Sensitivity to a CD4 mimic of a consensus clone of monkey-adapted CCR5-tropic SHIV-MK38C.

By acclimatizing CCR5-tropic tier 1B SHIV-MK1 to rhesus monkeys, a tier 2 SHIV-MK38 strain with neutralization resistance and high replication ability was generated. In this study, we generated SHIV-MK38C, a monkey-infectious consensus molecular clone of SHIV-MK38. Analysis using pseudotype viruses showed that MK38C was tier 1C because it lacked the N169D mutation, which is the most important mutation for neutralization resistance. MK38C harboring the N169D mutation became tier 2. However, the replication ability of SHIV-MK38C with N169D was low; more than 17 weeks elapsed before its detection in monkeys. Tier 1C MK38C was sensitive to a CD4 mimic. Therefore, SHIV-MK38C could be used to evaluate CD4 mimics in vivo.

Effect of Reducing Pigmentation by Collagen Peptide Intake: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.

INTRODUCTION: We examined the effect of 5.0 g/day of collagen peptide (CP) or collagen peptide fermented with Aspergillus sojae (FCP) on skin pigmentation in healthy participants. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 44 men and women aged 25-63 years were placed into three groups by stratified random allocation and treated with CP, FCP, or placebo (PL) at 5.0 g/day for 3 months. Their skin condition was measured monthly from baseline to 3 months of intake. RESULTS: No adverse events were identified in any group. The CP group showed a significant reduction in pigmented patches and redness after 1 and 3 months of intake, respectively. In the FCP group, pigmented macules were significantly reduced after 1 month, and pigmented patches after 2 months. Both the all-ages analysis and the hierarchical analysis below 55 years old yielded similar results. CONCLUSION: Intake of 5.0 g/day of FCP for 3 months is safe. CP and FCP intake is useful for suppressing pigmentation. In addition, CP intake may be useful for reducing redness. These results suggest a new beneficial effect on the skin of CP supplementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UMIN clinical trials registry system, UMIN000040736.

Reduced Visceral Fat Weight and Body Weight Due to Ingestion of Fermented Collagen Peptide in High-Fat Diet-Fed Obese Mice.

Oral ingestion of collagen hydrolysate has various benecial effects. We developed a novel fermented collagen peptide (FCP), different from the conventional collagen peptides, by fermenting gelatin with Aspergillus sojae. This study aimed to investigate the effect of FCP in inhibiting fat accumulation under high-fat loading. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a low- or high-fat diet, or a high-fat diet including 5% FCP for 28 d. Body weight, visceral fat weight, adiponectin levels, leptin concentration, fatty acid synthase (FAS) activity, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT) activity were determined. FCP supplementation was found to significantly decrease the body weight, visceral fat weight, leptin concentration, and FAS activity, and increase adiponectin levels and CPT activity compared to that in the high-fat diet-fed group. In conclusion, FCP intake reduced visceral fat weight and body weight in high-fat diet-fed mice.

Hybrids of Small-Molecule CD4 Mimics with Polyethylene Glycol Units as HIV Entry Inhibitors.

CD4 mimics are small molecules that inhibit the interaction of gp120 with CD4. We have developed several CD4 mimics. Herein, hybrid molecules consisting of CD4 mimics with a long alkyl chain or a PEG unit attached through a self-cleavable linker were synthesized. In anti-HIV activity, modification with a PEG unit appeared to be more suitable than modification with a long alkyl chain. Thus, hybrid molecules of CD4 mimics, with PEG units attached through an uncleavable linker, were developed and showed high anti-HIV activity and low cytotoxicity. In investigation of pharmacokinetics in a rhesus macaque, a hybrid compound had a more effective PK profile than that of the parent compound, and intramuscular injection was a more useful administration route to maintain the high blood concentration of the CD4 mimic than intravenous injection. The presented hybrid molecules of CD4 mimics with a PEG unit would be practically useful when combined with a neutralizing antibody.

Modulation of autoimmune pathogenesis by T cell-triggered inflammatory cell death.

T cell-mediated autoimmunity encompasses diverse immunopathological outcomes; however, the mechanisms underlying this diversity are largely unknown. Dysfunction of the tripartite linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex (LUBAC) is associated with distinct autonomous immune-related diseases. Cpdm mice lacking Sharpin, an accessory subunit of LUBAC, have innate immune cell-predominant dermatitis triggered by death of LUBAC-compromised keratinocytes. Here we show that specific gene ablation of Sharpin in mouse Treg causes phenotypes mimicking cpdm-like inflammation. Mechanistic analyses find that multiple types of programmed cell death triggered by TNF from tissue-oriented T cells initiate proinflammatory responses to implicate innate immune-mediated pathogenesis in this T cell-mediated inflammation. Moreover, additional disruption of the Hoip locus encoding the catalytic subunit of LUBAC converts cpdm-like dermatitis to T cell-predominant autoimmune lesions; however, innate immune-mediated pathogenesis still remains. These findings show that T cell-mediated killing and sequential autoinflammation are common and crucial for pathogenic diversity during T cell-mediated autoimmune responses.

Induction of neutralizing antibodies against tier 2 human immunodeficiency virus 1 in rhesus macaques infected with tier 1B simian/human immunodeficiency virus.

We previously developed CCR5-tropic neutralization-resistant simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) strains and a rhesus macaque model of infection with these SHIVs. We induced the production of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against HIV-1 by infecting rhesus macaques with different neutralization-resistant SHIV strains. First, SHIV-MK1 (MK1) (neutralization susceptible, tier 1B) with CCR5 tropism was generated from SHIV-KS661 using CXCR4 as the main co-receptor. nAbs against parental-lineage and heterologous tier 2 viruses were induced by tier 1B virus (MK1) infection of the rhesus macaque MM482. We analyzed viral resistance to neutralization over time in MM482 and observed that the infecting virus mutated from tier 1B to tier 2 at 36 weeks postinfection (wpi). In addition, an analysis of mutations showed that N169D, K187E, S190N, S239, T459N (T459D at 91 wpi), and V842A mutations were present after 36 wpi. This led to the appearance of neutralization-resistant viral clones. In addition, MK1 was passaged in three rhesus macaques to generate neutralization-resistant SHIV-MK38 (MK38) (tier 2). We evaluated nAb production by rhesus macaques infected with SHIV-MK38 #818 (#818) (tier 2), a molecular clone of MK38. Neutralization of the parental lineage was induced earlier than in macaques infected with tier 1B virus, and neutralization activity against heterologous tier 2 virus was beginning to develop. Therefore, CCR5-tropic neutralization-resistant SHIV-infected rhesus macaques may be useful models of anti-HIV-1 nAb production and will facilitate the development of a vaccine that elicits nAbs against HIV-1.

Structural basis for the recognition of Ubc13 by the Shigella flexneri effector OspI.

Ubc13 is a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme that plays a key role in the nuclear factor-κB signal transduction pathway in human diseases. The Shigella flexneri effector OspI affects inflammatory responses by catalyzing the deamidation of a specific glutamine residue at position 100 in Ubc13 during infection. This modification prevents the activation of the TNF (tumor necrosis factor) receptor-associated factor 6, leading to modulation of the diacylglycerol-CBM (CARD-Bcl10-Malt1) complex-TNF receptor-associated factor 6-nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway. To elucidate the structural basis of OspI function, we determined the crystal structures of the catalytically inert OspI C62A mutant and its complex with Ubc13 at resolutions of 3.0 and 2.96Å, respectively. The structure of the OspI-Ubc13 complex revealed that the interacting surfaces between OspI and Ubc13 are a hydrophobic surface and a complementary charged surface. Furthermore, we predict that the complementary charged surface of OspI plays a key role in substrate specificity determination.

Evaluation of the immune response and protective effects of rhesus macaques vaccinated with biodegradable nanoparticles carrying gp120 of human immunodeficiency virus.

We previously reported that biodegradable amphiphilic poly(gamma-glutamic acid) nanoparticles (NPs) carrying the recombinant gp120 env protein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were efficiently taken up by dendritic cells, and induced strong CD8(+) T cell responses against the gp120 in mice. To evaluate gp120-carrying NPs (gp120-NPs) as a vaccine candidate for HIV-1 infection, we vaccinated rhesus macaques with these gp120-NPs and examined the immune response and protective efficacy against a challenge inoculation of simian and human immunodeficiency chimeric virus (SHIV). We found that gp120-NP vaccination induced stronger responses for both gp120-specific cellular and humoral immunity than gp120-alone vaccination. After the challenge inoculation with SHIV, however, the peak value of viral RNA in the peripheral blood was higher in the vaccinated groups, especially the gp120-NP vaccinated group, than naive control group. Higher value of viral load was also maintained in gp120-NP vaccinated group. Furthermore, CD4(+) T cells from the peripheral blood decreased more in the vaccinated groups than the control group. Thus, induced immune responses against gp120 enclosed in NPs were not effective for protection but, conversely enhanced the infection, although the gp120-NPs showed a stronger induction of immune responses against the vaccinated antigen in rhesus macaques. These results support the importance of determining immune correlate of protective immunity for vaccine development against HIV-1 infection.

Small intestine CD4+ cell reduction and enteropathy in simian/human immunodeficiency virus KS661-infected rhesus macaques in the presence of low viral load.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1, simian immunodeficiency virus and simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) infection generally lead to death of the host accompanied by high viraemia and profound CD4(+) T-cell depletion. SHIV clone KS661-infected rhesus macaques with a high viral load set point (HVL) ultimately experience diarrhoea and wasting at 6-12 months after infection. In contrast, infected macaques with a low viral load set point (LVL) usually live asymptomatically throughout the observation period, and are therefore referred to as asymptomatic LVL (Asym LVL) macaques. Interestingly, some LVL macaques exhibit diarrhoea and wasting similar to the symptoms of HVL macaques and are termed symptomatic LVL (Sym LVL) macaques. This study tested the hypothesis that Sym LVL macaques have the same degree of intestinal abnormalities as HVL macaques. The proviral DNA loads in lymphoid tissue and the intestines of Sym LVL and Asym LVL macaques were comparable and all infected monkeys showed villous atrophy. Notably, the CD4(+) cell frequencies of lymphoid tissues and intestines in Sym LVL macaques were remarkably lower than those in Asym LVL and uninfected macaques. Furthermore, Sym LVL and HVL macaques exhibited an increased number of activated macrophages. In conclusion, intestinal disorders including CD4(+) cell reduction and abnormal immune activation can be observed in SHIV-KS661-infected macaques independent of virus replication levels.

Small intestine CD4+ T cells are profoundly depleted during acute simian-human immunodeficiency virus infection, regardless of viral pathogenicity.

To analyze the relationship between acute virus-induced injury and the subsequent disease phenotype, we compared the virus replication and CD4(+) T-cell profiles for monkeys infected with isogenic highly pathogenic (KS661) and moderately pathogenic (#64) simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs). Intrarectal infusion of SHIV-KS661 resulted in rapid, systemic, and massive virus replication, while SHIV-#64 replicated more slowly and reached lower titers. Whereas KS661 systemically depleted CD4(+) T cells, #64 caused significant CD4(+) T-cell depletion only in the small intestine. We conclude that SHIV, regardless of pathogenicity, can cause injury to the small intestine and leads to CD4(+) T-cell depletion in infected animals during acute infection.

A genetically engineered live-attenuated simian-human immunodeficiency virus that co-expresses the RANTES gene improves the magnitude of cellular immunity in rhesus macaques.

Regulated-on-activation-normal-T-cell-expressed-and-secreted (RANTES), a CC-chemokine, enhances antigen-specific T helper (Th) type-1 responses against HIV-1. To evaluate the adjuvant effects of RANTES against HIV vaccine candidate in SHIV-macaque models, we genetically engineered a live-attenuated SHIV to express the RANTES gene (SHIV-RANTES) and characterized the virus's properties in vivo. After the vaccination, the plasma viral loads were same in the SHIV-RANTES-inoculated monkeys and the parental nef-deleted SHIV (SHIV-NI)-inoculated monkeys. SHIV-RANTES provided some immunity in monkeys by remarkably increasing the antigen-specific CD4+ Th cell-proliferative response and by inducing an antigen-specific IFN-gamma ELISpot response. The magnitude of the immunity in SHIV-RANTES-immunized animals, however, failed to afford greater protection against a heterologous pathogenic SHIV (SHIV-C2/1) challenge compared to control SHIV-NI-immunized animals. SHIV-RANTES immunized monkeys, elicited robust cellular CD4+ Th responses and IFN-gamma ELISpot responses after SHIV-C2/1 challenge. These findings suggest that the chemokine RANTES can augment vaccine-elicited, HIV-specific CD4+ T cell responses.