Nucleotide and nucleoside involvement in immunomodulation in experimental Chagas disease.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether Trypanosma cruzi infections cause alterations in the levels of seric purines, which could contribute to host immunomodulation. Twelve mice were divided into two groups identified as control (uninfected) and infected (T. cruzi) groups. The influence of the disease on seric purine levels was verified on day 20 post-infection (PI) by HPLC. Infected mice had circulating trypomastigotes during the experiment, as well as amastigote forms in the heart associated with inflammatory infiltrates. Increases on adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adenosine (ADO), inosine (INO), and uric acid (URIC) levels were observed in the infected animals, while the adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and xanthine (XAN) levels were reduced compared with mice of the control group, indicating a possible impairment on the purinergic system, and consequently, on the immune system during the clinical course of the disease. In summary, the T. cruzi infection alters the seric purine levels, and consequently, modulates the immune system.

[Glutathione redox system, immune status, antioxidant enzymes and metabolism of purine nucleotides in hypothyroidism].

The immune status, components of the glutathione redox system, the activity of antioxidant enzymes and metabolism of purine nucleotides have been investigated in animals with experimental hypothyroidism. On day 8 after an increase in the number of leukocytes, lymphocytes, T-helpers and T-suppressors as well as increased number of B-lymphocytes was found in blood of thyroidectomized rats. This was accompanied by decreased activity of adenosine deaminase (AD), AMP-deaminase (AMPD), and 5'-nucleotidase (5'N) in blood, but the ratio of enzyme activity AD/AMPD increased. These changes in the activity of enzymes, involved in purine catabolism can be regarded as increased functional relationships between T and B lymphocytes in hypothyroidism. The functional changes of immune system cells were accompanied by increased activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), a decrease in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and the ratio GH/GPx. Thyroidectomized rats had increased amounts of total, oxidized (GSSG) and reduced glutathione (GSH), but the ratio GSH/GSSG decerased as compared with control animals. In the liver, hypothyroidism resulted in activation of SOD, GPx, decreased activity of GR and decreased ratio GR/GPx. At the same time, the levels of total, oxidized, and reduced glutathione increased, but the ratio GSH/GSSG as well as activities of enzymes involved in purine nucleotide metabolism ratio (and their ratio 5'N/AD + AMPD) decreased. All these data suggest a functional relationship of the glutathione redox system not only with antioxidant enzymes, but also activity of enzymes involved purine nucleotide metabolism and immune status.

Stability and immunogenicity properties of the gene-silencing polypurine reverse Hoogsteen hairpins.

Gene silencing by either small-interference RNAs (siRNA) or antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (aODN) is widely used in biomedical research. However, their use as therapeutic agents is hindered by two important limitations: their low stability and the activation of the innate immune response. Recently, we developed a new type of molecule to decrease gene expression named polypurine reverse Hoogsteen hairpins (PPRHs) that bind to polypyrimidine targets in the DNA. Herein, stability experiments performed in mouse, human, and fetal calf serum and in PC3 cells revealed that the half-life of PPRHs is much longer than that of siRNAs in all cases. Usage of PPRHs with a nicked-circular structure increased the binding affinity to their target sequence and their half-life in FCS when bound to the target. Regarding the innate immune response, we determined that the levels of the transcription factors IRF3 and its phosphorylated form, as well as NF-κB were increased by siRNAs and not by PPRHs; that the expression levels of several proinflammatory cytokines including IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-α, IFN-ß, IL-1ß, and IL-18 were not significantly increased by PPRHs; and that the cleavage and activation of the proteolytic enzyme caspase-1 was not triggered by PPRHs. These determinations indicated that PPRHs, unlike siRNAs, do not activate the innate inflammatory response.