Effective concentration of intravenous immunoglobulin for neutralizing Panton-Valentine leukocidin in human blood.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infects healthy individuals, although the precise cause remains unclear. CA-MRSA produces Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which often causes severe invasive infection; however, antitoxin drugs against PVL are limited. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) possesses antitoxin activity, but unfortunately, the optimal dose is unknown. Here, we measured the PVL neutralizing antibody titer in the plasma of Japanese individuals and sera of American donors. Next, we compared the cytotoxic effects of PVL on neutrophils in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) or whole blood to determine the effect of the neutralizing antibody. Finally, we evaluated the effective concentration of IVIg required to neutralize PVL in PBS and whole blood. We observed that the titer of PVL neutralizing antibody in healthy individuals polarized as high and low/none group. Additionally, the PVL neutralizing antibody titer considerably affected the concentration at which IVIg elicited its effect. This suggests that PVL-producing CA-MRSA might be involved in determining the severity of infection in healthy individuals without neutralizing antibody against PVL. The neutralizing effect of IVIg was observed in both PBS and whole blood. However, the optimal concentration of IVIg required for neutralizing PVL varied between PBS and whole blood. In addition, since the PVL-neutralizing activity of IVIg also largely depends on blood composition, such as neutralizing antibody concentration, the optimal dosage of IVIg as an antitoxin drug should be decided in a timely manner after considering the patient's medical background.

Src-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of PRC1 and kinastrin/SKAP on the mitotic spindle.

Src-family tyrosine kinases (SFKs) play important roles in a number of signal transduction events during mitosis, such as spindle formation. A relationship has been reported between SFKs and the mitotic spindle; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We herein demonstrated that SFKs accumulated in the centrosome region at the onset of mitosis. Centrosomal Fyn increased in the G2 phase in a microtubule polymerization-dependent manner. A mass spectrometry analysis using mitotic spindle preparations was performed to identify tyrosine-phosphorylated substrates. Protein regulator of cytokinesis 1 (PRC1) and kinastrin/small kinetochore-associated protein (kinastrin/SKAP) were identified as SFK substrates. SFKs mainly phosphorylated PRC1 at Tyr-464 and kinastrin at Tyr-87. Although wild-type PRC1 is associated with microtubules, phosphomimetic PRC1 impaired the ability to bind microtubules. Phosphomimetic kinastrin at Tyr-87 also impaired binding with microtubules. Collectively, these results suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation of PRC1 and kinastrin plays a role in their delocalization from microtubules during mitosis.

Recruitment of Lyn from endomembranes to the plasma membrane through calcium-dependent cell-cell interactions upon polarization of inducible Lyn-expressing MDCK cells.

Src-family kinases, expressed in a wide variety of cell types, are anchored to cellular membranes through posttranslational lipid modifications and involved in diverse cellular signalling. In epithelial cells, Src-family kinases are localized at the plasma membrane and participate in epithelial functions. Epithelial cell polarity is achieved through dynamic reorganization of protein trafficking. To examine the trafficking of Src-family kinases between polarized and non-polarized epithelial cells, we generated an MDCK cell line that can inducibly express a protein of interest in a polarized state at any time. We show here that Lyn, a member of Src-family kinases, mainly localizes to the plasma membrane in polarized MDCK cells and to endomembranes in non-polarized MDCK cells. Cell-cell interactions between adjacent MDCK cells recruit Lyn from endomembranes to the plasma membrane even without cell attachment to extracellular matrix scaffolds, and loss of cell-cell interactions by calcium deprivation relocates Lyn from the plasma membrane to endomembranes through Rab11-mediated recycling. Therefore, using our MDCK cells expressing inducible Lyn, we reveal that calcium-dependent cell-cell interactions play a critical role in plasma membrane localization of Lyn in polarized MDCK cells.