A Significant Contribution of the Classical Pathway of Complement in SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization of Convalescent and Vaccinee Sera.

Although high titers of neutralizing Abs in human serum are associated with protection from reinfection by SARS-CoV-2, there is considerable heterogeneity in human serum-neutralizing Abs against SARS-CoV-2 during convalescence between individuals. Standard human serum live virus neutralization assays require inactivation of serum/plasma prior to testing. In this study, we report that the SARS-CoV-2 neutralization titers of human convalescent sera were relatively consistent across all disease states except for severe COVID-19, which yielded significantly higher neutralization titers. Furthermore, we show that heat inactivation of human serum significantly lowered neutralization activity in a live virus SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assay. Heat inactivation of human convalescent serum was shown to inactivate complement proteins, and the contribution of complement in SARS-CoV-2 neutralization was often >50% of the neutralizing activity of human sera without heat inactivation and could account for neutralizing activity when standard titers were zero after heat inactivation. This effect was also observed in COVID-19 vaccinees and could be abolished in individuals who were undergoing treatment with therapeutic anti-complement Abs. Complement activity was mainly dependent on the classical pathway with little contributions from mannose-binding lectin and alternative pathways. Our study demonstrates the importance of the complement pathway in significantly increasing viral neutralization activity against SARS-CoV-2 in spike seropositive individuals.

Reporters to mark and eliminate basal or luminal epithelial cells in culture and in vivo.

The contribution of basal and luminal cells to cancer progression and metastasis is poorly understood. We report generation of reporter systems driven by either keratin-14 (K14) or keratin-8 (K8) promoter that not only express a fluorescent protein but also an inducible suicide gene. Transgenic mice express the reporter genes in the right cell compartments of mammary gland epithelia and respond to treatment with toxins. In addition, we engineered the reporters into 4T1 metastatic mouse tumor cell line and demonstrate that K14+ cells, but not K14- or K8+, are both highly invasive in three-dimensional (3D) culture and metastatic in vivo. Treatment of cells in culture, or tumors in mice, with reporter-targeting toxin inhibited both invasive behavior and metastasis in vivo. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), secretome, and epigenome analysis of K14+ and K14- cells led to the identification of amphoterin-induced protein 2 (Amigo2) as a new cell invasion driver whose expression correlated with decreased relapse-free survival in patients with TP53 wild-type (WT) breast cancer.

Comparison of Omicron breakthrough infection versus monovalent SARS-CoV-2 intramuscular booster reveals differences in mucosal and systemic humoral immunity.

Our understanding of the quality of cellular and humoral immunity conferred by COVID-19 vaccination alone versus vaccination plus SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough (BT) infection remains incomplete. While the current (2023) SARS-CoV-2 immune landscape of Canadians is complex, in late 2021 most Canadians had either just received a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine, or had received their two-dose primary series and then experienced an Omicron BT. Herein we took advantage of this coincident timing to contrast cellular and humoral immunity conferred by three doses of vaccine versus two doses plus BT. Our results show thatBT infection induces cell-mediated immune responses to variants comparable to an intramuscular vaccine booster dose. In contrast, BT subjects had higher salivary immunoglobulin (Ig)G and IgA levels against the Omicron spike and enhanced reactivity to the ancestral spike for the IgA isotype, which also reacted with SARS-CoV-1. Serumneutralizing antibody levels against the ancestral strain and the variants were also higher after BT infection. Our results support the need for the development of intranasal vaccines that could emulate the enhanced mucosal and humoral immunity induced by Omicron BT without exposing individuals to the risks associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The retinoblastoma protein regulates pericentric heterochromatin.

The retinoblastoma protein (pRb) has been proposed to regulate cell cycle progression in part through its ability to interact with enzymes that modify histone tails and create a repressed chromatin structure. We created a mutation in the murine Rb1 gene that disrupted pRb's ability to interact with these enzymes to determine if it affected cell cycle control. Here, we show that loss of this interaction slows progression through mitosis and causes aneuploidy. Our experiments reveal that while the LXCXE binding site mutation does not disrupt pRb's interaction with the Suv4-20h histone methyltransferases, it dramatically reduces H4-K20 trimethylation in pericentric heterochromatin. Disruption of heterochromatin structure in this chromosomal region leads to centromere fusions, chromosome missegregation, and genomic instability. These results demonstrate the surprising finding that pRb uses the LXCXE binding cleft to control chromatin structure for the regulation of events beyond the G(1)-to-S-phase transition.

DNA damage signals through differentially modified E2F1 molecules to induce apoptosis.

E2F transcription can lead to cell proliferation or apoptosis, indicating that E2Fs control opposing functions. In a similar manner, DNA double-strand breaks can signal to induce cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Specifically, pRB is activated following DNA damage, allowing it to bind to E2Fs and block transcription at cell cycle promoters; however, E2F1 is simultaneously activated, leading to transcription at proapoptotic promoters. We examined this paradoxical control of E2F transcription by studying how E2F1's interaction with pRB is regulated following DNA damage. Our work reveals that DNA damage signals create multiple forms of E2F1 that contain mutually exclusive posttranslational modifications. Specifically, E2F1 phospho-serine 364 is found only in complex with pRB, while E2F1 phosphorylation at serine 31 and acetylation function to create a pRB-free form of E2F1. Both pRB-bound and pRB-free modifications on E2F1 are essential for the activation of TA-p73 and the maximal induction of apoptosis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that E2F1 phosphorylated on serine 364 is also present at proapoptotic gene promoters during the induction of apoptosis. This indicates that distinct populations of E2F1 are organized in response to DNA damage signaling. Surprisingly, these complexes act in parallel to activate transcription of proapoptotic genes. Our data suggest that DNA damage signals alter pRB and E2F1 to engage them in functions leading to apoptotic induction that are distinct from pRB-E2F regulation in cell cycle control.

Dysregulation of cell polarity proteins synergize with oncogenes or the microenvironment to induce invasive behavior in epithelial cells.

Changes in expression and localization of proteins that regulate cell and tissue polarity are frequently observed in carcinoma. However, the mechanisms by which changes in cell polarity proteins regulate carcinoma progression are not well understood. Here, we report that loss of polarity protein expression in epithelial cells primes them for cooperation with oncogenes or changes in tissue microenvironment to promote invasive behavior. Activation of ErbB2 in cells lacking the polarity regulators Scribble, Dlg1 or AF-6, induced invasive properties. This cooperation required the ability of ErbB2 to regulate the Par6/aPKC polarity complex. Inhibition of the ErbB2-Par6 pathway was sufficient to block ErbB2-induced invasion suggesting that two polarity hits may be needed for ErbB2 to promote invasion. Interestingly, in the absence of ErbB2 activation, either a combined loss of two polarity proteins, or exposure of cells lacking one polarity protein to cytokines IL-6 or TNFα induced invasive behavior in epithelial cells. We observed the invasive behavior only when cells were plated on a stiff matrix (Matrigel/Collagen-1) and not when plated on a soft matrix (Matrigel alone). Cells lacking two polarity proteins upregulated expression of EGFR and activated Akt. Inhibition of Akt activity blocked the invasive behavior identifying a mechanism by which loss of polarity promotes invasion of epithelial cells. Thus, we demonstrate that loss of polarity proteins confers phenotypic plasticity to epithelial cells such that they display normal behavior under normal culture conditions but display aggressive behavior in response to activation of oncogenes or exposure to cytokines.