Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) by Tachyplesin, a Marine Antimicrobial Cell-Penetrating Peptide.

We investigate the role of Tachyplesin (Tpl), a marine antimicrobial cell-penetrating peptide, as an anti-HBV agent. Our findings, using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry, demonstrate the internalization of FITC-Tpl in both Huh7 and HepG2 cell lines. Further, our results show that Tpl inhibits the expression of HBV proteins, including hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B 'e' antigen (HBeAg) in cell supernatants of human liver cell lines transfected with 1.3× pHBV. Interestingly Tpl also reduces levels of HBV pre-core RNA and HBV pregenomic RNA, suggesting that Tpl-mediated inhibition occurs at the early stages of HBV replication, including viral transcription. In addition, Tpl led to a significant reduction in levels of hepatitis B virion secretion. In sum, here we demonstrate the potent anti-HBV activity of Tpl at non-cytotoxic concentrations indicating the potential of Tpl to emerge as an effective therapeutic peptide against HBV.

NaBiF4:Yb3+,Tm3+ submicron particles as luminescent probes for in vitro imaging of cells.

Upconversion materials have attracted considerable research interest for their application in bioimaging due to their unique optical properties. NaREF4 (RE = Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu) based host lattice, which is widely used for upconversion, requires expensive rare-earth elements and tedious reaction conditions. Hence there is a need to develop environmentally friendly and cost effective materials for upconversion. In this study, we propose NaBiF4 as a host material for upconversion which is based on environmentally friendly and cost-effective bismuth. NaBiF4 has not been explored as an imaging probe before. We report efficient Yb3+/Tm3+ doped NaBiF4 based upconversion submicron particles which exhibit a photostable, wide upconversion emission range (NIR-to-NIR and Vis) under NIR (980 nm) excitation, and in-vitro non-cytotoxic uptake by mammalian cancer cell lines as well as bacterial cells with a high signal to background ratio. The synthesis of the chosen host material co-doped with Yb3+/Tm3+ has not been reported earlier through such a non-aqueous quaternary reverse micelle route. Here, we functionally validate these submicron particles as viable alternatives to currently available upconversion nanomaterials and highlight their potential as luminescent probes for bioimaging.

Quantitative Assessment of Microbial Pathogens and Indicators of Wastewater Treatment Performance for Safe and Sustainable Water Reuse in India.

Currently, there is no data on the molecular quantification of microbial indicators of recycled water quality in India. In this study, multiple microbial pathogens and indicators of water quality were evaluated at three wastewater treatment plants located in two Indian cities (New Delhi and Jaipur) to determine the treatment performance and suitability of recycled water for safe and sustainable reuse applications. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the rapid evaluation of six human pathogens and six microbial indicators of fecal contamination. Among the microbial indicators, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), F+RNA-GII bacteriophage, Bacteroides thetaiotamicron, and four human pathogens (Norovirus genogroups I & II, Giardia, and Campylobacter coli) were detected in all of the influent samples analyzed. This work suggests that the raw influents contain lower levels of noroviruses and adenoviruses and higher levels of Giardia compared to those reported from other geographic regions. Overall, the efficacy of the removal of microbial targets was over 93% in the final effluent samples, which is consistent with reports from across the world. PMMoV and Giardia were identified as the best microbial targets, from the microbial indicators spanning across bacteria, bacteriophages, DNA/RNA viruses, and protozoan parasites, by which to evaluate treatment performance and recycled water quality in Indian settings, as they were consistently present at high concentrations in untreated wastewater both within and across the sites. Also, they showed a strong correlation with other microbial agents in both the raw influent and in the final effluent. These findings provide valuable insights into the use of culture-independent molecular indicators that can be used to assess the microbial quality of recycled water in Indian settings. IMPORTANCE Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have rapidly increased in India during the last decade. Nonetheless, there are only a few labs in India that can perform culture-based screening for microbial quality. In the last 2 years of the pandemic, India has witnessed a sharp increase in molecular biology labs. Therefore, it is evident that culture-independent real-time PCR will be increasingly used for the assessment of microbial indicators/pathogens in wastewater, especially in resource-limited settings. There is no data available on the molecular quantitation of microbial indicators from India. There is an urgent need to understand and evaluate the performance of widely used microbial indicators via molecular quantitation in Indian WWTPs. Our findings lay the groundwork for the molecular quantitation of microbial indicators in WWTPs in India. We have screened for 12 microbial targets (indicators and human pathogens) and have identified pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) and Giardia as the best molecular microbiological indicators in Indian settings.

miR-4516, a microRNA downregulated in psoriasis inhibits keratinocyte motility by targeting fibronectin/integrin α9 signaling.

Psoriasis is recognized as a T cell mediated inflammatory hyperproliferative skin disorder. Several microRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis however, understanding of their mechanistic involvement remains unclear. Previously, we have shown that PUVA induced miR-4516 downregulates signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) by direct binding to its 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) and suppresses STAT3 downstream genes (Bcl xl, Cyclin D1). Here, we demonstrate for the first time that expression of miR-4516 is significantly downregulated in psoriatic skin. We additionally validated extracellular matrix protein fibronectin 1 (FN1) and integrin subunit α9 (ITGA9) as direct targets of miR-4516. Interestingly, ITGA9 expression was found to be increased in the suprabasal psoriatic epidermis. We further showed that ectopic expression of miR-4516 in human keratinocytes not only suppresses cell motility and proliferation via significant downregulation of genes orchestrating cytoskeletal reorganization (Rac1, RhoA, Cdc42), but also inhibits F-actin assembly and induces terminal differentiation. Collectively, our results provide evidence that loss of expression of miR-4516 in psoriatic skin might be contributing to accelerated migration, resistance to apoptosis and differentiation as seen in psoriasis lesional keratinocytes and also highlight its potential as a novel small molecule for therapeutic intervention in psoriasis.

Gene expression profiling reveals the role of RIG1 like receptor signaling in p53 dependent apoptosis induced by PUVA in keratinocytes.

Photochemotherapy using 8-methoxypsoralen in combination with UVA radiation (PUVA) is an effective treatment for various skin dermatosis including psoriasis however its molecular mechanism is not clear. Previously we demonstrated that PUVA differentially regulates miRNA expression profile with a significant up-regulation of hsa-miR-4516. To study in detail the molecular mechanism of PUVA in keratinocytes, we investigated the genome wide transcriptomic changes using Illumina whole genome gene expression beadchip. Microarray analysis revealed 1932 differentially expressed gene and their Insilico analysis revealed Retinoic Acid Inducible Gene-I (RIG-1) signaling, apoptosis and p53 pathway to be associated with PUVA induced effects. We demonstrate that miR-4516 mediated down-regulation of UBE2N promotes p53 nuclear translocation and pro-apoptotic activity of PUVA is independent of IRF3 but is mediated by the RIG-I in a p53 and NFκB dependent manner. Additionally, PUVA inactivated the AKT/mTOR pathway in concert with inhibition of autophagy and suppressed cell migration. Taken together this study broadens our understanding about the mechanism of action of PUVA providing possible new strategy targeting proapoptotic function of RIG-1, a regulator of innate immune response or p53 for psoriasis therapy.

hsa-miR-4516 mediated downregulation of STAT3/CDK6/UBE2N plays a role in PUVA induced apoptosis in keratinocytes.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder mediated by cross-talk occurring between epidermal keratinocytes, dermal vascular cells and immunocytes. Literature reveals that Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a protein involved in transmitting extracellular signals to the nucleus, is a possible important link between keratinocytes and immunocytes and is crucial to the development of psoriasis. Although photochemotherapy using UV in combination with 8 methoxypsoralen is one of the most effective therapy for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, its mechanism of action is largely unknown. Herein, we studied the change in miRNA profiles of cultured human keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) before and after in vitro PUVA treatment by 8 methoxypsoralen and found significant up regulation of hsa-miR-4516. We for the first time demonstrate that ectopic expression of hsa-miR-4516 directly targets STAT3 protein by binding to its 3'UTR in HaCaT cells as confirmed by Luciferase reporter assays and Western blot analysis. We further show that overexpression of hsa-miR-4516 downregulates STAT3, p-STAT3, CDK6, and UBE2N proteins that are consistently upregulated in psoriasis and induces apoptosis in HaCaT cells. We also observed that anti-miR-4516 treatment was able to partially inhibit PUVA-induced apoptosis, suggesting that miR-4516 is involved in PUVA-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these results not only indicate the mechanistic involvement of hsa-miR-4516 in PUVA mediated effects by down-regulating STAT3 in HaCaT keratinocytes, but also highlight the potential of hsa-miR-4516 in development of novel therapeutic strategies. J. Cell. Physiol. 229: 1630-1638, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.