ß-(1→3)-D-glucan- and mannan-guided early termination of antifungal therapy in ICU patients: a randomized controlled study.

Candida spp. are frequently encountered in specimens from ICUs. However, most of these detections represent colonization. Nevertheless, clinical practice shows that a considerable proportion of these patients will receive antifungal therapy (AT). ß-(1→3)-D-glucan (BDG) and mannan are fungal biomarkers with high negative predictive values. We aimed to examine whether biomarker-guided discontinuation of AT can reduce the antifungal consumption. Therefore, we conducted a prospective, randomized intervention study between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. All adult ICU patients with a newly started systemic AT but without fungal infection were eligible for inclusion. Enrolled patients were randomized into an intervention and a control group. In both groups, serum BDG and mannan were determined on days 1 and 2 of AT. If all measurements were negative, AT was discontinued in the intervention group. The primary endpoint was antifungal use. The study was terminated after 12 months. Until this time-point, 41 patients had been included. In the intervention group (n = 19), AT was stopped in only two patients because all others showed either positive BDG and/or mannan levels. One of these two patients developed candidemia and AT had to be restarted. There was no significant difference in the primary and secondary endpoints. In summary, the strategy of using two negative BDG and mannan levels to stop AT failed to reduce antifungal consumption in our cohort. Indeed, there will inevitably be patients with invasive candidiasis in whom necessary AT is discontinued. The optimal patient population, biomarker set, and termination criteria are critical to the success of biomarker-based termination strategies.

Fatal Puumala Hantavirus Infection in a Patient with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID).

Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) infections usually show a mild or moderate clinical course, but may sometimes also lead to life-threatening disease. Here, we report on a 60-year-old female patient with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) who developed a fatal PUUV infection with persistent renal failure, thrombocytopenia, and CNS infection with impaired consciousness and tetraparesis. Hantavirus-specific antibodies could not be detected due to the humoral immunodeficiency. Diagnosis and virological monitoring were based on the quantitative detection of PUUV RNA in blood, cerebrospinal fluid, bronchial lavage, and urine, where viral RNA was found over an unusually extended period of one month. Due to clinical deterioration and virus persistence, treatment with ribavirin was initiated. Additionally, fresh frozen plasma (FFP) from convalescent donors with a history of PUUV infection was administered. Despite viral clearance, the clinical condition of the patient did not improve and the patient died on day 81 of hospitalization. This case underlines the importance of the humoral immune response for the course of PUUV disease and illustrates the need for PCR-based virus diagnostics in those patients. Due to its potential antiviral activity, convalescent plasma should be considered in the therapy of severe hantavirus diseases.

The disulfide relay system of mitochondria is connected to the respiratory chain.

All proteins of the intermembrane space of mitochondria are encoded by nuclear genes and synthesized in the cytosol. Many of these proteins lack presequences but are imported into mitochondria in an oxidation-driven process that relies on the activity of Mia40 and Erv1. Both factors form a disulfide relay system in which Mia40 functions as a receptor that transiently interacts with incoming polypeptides via disulfide bonds. Erv1 is a sulfhydryl oxidase that oxidizes and activates Mia40, but it has remained unclear how Erv1 itself is oxidized. Here, we show that Erv1 passes its electrons on to molecular oxygen via interaction with cytochrome c and cytochrome c oxidase. This connection to the respiratory chain increases the efficient oxidation of the relay system in mitochondria and prevents the formation of toxic hydrogen peroxide. Thus, analogous to the system in the bacterial periplasm, the disulfide relay in the intermembrane space is connected to the electron transport chain of the inner membrane.

Recognition of transmembrane helices by the endoplasmic reticulum translocon.

Membrane proteins depend on complex translocation machineries for insertion into target membranes. Although it has long been known that an abundance of nonpolar residues in transmembrane helices is the principal criterion for membrane insertion, the specific sequence-coding for transmembrane helices has not been identified. By challenging the endoplasmic reticulum Sec61 translocon with an extensive set of designed polypeptide segments, we have determined the basic features of this code, including a 'biological' hydrophobicity scale. We find that membrane insertion depends strongly on the position of polar residues within transmembrane segments, adding a new dimension to the problem of predicting transmembrane helices from amino acid sequences. Our results indicate that direct protein-lipid interactions are critical during translocon-mediated membrane insertion.

The zinc-binding protein Hot13 promotes oxidation of the mitochondrial import receptor Mia40.

A disulphide relay system mediates the import of cysteine-containing proteins into the intermembrane space of mitochondria. This system consists of two essential proteins, Mia40 and Erv1, which bind to newly imported proteins by disulphide transfer. A third component, Hot13, was proposed to be important in the biogenesis of cysteine-rich proteins of the intermembrane space, but the molecular function of Hot13 remained unclear. Here, we show that Hot13, a conserved zinc-binding protein, interacts functionally and physically with the import receptor Mia40. It improves the Erv1-dependent oxidation of Mia40 both in vivo and in vitro. As a consequence, in mutants lacking Hot13, the import of substrates of Mia40 is impaired, particularly in the presence of zinc ions. In mitochondria as well as in vitro, Hot13 can be functionally replaced by zinc-binding chelators. We propose that Hot13 maintains Mia40 in a zinc-free state, thereby facilitating its efficient oxidation by Erv1.

Disseminated Multifocal Intracerebral Bleeding Events in Three Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation As Rescue Therapy.

OBJECTIVES: To describe three coronavirus disease 2019 patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome under venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy and tight anticoagulation monitoring presenting a novel pattern of multifocal brain hemorrhage in various degrees in all cerebral and cerebellar lobes. DESIGN: Clinical observation of three patients. Post mortem examinations. SETTING: Two ICUs at the University Hospital Erlangen. PATIENTS: Three patients (medium age 56.6 yr, two male with hypertension and diabetes, one female with no medical history) developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome on the basis of a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. All required mechanical ventilation and venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. INTERVENTIONS: Clinical observation, CT, data extraction from electronic medical records, and post mortem examinations. MAIN RESULTS: We report on an unusual multifocal bleeding pattern in the white matter in three cases with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome due to coronavirus disease 2019 undergoing venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy. Bleeding pattern with consecutive herniation was found in CT scans as well as in neuropathologic post mortem examinations. Frequency for this unusual brain hemorrhage in coronavirus disease 2019 patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy at our hospital is currently 50%, whereas bleeding events in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients generally occur at 10-15%. CONCLUSIONS: Multifocality and high frequency of the unusual white matter hemorrhage pattern suggest a coherence to coronavirus disease 2019. Neuropathological analyses showed circumscribed thrombotic cerebrovascular occlusions, which eventually led to microvascular and later on macrovascular disseminated bleeding events. However, signs of cerebrovascular inflammation could not be detected. Polymerase chain reaction analyses of brain tissue or cerebrospinal fluid remained negative. Increased susceptibility for fatal bleeding events should be taken into consideration in terms of systemic anticoagulation strategies in coronavirus disease 2019.

In vitro import of proteins into isolated mitochondria.

Import of proteins is of vital importance for the biogenesis of mitochondria. The vast majority of mitochondrial proteins is encoded within the nuclear genome and translocated into various mitochondrial compartments after translation in the cytosol as preproteins. Even in rather primitive eukaryotes like yeasts, these are 700 to 1,000 different proteins, whereas only a handful of proteins is encoded in the mitochondrial DNA. In vitro import studies are important tools to understand import mechanisms and pathways. Using isolated mitochondria and radioactively labeled precursor proteins, it was possible to identify several import machineries and pathways consisting of a large number of components during the last decades.

Inaccurately assembled cytochrome c oxidase can lead to oxidative stress-induced growth arrest.

AIMS: To identify yeast mutants that show a strong redox dependence of the ability to respire, we systematically screened a yeast deletion library for mutants that require the presence of reductants for growth on nonfermentable carbon sources. RESULTS: Respirative growth of 44 yeast mutants was significantly improved by the addition of dithiothreitol or glutathione. Two mutants that were strongly stimulated by reductants lacked the proteins Cmc1 and Coa4. Both proteins belong to the family of "twin Cx(9)C" proteins present in the intermembrane space of mitochondria. Deletion of CMC1 or COA4 leads to assembly defects of cytochrome c oxidase, in particular to the lack of Cox1 and rapid degradation of Cox2 and Cox3. Interestingly, the presence of the reductants does not suppress these assembly defects and the levels of cytochrome c oxidase remain reduced. Reductants and antioxidants such as ascorbic acid rather counteract the effects of hydrogen peroxide that is produced from partially assembled cytochrome c oxidase intermediates. INNOVATION: Here we show that oxidative stress generated by the accumulation of partially assembled respiratory chain complexes prevents growth on carbon sources that force cells to respire. CONCLUSION: Defects in the assembly of cytochrome c oxidase can lead to increased production of hydrogen peroxide, which is sensed in cells and blocks their proliferation. We propose that this redox-regulated feedback regulation specifically slows down the propagation of cells carrying respiratory chain mutations in order to select for cells of high mitochondrial fitness.

Systematic analysis of the twin cx(9)c protein family.

The Mia40-Erv1 disulfide relay system is of high importance for mitochondrial biogenesis. Most so far identified substrates of this machinery contain either two cysteine-x(3)-cysteine (twin Cx(3)C) or two cysteine-x(9)-cysteine (twin Cx(9)C) motifs. While the first group is composed of well-characterized components of the mitochondrial import machinery, the molecular function of twin Cx(9)C proteins still remains unclear. To systematically characterize this protein family, we performed a database search to identify the full complement of Cx(9)C proteins in yeast. Thereby, we identified 14 potential family members, which, with one exception, are conserved among plants, fungi, and animals. Among these, three represent novel proteins, which we named Cmc2 to 4 (for Cx(9)C motif-containing protein) and which we demonstrated to be dependent for import on the Mia40-Erv1 disulfide relay. By testing deletion mutants of all 14 proteins for function of the respiratory chain, we found a critical function of most of these proteins for the assembly or stability of respiratory chain complexes. Our data suggest that already early during the evolution of eukaryotic cells, a multitude of twin Cx(9)C proteins developed, which exhibit largely nonredundant roles critical for the biogenesis of enzymes of the respiratory chain in mitochondria.

The disulfide relay of the intermembrane space of mitochondria: an oxygen-sensing system?

The intermembrane space of mitochondria contains many proteins that lack classical mitochondrial targeting sequences. Instead, these proteins often show characteristic patterns of cysteine residues that are critical for their accumulation in the organelle. Import of these proteins is catalyzed by two essential components, Mia40 and Erv1. Mia40 is a protein in the intermembrane space that directly binds newly imported proteins via disulfide bonds. By reorganization of these bonds, intramolecular disulfide bonds are formed in the imported proteins, which are thereby released from Mia40 into the intermembrane space. Because folded proteins are unable to traverse the import pore of the outer membrane, this leads to a permanent location of these proteins within the mitochondria. During this reaction, Mia40 becomes reduced and needs to be re-oxidized to regain its activity. Oxidation of Mia40 is carried out by Erv1, a conserved flavine adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-binding sulfhydryl oxidase. Erv1 directly interacts with Mia40 and shuttles electrons from reduced Mia40 to oxidized cytochrome c, from whence they flow through cytochrome oxidase to molecular oxygen. The connection of the disulfide relay with the respiratory chain not only significantly increases the efficiency of the oxidase activity, but also prevents the formation of potentially deleterious hydrogen peroxide. The oxidative activity of Erv1 strongly depends on the oxygen concentration in mitochondria. Erv1, therefore, may function as a molecular switch that adapts mitochondrial activities to the oxygen levels in the cell.