Human inherited CCR2 deficiency underlies progressive polycystic lung disease.

We describe a human lung disease caused by autosomal recessive, complete deficiency of the monocyte chemokine receptor C-C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2). Nine children from five independent kindreds have pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP), progressive polycystic lung disease, and recurrent infections, including bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) disease. The CCR2 variants are homozygous in six patients and compound heterozygous in three, and all are loss-of-expression and loss-of-function. They abolish CCR2-agonist chemokine C-C motif ligand 2 (CCL-2)-stimulated Ca2+ signaling in and migration of monocytic cells. All patients have high blood CCL-2 levels, providing a diagnostic test for screening children with unexplained lung or mycobacterial disease. Blood myeloid and lymphoid subsets and interferon (IFN)-γ- and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)-mediated immunity are unaffected. CCR2-deficient monocytes and alveolar macrophage-like cells have normal gene expression profiles and functions. By contrast, alveolar macrophage counts are about half. Human complete CCR2 deficiency is a genetic etiology of PAP, polycystic lung disease, and recurrent infections caused by impaired CCL2-dependent monocyte migration to the lungs and infected tissues.

Introducing a New Method for Purification of Human IL-4 by Substitution of a Single Amino Acid in IL-4 Protein Sequence.

BACKGROUND: It is advantageous to develop an effective purification procedure to produce recombinant protein drugs (rPDs) without any tags. To remove N- or C-terminus tags from the rPDs, several cleavage site-based endopeptidases were used. Separating the endopeptidase enzyme from the rPDs is a time-consuming and costly process. OBJECTIVE: To design and develop a new method for the purification of human interleukin (IL)-4 with potential application for other cytokines. METHODS: Met-like amino acids were substituted at position 120 to reduce the possibility of alteration in the structure of IL-4 and its biological activity. Based on the in silico analysis, isoleucine was chosen as an alternative amino acid, and the M120I mutant IL-4 (mIL-4) model was selected for the downstream analysis. Recombinant mIL-4 was produced in the E.coli BL21 host and purified with CNBr. Then in vitro evaluations of the native and mutant IL-4 were performed. RESULTS: The results showed that both the native and mutant IL-4 had the same effect on TF-1 cell proliferation. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the effects of native IL-4 (nIL-4) and mIL-4 on the expression of IL-4 and IL-10 in activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Native and mutant IL-4 have similar biological activities. CONCLUSION: Here, an efficient and straightforward system is introduced to purify IL-4 cytokine using CNBr, which could be applied to other rPDs.

Dystrophin gene editing by CRISPR/Cas9 system in human skeletal muscle cell line (HSkMC).

OBJECTIVES: Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive neuromuscular disease caused by mutations in the DMD gene, resulting in the absence of dystrophin expression leading to membrane fragility and myofibril necrosis in the muscle cells. Because of progressive weakness in the skeletal and cardiac muscles, premature death is inevitable. There is no curative treatment available for DMD. In recent years, advances in genetic engineering tools have made it possible to manipulate gene sequences and accurately modify disease-causing mutations. CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a promising tool for gene editing because of its ability to induce double-strand breaks in the DNA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study for the exon-skipping approach, we designed a new pair of guide RNAs (gRNA) to induce large deletion of exons 48 to 53 in the DMD gene in the human skeletal muscle cell line (HSkMC), in order to correct the frame of the gene. RESULTS: Data showed successful editing of DMD gene by deletion of exons 48 to 53 and correction of the reading frame in edited cells. Despite a large deletion in the edited DMD gene, the data of real-time PCR, immune florescent staining demonstrated successful expression of truncated dystrophin in edited cells. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the removal of exons 48-53 by the CRISPR / Cas9 system did not alter the expression of the DMD gene due to the preservation of the reading frame of the gene.

A fast HRMA tool to authenticate eight salmonid species in commercial food products.

Atlantic and Pacific salmon are frequently consumed species with very different economic values: farmed Atlantic salmon is cheaper than wild-caught Pacific salmons. Species replacements occur with the high valued Pacific species (Oncorhynchus keta, O. gorbuscha, O. kisutch, O. nerka and O. tshawytscha) substituted by cheaper farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and Atlantic salmon by rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). Here we use High-Resolution Melting Analysis (HRMA) to identify eight salmonid species. We designed primers to generate short amplicons of 72 and 116 bp from the fish barcode genes CO1 and CYTB. The time of analysis was under 70 min, after DNA extraction. Food processing of Atlantic salmon (fresh, "Bellevue", "gravadlax", frozen and smoked) did not impact the HRMA profiles allowing reliable identification. A blind test was conducted by three different institutes, showing correct species identifications irrespective of the laboratory conducting the analysis. Finally, a total of 82 retail samples from three European countries were analyzed and a low substitution rate of 1.2% was found. The developed tool provides a quick way to investigate salmon fraud and contributes to safeguard consumers.

Aging: A cell source limiting factor in tissue engineering.

Tissue engineering has yet to reach its ideal goal, i.e. creating profitable off-the-shelf tissues and organs, designing scaffolds and three-dimensional tissue architectures that can maintain the blood supply, proper biomaterial selection, and identifying the most efficient cell source for use in cell therapy and tissue engineering. These are still the major challenges in this field. Regarding the identification of the most appropriate cell source, aging as a factor that affects both somatic and stem cells and limits their function and applications is a preventable and, at least to some extents, a reversible phenomenon. Here, we reviewed different stem cell types, namely embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and genetically modified stem cells, as well as their sources, i.e. autologous, allogeneic, and xenogeneic sources. Afterward, we approached aging by discussing the functional decline of aged stem cells and different intrinsic and extrinsic factors that are involved in stem cell aging including replicative senescence and Hayflick limit, autophagy, epigenetic changes, miRNAs, mTOR and AMPK pathways, and the role of mitochondria in stem cell senescence. Finally, various interventions for rejuvenation and geroprotection of stem cells are discussed. These interventions can be applied in cell therapy and tissue engineering methods to conquer aging as a limiting factor, both in original cell source and in the in vitro proliferated cells.