Polycomb and Notch signaling regulate cell proliferation potential during Caenorhabditis elegans life cycle.

Stable cell fate is an essential feature for multicellular organisms in which individual cells achieve specialized functions. Caenorhabditis elegans is a great model to analyze the determinants of cell fate stability because of its invariant lineage. We present a tractable cell fate challenge system that uses the induction of fate-specifying transcription factors. We show that wild-type differentiated animals are highly resistant to fate challenge. Removal of heterochromatin marks showed marked differences: the absence of histone 3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9) has no effect on fate stability, whereas Polycomb homolog mes-2 mutants lacking H3K27 methylation terminally arrest larval development upon fate challenge. Unexpectedly, the arrest correlated with widespread cell proliferation rather than transdifferentiation. Using a candidate RNAi larval arrest-rescue screen, we show that the LIN-12Notch pathway is essential for hyperplasia induction. Moreover, Notch signaling appears downstream of food-sensing pathways, as dauers and first larval stage diapause animals are resistant to fate challenge. Our results demonstrate an equilibrium between proliferation and differentiation regulated by Polycomb and Notch signaling in the soma during the nematode life cycle.

A live-attenuated HSV-2 ICP0 virus elicits 10 to 100 times greater protection against genital herpes than a glycoprotein D subunit vaccine.

Glycoprotein D (gD-2) is the entry receptor of herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), and is the immunogen in the pharmaceutical industry's lead HSV-2 vaccine candidate. Efforts to prevent genital herpes using gD-2 subunit vaccines have been ongoing for 20 years at a cost in excess of $100 million. To date, gD-2 vaccines have yielded equivocal protection in clinical trials. Therefore, using a small animal model, we sought to determine if a live-attenuated HSV-2 ICP0⁻ virus would elicit better protection against genital herpes than a gD-2 subunit vaccine. Mice immunized with gD-2 and a potent adjuvant (alum+monophosphoryl lipid A) produced high titers of gD-2 antibody. While gD-2-immunized mice possessed significant resistance to HSV-2, only 3 of 45 gD-2-immunized mice survived an overwhelming challenge of the vagina or eyes with wild-type HSV-2 (MS strain). In contrast, 114 of 115 mice immunized with a live HSV-2 ICP0⁻ virus, 0ΔNLS, survived the same HSV-2 MS challenges. Likewise, 0ΔNLS-immunized mice shed an average 125-fold less HSV-2 MS challenge virus per vagina relative to gD-2-immunized mice. In vivo imaging demonstrated that a luciferase-expressing HSV-2 challenge virus failed to establish a detectable infection in 0ΔNLS-immunized mice, whereas the same virus readily infected naïve and gD-2-immunized mice. Collectively, these results suggest that a HSV-2 vaccine might be more likely to prevent genital herpes if it contained a live-attenuated HSV-2 virus rather than a single HSV-2 protein.

Herpes simplex virus 2 ICP0 mutant viruses are avirulent and immunogenic: implications for a genital herpes vaccine.

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) ICP0(-) mutants are interferon-sensitive, avirulent, and elicit protective immunity against HSV-1 (Virol J, 2006, 3:44). If an ICP0(-) mutant of herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) exhibited similar properties, such a virus might be used to vaccinate against genital herpes. The current study was initiated to explore this possibility. Several HSV-2 ICP0(-) mutant viruses were constructed and evaluated in terms of three parameters: i. interferon-sensitivity; ii. virulence in mice; and iii. capacity to elicit protective immunity against HSV-2. One ICP0(-) mutant virus in particular, HSV-2 0DeltaNLS, achieved an optimal balance between avirulence and immunogenicity. HSV-2 0DeltaNLS was interferon-sensitive in cultured cells. HSV-2 0DeltaNLS replicated to low levels in the eyes of inoculated mice, but was rapidly repressed by an innate, Stat 1-dependent host immune response. HSV-2 0DeltaNLS failed to spread from sites of inoculation, and hence produced only inapparent infections. Mice inoculated with HSV-2 0DeltaNLS consistently mounted an HSV-specific IgG antibody response, and were consistently protected against lethal challenge with wild-type HSV-2. Based on their avirulence and immunogenicity, we propose that HSV-2 ICP0(-) mutant viruses merit consideration for their potential to prevent the spread of HSV-2 and genital herpes.