Blood-brain barrier in vitro models as tools in drug discovery: assessment of the transport ranking of antihistaminic drugs.

In the course of our validation program testing blood-brain barrier (BBB) in vitro models for their usability as tools in drug discovery it was evaluated whether an established Transwell model based on porcine cell line PBMEC/C1-2 was able to differentiate between the transport properties of first and second generation antihistaminic drugs. First generation antihistamines can permeate the BBB and act in the central nervous system (CNS), whereas entry to the CNS of second generation antihistamines is restricted by efflux pumps such as P-glycoprotein (P-gP) located in brain endothelial cells. P-gP functionality of PBMEC/C1-2 cells grown on Transwell filter inserts was proven by transport studies with P-gP substrate rhodamine 123 and P-gP blocker verapamil. Subsequent drug transport studies with the first generation antihistamines promethazine, diphenhydramine and pheniramine and the second generation antihistamines astemizole, ceterizine, fexofenadine and loratadine were accomplished in single substance as well as in group studies. Results were normalised to diazepam, an internal standard for the transcellular transport route. Moreover, effects after addition of P-gP inhibitor verapamil were investigated. First generation antihistamine pheniramine permeated as fastest followed by diphenhydramine, diazepam, promethazine and second generation antihistaminic drugs ceterizine, fexofenadine, astemizole and loratadine reflecting the BBB in vivo permeability ranking well. Verapamil increased the transport rates of all second generation antihistamines, which suggested involvement of P-gP during their permeation across the BBB model. The ranking after addition of verapamil was significantly changed, only fexofenadine and ceterizine penetrated slower than internal standard diazepam in the presence of verapamil. In summary, permeability data showed that the BBB model based on porcine cell line PBMEC/C1-2 was able to reflect the BBB in vivo situation for the transport of antihistaminc drugs and to distinguish between first and second generation antihistamines.

Identification and developmental expression of a 5'-3' exoribonuclease from Drosophila melanogaster.

In multicellular organisms, very little is known about the role of mRNA stability in development, and few proteins involved in degradation pathways have been characterized. We have identified the Drosophila homologue of XRN1, which is the major cytoplasmic 5'-3' exoribonuclease in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The protein sequence of this homologue (pacman) has 59% identity to S. cerevisiae XRN1 and 67% identity to the mouse homologue (mXRN1p) in certain regions. Sequencing of this cDNA revealed that it includes a trinucleotide repeat (CAG)9 which encodes polyglutamine. By directly measuring pacman exoribonuclease activity in yeast, we demonstrate that pacman can complement the yeast XRN1 mutation. Northern blots show a single transcript of approximately 5.2 kb which is abundant only in 0-8-h embryos and in adult males and females. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that the pcm transcripts are maternally derived, and are expressed at high levels in nurse cells. During early embryonic syncytial nuclear divisions, pcm transcripts are homogenously distributed. pcm mRNA is expressed abundantly and ubiquitously throughout the embryo during gastrulation, with high levels in the germ band and head structures. After germ band retraction, pcm transcripts are present at much lower levels, in agreement with the Northern results. Our experiments provide the first example of an exoribonuclease which is differentially expressed throughout development.

[Population identification of Helicobacter pilory isolates from Russia].

Using multilocus sequence typing (MLST), 22 Helicobacter pylori isolates from Russia have been characterized. All of the Russian strains were assigned to a single population, hpEurope.

Helicobacter pylori Sequences Reflect Past Human Migrations.

The long association between the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori and humans, in combination with its predominantly within-family transmission route and its exceptionally high DNA sequence diversity, make this bacterium a reliable marker for discerning both recent and ancient human population movements. As much of the diversity in H. pylori sequences is generated by recombination and mutation on a local scale, the partitioning of H. pylori sequences from a large globally distributed data set into six geographic populations enabled the detection of recent ( < 500 years) human population movements including the European colonial expansion and the slave trade. The further separation of bacterial populations into distinct sub-populations traced prehistoric population movements like the settlement of the Americas by Asians across the Bering Strait and the Bantu migrations in Africa. The ability to deduce ancestral population structure from modern sequences was a key development that allowed the detection of zones of admixture, such as Europe, and the inference of multiple migration waves into these zones. The significantly similar global population structure of both H. pylori and humans confirmed not only an evolutionary time-scale association between host and parasite, but also that humans had carried H. pylori in their stomachs on their migrations out of Africa.

Frequent interspecific genetic exchange between commensal Neisseriae and Neisseria meningitidis.

Natural sequence variation was investigated among serogroup A subgroup IV-1 Neisseria meningitidis isolated from diseased patients and healthy carriers in The Gambia, West Africa. The frequencies of DNA import were analysed by sequencing fragments of four linked genes encoding the immunogenic outer membrane proteins TbpB (transferrin binding protein B) and OpaA (an adhesin) plus two housekeeping enzymes. Seventeen foreign tbpB alleles were independently imported into the 98 strains tested, apparently due to immune selection. The median size of the imported DNA fragments was 5 kb, resulting in the occasional concurrent import of linked housekeeping genes by hitchhiking. Sequences of tbpB from other strains of N. meningitidis as well as commensal Neisseria lactamica and Neisseria spp. isolated from the same geographical area revealed that these species share a common tbpB gene pool and identified several examples of interspecific genetic exchange. These observations indicate that recombination can be more frequent between related species than within a species and indicate that effective vaccination against serogroup B meningococcal disease may be difficult to achieve.

Theoretical and experimental basis for the development of a dynamic airway stent.

Three major problems are currently associated with airway stents: mucostasis, formation of granulation tissue, and migration. We wanted to determine whether these problems could be solved by a different stent design. Based on theoretical considerations of an idealized trachea, we developed a dynamic bifurcation stent made of silicone which incorporates horseshoe-shaped steel struts. A flexible posterior membrane enables dynamic compression during cough, whilst the clasps maintain the airway lumen in the face of external compression. The design of the stent cast was based upon computed tomographic (CT)-scan studies of the central airways. Its complex shape provides a smoother distribution of pressure on the mucosa; thereby, lowering the stimulus for granulation formation. The bronchial limbs saddle on the carina, preventing displacement. The mechanical behaviours of the new stent and two commercially available stents were compared in an ex-vivo model, utilizing freshly excised tracheae and new visualization techniques. Dynamic (artificial coughs) and static loads (simulating tumour compression or pleural pressures) were applied on excised human tracheae with different stents. Our dynamic stent preserved effective compression of the posterior membrane in response to cough, and also provided lumen stability against extrinsic compression. In comparison, the two commercially available stents did not provide both functions equally well. In conclusion, our newly designed dynamic bifurcation stent shows characteristics which should prove useful in avoiding problems currently associated with airway stents.

Disruption of ribosomal scanning on the 5'-untranslated region, and not restriction of translational initiation per se, modulates the stability of nonaberrant mRNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Translation and mRNA decay constitute key players in the post-transcriptional control of gene expression. We examine the mechanisms by which the 5'-untranslated region (UTR) of nonaberrant mRNAs acts to modulate both these processes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two classes of functional relationship between ribosome-5'-UTR interactions and mRNA decay are identifiable. In the first of these, elements in the main open reading frame (ORF) dictate how the decay process reacts to inhibitory structures in the 5'-UTR. The same types of stability modulation can be elicited by trans-regulation of translation via inducible binding of the iron-regulatory protein to an iron-responsive element located 9 nucleotides from the 5' cap. A eukaryotic translational repressor can therefore modulate mRNA decay via the 5'-UTR. In contrast, translational regulation mediated via changes in the activity of the cap-binding eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF-4E bypasses translation-dependent pathways of mRNA degradation. Thus modulation of mRNA stability via the 5'-UTR depends on disruption of the scanning process, rather than changes in translational initiation efficiency per se. In the second class of pathway, an upstream ORF (uORF) functions as a powerful destabilizing element, inducing termination-dependent degradation that is apparently independent of any main ORF determinants but influenced by the efficiencies of ribosomal recognition of the uORF start and stop codons. This latter mechanism provides a regulatable means to modulate the stability of nonaberrant mRNAs via a UPF-dependent pathway.

Mutants of eukaryotic initiation factor eIF-4E with altered mRNA cap binding specificity reprogram mRNA selection by ribosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Recognition of the 5'-end of eukaryotic mRNA by the ribosomal 43 S preinitiation complex involves the eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF-4E (eIF-4alpha). Deletion mutants of the eIF-4E gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (CDC33) encoded proteins with reduced affinity for the 5'-cap. One of these mutant proteins lacked any detectable binding to a cap analogue binding column, yet was still able to support cell growth. More than 17% of the total eIF-4E amino acid sequence could be removed without fully inactivating this factor. At least 30 of the N-terminal amino acids are not essential for function. The minimal functional eIF-4E protein segment therefore comprises at most 176 amino acids. The translation and growth defects of the deletion mutants could be at least partially compensated by increases in eIF-4E synthesis, possibly due to a mass-action effect on mRNA binding. Electroporation of yeast spheroplasts with in vitro synthesized mRNA allowed us to characterize the ability of eIF-4E mutant strains to distinguish between capped and uncapped mRNAs in vivo. Our data show that the cap specificity of eIF-4E determines to what extent the translational apparatus differentiates between capped and uncapped mRNAs and indicate the minimum relative mRNA (cap) binding activity of eIF-4E required for yeast cell viability.

Post-termination ribosome interactions with the 5'UTR modulate yeast mRNA stability.

A novel form of post-transcriptional control is described. The 5' untranslated region (5'UTR) of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene encoding the AP1-like transcription factor Yap2 contains two upstream open reading frames (uORF1 and uORF2). The YAP2-type of uORF functions as a cis-acting element that attenuates gene expression at the level of mRNA turnover via termination-dependent decay. Release of post-termination ribosomes from the YAP2 5'UTR causes accelerated decay which is largely independent of the termination modulator gene UPF1. Both of the YAP2 uORFs contribute to the destabilization effect. A G/C-rich stop codon context, which seems to promote ribosome release, allows an uORF to act as a transferable 5'UTR-destabilizing element. Moreover, termination-dependent destabilization is potentiated by stable secondary structure 3' of the uORF stop codon. The potentiation of uORF-mediated destabilization is eliminated if the secondary structure is located further downstream of the uORF, and is also influenced by a modulatory mechanism involving eIF2. Destabilization is therefore linked to the kinetics of acquisition of reinitiation-competence by post-termination ribosomes in the 5'UTR. Our data explain the destabilizing properties of YAP2-type uORFs and also support a more general model for the mode of action of other known uORFs, such as those in the GCN4 mRNA.

The yeast transcription factor genes YAP1 and YAP2 are subject to differential control at the levels of both translation and mRNA stability.

Two forms of post-transcriptional control direct differential expression of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes encoding the AP1-like transcription factors Yap1p and Yap2p. The mRNAs of these genes contain respectively one (YAP1 uORF) and two (YAP2 uORF1 and uORF2) upstream open reading frames. uORF-mediated modulation of post-termination events on the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) directs differential control not only of translation but also of mRNA decay. Translational control is defined by two types of uORF function. The YAP1 -type uORF allows scanning 40S subunits to proceed via leaky scanning and re-initiation to the major ORF, whereas the YAP2 -type acts to block ribosomal scanning by promoting efficient termination. At the same time, the YAP2 uORFs define a new type of mRNA destabilizing element. Both post-termination ribosome scanning behaviour and mRNA decay are influenced by the coding sequence and mRNA context of the respective uORFs, including downstream elements. Our data indicate that release of post-termination ribosomes promotes largely upf -independent accelerated decay. It follows that translational termination on the 5'-UTR of a mature, non-aberrant yeast mRNA can trigger destabilization via a different pathway to that used to rid the cell of mRNAs containing premature stop codons. This route of control of non-aberrant mRNA decay influences the stress response in yeast. It is also potentially relevant to expression of the sizable number of eukaryotic mRNAs that are now recognized to contain uORFs.

Fit genotypes and escape variants of subgroup III Neisseria meningitidis during three pandemics of epidemic meningitis.

The genetic variability at six polymorphic loci was examined within a global collection of 502 isolates of subgroup III, serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis. Nine "genoclouds" were identified, consisting of genotypes that were isolated repeatedly plus 48 descendent genotypes that were isolated rarely. These genoclouds have caused three pandemic waves of disease since the mid-1960s, the most recent of which was imported from East Asia to Europe and Africa in the mid-1990s. Many of the genotypes are escape variants, resulting from positive selection that we attribute to herd immunity. Despite positive selection, most escape variants are less fit than their parents and are lost because of competition and bottlenecks during spread from country to country. Competition between fit genotypes results in dramatic changes in population composition over short time periods.