic associations between the bipolar phenotype and marker NBG6. Since this marker is located in intron 9 of the P2RX7 gene, we analyzed the surrounding genomic region for the presence of polymorphisms in regulatory, coding and intron/exon junction sequences. Twenty four (24) SNPs were genotyped in a case/control sample and 12 SNPs in all pedigrees used for linkage analysis. Allelic, genotypic or family-based association studies suggest the presence of two susceptibility loci, the P2RX7 and CaMKK2 genes. The strongest association was observed in bipolar families at the non-synonymous SNP P2RX7-E13A (rs2230912, P-value = 0.000708), which results from an over-transmission of the mutant G-allele to affected offspring. This Gln460Arg polymorphism occurs at an amino acid that is conserved between humans and rodents and is located in the C-terminal domain of the P2X7 receptor, known to be essential for normal P2RX7 function.