RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Apoptosis is one of the presumptive causes of CD4+ T cell depletion during HIV infection and progression to AIDS. However, the precise role of HIV-1 in this process remains unexplained. HIV-1 protease (PR) has been suggested as a possible factor, but a direct link between HIV-1 PR enzymatic activity and apoptosis has not been established. RESULTS: Here, we show that expression of active HIV-1 PR induces death in HeLa and HEK-293 cells via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. This conclusion is based on in vivo observations of the direct localization of HIV-1 PR in mitochondria, a key player in triggering apoptosis. Moreover, we observed an HIV-1 PR concentration-dependent decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential and the role of HIV-1 PR in activation of caspase 9, PARP cleavage and DNA fragmentation. In addition, in vitro data demonstrated that HIV-1 PR mediates cleavage of mitochondrial proteins Tom22, VDAC and ANT, leading to release of AIF and Hsp60 proteins. By using yeast two-hybrid screening, we also identified a new HIV-1 PR interaction partner, breast carcinoma-associated protein 3 (BCA3). We found that BCA3 accelerates p53 transcriptional activity on the bax promoter, thus elevating the cellular level of pro-apoptotic Bax protein. CONCLUSION: In summary, our results describe the involvement of HIV-1 PR in apoptosis, which is caused either by a direct effect of HIV-1 PR on mitochondrial membrane integrity or by its interaction with cellular protein BCA3.
Assuntos
Apoptose/genética , Infecções por HIV/metabolismo , Protease de HIV/metabolismo , HIV-1/metabolismo , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/genética , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/metabolismo , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/metabolismo , Linhagem Celular , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Fragmentação do DNA , Células HEK293 , Infecções por HIV/genética , Protease de HIV/genética , HIV-1/genética , Células HeLa , Humanos , Mitocôndrias/genética , Mitocôndrias/metabolismo , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , Proteínas Nucleares/metabolismo , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas/genética , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/genética , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/metabolismo , Proteína X Associada a bcl-2/genética , Proteína X Associada a bcl-2/metabolismoRESUMO
We identified breast cancer-associated protein (BCA3) as a novel binding partner of Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (MPMV) protease (PR). The interaction was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation and immunocolocalization of MPMV PR and BCA3. Full-length but not C-terminally truncated BCA3 was incorporated into MPMV virions. We ruled out the potential role of the G-patch domain, a glycine-rich domain located at the C terminus of MPMV PR, in BCA3 interaction and virion incorporation. Expression of BCA3 did not affect MPMV particle release and proteolytic processing; however, it slightly increased MPMV infectivity.
Assuntos
Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/metabolismo , Endopeptidases/metabolismo , Vírus dos Macacos de Mason-Pfizer/enzimologia , Proteínas Nucleares/metabolismo , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/química , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/genética , Sequência de Aminoácidos , Animais , Endopeptidases/química , Endopeptidases/genética , Feminino , Células HEK293 , Humanos , Vírus dos Macacos de Mason-Pfizer/genética , Dados de Sequência Molecular , Proteínas Nucleares/química , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , Ligação Proteica , Domínios e Motivos de Interação entre Proteínas , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Homologia de Sequência de Aminoácidos , Especificidade da EspécieRESUMO
Over the past decade, fluorescent gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have witnessed growing popularity in biological applications and enormous efforts have been devoted to their development. In this protocol, a recently developed, facile method for preparation of water soluble, biocompatible, and colloidally stable near-infrared emitting AuNCs have been described in detail. This room-temperature, bottom-up chemical synthesis provides easily functionalizable AuNCs capped with thioctic acid and thiol-modified polyethylene glycol in aqueous solution. The synthetic approach requires neither organic solvents or additional ligand exchange nor extensive knowledge of synthetic chemistry to reproduce. The resulting AuNCs offer free surface carboxylic acids, which can be functionalized with various biological molecules bearing a free amine group without adversely affecting the photoluminescent properties of the AuNCs. A quick, reliable procedure for flow cytometric quantification and confocal microscopic imaging of AuNC uptake by HeLa cells also been described. Due to the large Stokes shift, proper setting of filters in flow cytometry and confocal microscopy is necessary for efficient detection of near-infrared photoluminescence of AuNCs.
Assuntos
Ouro/química , Nanopartículas Metálicas/química , HumanosRESUMO
Pre-eclampsia is a serious pathological state affecting 5-10% of pregnant women. Currently, it is diagnosed in the second half of pregnancy, particularly after the 20th week. Symptoms mostly correspond to the changes of blood vessels and kidneys. The severity of pre-eclampsia is proportional to symptomatic manifestations, thus the more symptoms present, the higher is of pre-eclampsia development. Although there are several studies dealing with pre-eclampsia pathology, the complete etiology is still unknown. In this review paper, several theories are presented and discussed.