An OX40/OX40L interaction directs successful immunity to hepatitis B virus.

Depending on age of acquisition, hepatitis B virus (HBV) can induce a cell-mediated immune response that results in either cure or progressive liver injury. In adult-acquired infection, HBV antigens are usually cleared, whereas in infancy-acquired infection, they persist. Individuals infected during infancy therefore represent the majority of patients chronically infected with HBV (CHB). A therapy that can promote viral antigen clearance in most CHB patients has not been developed and would represent a major health care advance and cost mitigator. Using an age-dependent mouse model of HBV clearance and persistence in conjunction with human blood and liver tissue, we studied mechanisms of viral clearance to identify new therapeutic targets. We demonstrate that age-dependent expression of the costimulatory molecule OX40 ligand (OX40L) by hepatic innate immune cells is pivotal in determining HBV immunity, and that treatment with OX40 agonists leads to improved HBV antigen clearance in young mice, as well as increased strength of T cell responses in young mice and adult mice that were exposed to HBV when they were young and developed a CHB serological profile. Similarly, in humans, we show that hepatic OX40L transcript expression is age-dependent and that increased OX40 expression on peripheral CD4+ T cells in adults is associated with HBV clearance. These findings provide new mechanistic understanding of the immune pathways and cells necessary for HBV immunity and identify potential therapeutic targets for resolving CHB.

Structure activity relationship and modeling studies of inhibitors of lysine specific demethylase 1.

Post-translational modifications of histone play important roles in gene transcription. Aberrant methylation of histone lysine sidechains have been often found in cancer. Lysine specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), which can demethylate histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) and other proteins, has recently been found to be a drug target for acute myeloid leukemia. To understand structure activity/selectivity relationships of LSD1 inhibitors, several series of cyclopropylamine and related compounds were synthesized and tested for their activities against LSD1 and related monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B. Several cyclopropylamine containing compounds were found to be highly potent and selective inhibitors of LSD1. A novel series cyclopropylimine compounds also exhibited strong inhibitory activity against LSD1. Structure activity relationships (SAR) of these compounds are discussed. Docking studies were performed to provide possible binding models of a representative compound in LSD1 and MAO-A. Moreover, these modeling studies can rationalize the observed SARs and selectivity.