TLR9 and TLR4 are required for the development of autoimmunity and lupus nephritis in pristane nephropathy.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a common autoimmune disease, with kidney involvement a serious complication associated with poor prognosis. Humoral immune responses constitute the hallmark of disease, however T helper cells are required for the generation of autoantibodies, as well as the induction and progression of renal injury. Administration of pristane to genetically intact mice results in the development of hypergammaglobulinaemia with the production of lupus like autoantibodies and proliferative glomerulonephritis, with similarities to human lupus nephritis. TLRs are intricately linked to the development of autoimmunity and are involved in the development of lupus nephritis. We injected wild type, TLR9-/- and TLR4-/- mice with pristane and assessed cellular and humoral autoimmunity and renal injury, 8 months later. TLR9-/- mice demonstrated a predominant decrease in Th1 cytokine production which resulted in decreased anti-RNP antibody levels, while anti-dsDNA levels remained intact. Compared to wild type mice treated with pristane, functional and histological renal injury and glomerular immunoglobulin and complement deposition was decreased in TLR9-/- mice. TLR4-/- mice demonstrated a global decrease in both Th1, IFNγ, and Th17 associated IL-17A and IL-6 cytokine production. Autoantibody levels of anti-dsDNA and anti-RNP were both decreased. Renal injury was attenuated in TLR4-/- mice which demonstrated less glomerular immunoglobulin and complement deposition. These results demonstrate that both TLR9 and TLR4 are required for 'full-blown' autoimmunity and organ injury in experimental lupus induced by pristane.

Endogenous alpha2-antiplasmin does not enhance glomerular fibrin deposition or injury in glomerulonephritis.

BACKGROUND: Fibrin deposition is an important mechanism of glomerular injury in crescentic glomerulonephritis (GN), a severe form of immune renal injury. Both coagulation and fibrinolysis (via the plasminogen-plasmin system) are important in net glomerular fibrin accumulation in GN. alpha2-Antiplasmin (alpha2-AP) is the major circulating inhibitor of plasmin and is expressed in the renal tubulointerstitium. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether endogenous alpha2-AP contributes to glomerular fibrin accumulation in GN. METHODS: Crescentic autologous phase antiglomerular basement membrane GN was induced in mice with intact and deficient endogenous alpha2-AP (alpha2-AP+/+ and alpha2-AP-/- mice). RESULTS: In mice with crescentic GN, alpha2-AP was detected in the tubulointerstitium and in segmental deposits within some glomeruli. alpha2-AP+/+ mice developed crescentic GN (38 +/- 9% glomeruli affected) with glomerular fibrin deposition and renal impairment (serum creatinine 30 +/- 1 micro mol L-1, normal without GN 11 +/- 1 micro mol L-1). Genetic deficiency of alpha2-AP did not result in attenuated glomerular fibrin deposition, crescent formation (39 +/- 8% glomeruli affected), glomerular leukocyte infiltration or renal impairment (serum creatinine 33 +/- 7 micro mol L-1). alpha2-AP was unmeasurable in kidneys from alpha2-AP-/- mice, which did not develop compensatory changes in plasminogen, tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA), urokinase type PA (uPA) or plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 proteins, or changes in tPA or uPA activity. alpha2-AP-/- mice did have enhanced total renal fibrinolytic capacity as assessed by in situ fibrin overlay (alpha2-AP+/+ 0.19 +/- 0.01, alpha2-AP-/- 0.36 +/- 0.03 lyzed area/total area). CONCLUSIONS: alpha2-AP is not important to net glomerular fibrin deposition, crescent formation or renal impairment in crescentic GN.

A short synthesis of bicyclic dipeptides corresponding to Xxx-L-Pro Xxx-D-Pro having constrained trans-proline amides.

[formula: see text] A short synthesis that generates two isomeric bicyclic dipeptides having constrained, trans-proline amide bonds has been developed. One of these bicyclic dipeptides corresponds to an Xxx-L-Pro dipeptide (4), while the other isomer corresponds to an Xxx-D-Pro dipeptide (5). The two isomers are readily distinguished by their 1H NMR spectra.

Molecular microbial diversity of an agricultural soil in Wisconsin.

A culture-independent survey of the soil microbial diversity in a clover-grass pasture in southern Wisconsin was conducted by sequence analysis of a universal clone library of genes coding for small-subunit rRNA (rDNA). A rapid and efficient method for extraction of DNA from soils which resulted in highly purified DNA with minimal shearing was developed. Universal small-subunit-rRNA primers were used to amplify DNA extracted from the pasture soil. The PCR products were cloned into pGEM-T, and either hypervariable or conserved regions were sequenced. The relationships of 124 sequences to those of cultured organisms of known phylogeny were determined. Of the 124 clones sequenced, 98.4% were from the domain Bacteria. Two of the rDNA sequences were derived from eukaryotic organelles. Two of the 124 sequences were of nuclear origin, one being fungal and the other a plant sequence. No sequences of the domain Archaea were found. Within the domain, Bacteria, three kingdoms were highly represented: the Proteobacteria (16.1%), the Cytophaga-Flexibacter-Bacteroides group (21.8%), and the low G+C-content gram-positive group (21.8%). Some kingdoms, such as the Thermotogales, the green nonsulfur group, Fusobacteria, and the Spirochaetes, were absent. A large number of the sequences (39.4%) were distributed among several clades that are not among the major taxa described by Olsen et al. (G.J. Olsen, C.R. Woese, and R. Overbeek, J. Bacteriol., 176:1-6, 1994). From the alignments of the sequence data, distance matrices were calculated to display the enormous microbial diversity found in this soil in two ways, as phylogenetic trees and as multidimensional-scaling plots.