1
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Devkota SR, Aryal P, Wilce MCJ, Payne RJ, Stone MJ, Bhusal RP. Structural basis of chemokine recognition by the class A3 tick evasin EVA-ACA1001. Protein Sci 2024; 33:e4999. [PMID: 38723106 PMCID: PMC11081419 DOI: 10.1002/pro.4999] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024]
Abstract
Ticks produce chemokine-binding proteins, known as evasins, in their saliva to subvert the host's immune response. Evasins bind to chemokines and thereby inhibit the activation of their cognate chemokine receptors, thus suppressing leukocyte recruitment and inflammation. We recently described subclass A3 evasins, which, like other class A evasins, exclusively target CC chemokines but appear to use a different binding site architecture to control target selectivity among CC chemokines. We now describe the structural basis of chemokine recognition by the class A3 evasin EVA-ACA1001. EVA-ACA1001 binds to almost all human CC chemokines and inhibits receptor activation. Truncation mutants of EVA-ACA1001 showed that, unlike class A1 evasins, both the N- and C-termini of EVA-ACA1001 play minimal roles in chemokine binding. To understand the structural basis of its broad chemokine recognition, we determined the crystal structure of EVA-ACA1001 in complex with the human chemokine CCL16. EVA-ACA1001 forms backbone-backbone interactions with the CC motif of CCL16, a conserved feature of all class A evasin-chemokine complexes. A hydrophobic pocket in EVA-ACA1001, formed by several aromatic side chains and the unique disulfide bond of class A3 evasins, accommodates the residue immediately following the CC motif (the "CC + 1 residue") of CCL16. This interaction is shared with EVA-AAM1001, the only other class A3 evasins characterized to date, suggesting it may represent a common mechanism that accounts for the broad recognition of CC chemokines by class A3 evasins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shankar Raj Devkota
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery InstituteMonash UniversityClaytonVICAustralia
| | - Pramod Aryal
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery InstituteMonash UniversityClaytonVICAustralia
| | - Matthew C. J. Wilce
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery InstituteMonash UniversityClaytonVICAustralia
| | - Richard J. Payne
- School of ChemistryThe University of SydneySydneyNSWAustralia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein ScienceThe University of SydneySydneyNSWAustralia
| | - Martin J. Stone
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery InstituteMonash UniversityClaytonVICAustralia
| | - Ram Prasad Bhusal
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash Biomedicine Discovery InstituteMonash UniversityClaytonVICAustralia
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2
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Vales S, Kryukova J, Chandra S, Smagurauskaite G, Payne M, Clark CJ, Hafner K, Mburu P, Denisov S, Davies G, Outeiral C, Deane CM, Morris GM, Bhattacharya S. Discovery and pharmacophoric characterization of chemokine network inhibitors using phage-display, saturation mutagenesis and computational modelling. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5763. [PMID: 37717048 PMCID: PMC10505172 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41488-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023] Open
Abstract
CC and CXC-chemokines are the primary drivers of chemotaxis in inflammation, but chemokine network redundancy thwarts pharmacological intervention. Tick evasins promiscuously bind CC and CXC-chemokines, overcoming redundancy. Here we show that short peptides that promiscuously bind both chemokine classes can be identified from evasins by phage-display screening performed with multiple chemokines in parallel. We identify two conserved motifs within these peptides and show using saturation-mutagenesis phage-display and chemotaxis studies of an exemplar peptide that an anionic patch in the first motif and hydrophobic, aromatic and cysteine residues in the second are functionally necessary. AlphaFold2-Multimer modelling suggests that the peptide occludes distinct receptor-binding regions in CC and in CXC-chemokines, with the first and second motifs contributing ionic and hydrophobic interactions respectively. Our results indicate that peptides with broad-spectrum anti-chemokine activity and therapeutic potential may be identified from evasins, and the pharmacophore characterised by phage display, saturation mutagenesis and computational modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena Vales
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Jhanna Kryukova
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Soumyanetra Chandra
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Gintare Smagurauskaite
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Megan Payne
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Charlie J Clark
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Katrin Hafner
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Philomena Mburu
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Stepan Denisov
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Graham Davies
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Carlos Outeiral
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
| | - Charlotte M Deane
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
| | - Garrett M Morris
- Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, 24-29 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LB, UK
| | - Shoumo Bhattacharya
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics and RDM Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
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Devkota SR, Aryal P, Pokhrel R, Jiao W, Perry A, Panjikar S, Payne RJ, Wilce MCJ, Bhusal RP, Stone MJ. Engineering broad-spectrum inhibitors of inflammatory chemokines from subclass A3 tick evasins. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4204. [PMID: 37452046 PMCID: PMC10349104 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39879-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Chemokines are key regulators of leukocyte trafficking and attractive targets for anti-inflammatory therapy. Evasins are chemokine-binding proteins from tick saliva, whose application as anti-inflammatory therapeutics will require manipulation of their chemokine target selectivity. Here we describe subclass A3 evasins, which are unique to the tick genus Amblyomma and distinguished from "classical" class A1 evasins by an additional disulfide bond near the chemokine recognition interface. The A3 evasin EVA-AAM1001 (EVA-A) bound to CC chemokines and inhibited their receptor activation. Unlike A1 evasins, EVA-A was not highly dependent on N- and C-terminal regions to differentiate chemokine targets. Structures of chemokine-bound EVA-A revealed a deep hydrophobic pocket, unique to A3 evasins, that interacts with the residue immediately following the CC motif of the chemokine. Mutations to this pocket altered the chemokine selectivity of EVA-A. Thus, class A3 evasins provide a suitable platform for engineering proteins with applications in research, diagnosis or anti-inflammatory therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shankar Raj Devkota
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Pramod Aryal
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Rina Pokhrel
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Wanting Jiao
- Ferrier Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand
| | - Andrew Perry
- Monash Bioinformatics Platform, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Santosh Panjikar
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
- Australian Synchrotron, ANSTO, Clayton, VIC, 3168, Australia
| | - Richard J Payne
- School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia
| | - Matthew C J Wilce
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia
| | - Ram Prasad Bhusal
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia.
| | - Martin J Stone
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia.
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4
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Swapping N-terminal regions among tick evasins reveals cooperative interactions influencing chemokine binding and selectivity. J Biol Chem 2022; 298:102382. [PMID: 35973511 PMCID: PMC9478924 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102382] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Revised: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Class A tick evasins are natural chemokine-binding proteins that block the signaling of multiple chemokines from the CC subfamily through their cognate receptors, thus suppressing leukocyte recruitment and inflammation. Development of tick evasins as chemokine-targeted anti-inflammatory therapeutics requires an understanding of the factors controlling their chemokine recognition and selectivity. To investigate the role of the evasin N-terminal region for chemokine recognition, we prepared chimeric evasins by interchanging the N-terminal regions of four class A evasins, including a newly identified evasin, EVA-RPU02. We show through chemokine binding analysis of the parental and chimeric evasins that the N-terminal region is critical for chemokine binding affinity and selectivity. Notably, we found some chimeras were unable to bind certain cognate chemokine ligands of both parental evasins. Moreover, unlike any natural evasins characterized to date, some chimeras exhibited specific binding to a single chemokine. These results indicate that the evasin N terminus interacts cooperatively with the “body” of the evasin to enable optimum chemokine recognition. Furthermore, the altered chemokine selectivity of the chimeras validates the approach of engineering the N termini of evasins to yield unique chemokine recognition profiles.
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5
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Raeeszadeh-Sarmazdeh M, Boder ET. Yeast Surface Display: New Opportunities for a Time-Tested Protein Engineering System. Methods Mol Biol 2022; 2491:3-25. [PMID: 35482182 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2285-8_1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Yeast surface display has proven to be a powerful tool for the discovery of antibodies and other novel binding proteins and for engineering the affinity and selectivity of existing proteins for their targets. In the decades since the first demonstrations of the approach, the range of yeast display applications has greatly expanded to include many different protein targets and has grown to encompass methods for rapid protein characterization. Here, we briefly summarize the development of yeast display methodologies and highlight several selected examples of recent applications to timely and challenging protein engineering and characterization problems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Eric T Boder
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
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6
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Bhattacharya S, Nuttall PA. Phylogenetic Analysis Indicates That Evasin-Like Proteins of Ixodid Ticks Fall Into Three Distinct Classes. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:769542. [PMID: 34746035 PMCID: PMC8569228 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.769542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemokines are structurally related proteins that activate leucocyte migration in response to injury or infection. Tick saliva contains chemokine-binding proteins or evasins which likely neutralize host chemokine function and inflammation. Biochemical characterisation of 50 evasins from Ixodes, Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus shows that they fall into two functional classes, A and B, with exclusive binding to either CC- or CXC- chemokines, respectively. Class A evasins, EVA1 and EVA4 have a four-disulfide-bonded core, whereas the class B evasin EVA3 has a three-disulfide-bonded “knottin” structure. All 29 class B evasins have six cysteine residues conserved with EVA3, arrangement of which defines a Cys6-motif. Nineteen of 21 class A evasins have eight cysteine residues conserved with EVA1/EVA4, the arrangement of which defines a Cys8-motif. Two class A evasins from Ixodes (IRI01, IHO01) have less than eight cysteines. Many evasin-like proteins have been identified in tick salivary transcriptomes, but their phylogenetic relationship with respect to biochemically characterized evasins is not clear. Here, using BLAST searches of tick transcriptomes with biochemically characterized evasins, we identify 292 class A and 157 class B evasins and evasin-like proteins from Prostriate (Ixodes), and Metastriate (Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus) ticks. Phylogenetic analysis shows that class A evasins/evasin-like proteins segregate into two classes, A1 and A2. Class A1 members are exclusive to Metastriate ticks and typically have a Cys8-motif and include EVA1 and EVA4. Class A2 members are exclusive to Prostriate ticks, lack the Cys8-motif, and include IHO01 and IRI01. Class B evasins/evasin-like proteins are present in both Prostriate and Metastriate lineages, typically have a Cys6-motif, and include EVA3. Most evasins/evasin-like proteins in Metastriate ticks belong to class A1, whereas in Prostriate species they are predominantly class B. In keeping with this, the majority of biochemically characterized Metastriate evasins bind CC-chemokines, whereas the majority of Prostriate evasins bind CXC-chemokines. While the origin of the structurally dissimilar classes A1 and A2 is yet unresolved, these results suggest that class B evasin-like proteins arose before the divergence of Prostriate and Metastriate lineages and likely functioned to neutralize CXC-chemokines and support blood feeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shoumo Bhattacharya
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford University Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom
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7
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Denisov SS, Ramírez-Escudero M, Heinzmann ACA, Ippel JH, Dawson PE, Koenen RR, Hackeng TM, Janssen BJC, Dijkgraaf I. Structural characterization of anti-CCL5 activity of the tick salivary protein evasin-4. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:14367-14378. [PMID: 32817341 PMCID: PMC7573271 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.013891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2020] [Revised: 08/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Ticks, as blood-sucking parasites, have developed a complex strategy to evade and suppress host immune responses during feeding. The crucial part of this strategy is expression of a broad family of salivary proteins, called Evasins, to neutralize chemokines responsible for cell trafficking and recruitment. However, structural information about Evasins is still scarce, and little is known about the structural determinants of their binding mechanism to chemokines. Here, we studied the structurally uncharacterized Evasin-4, which neutralizes a broad range of CC-motif chemokines, including the chemokine CC-motif ligand 5 (CCL5) involved in atherogenesis. Crystal structures of Evasin-4 and E66S CCL5, an obligatory dimeric variant of CCL5, were determined to a resolution of 1.3–1.8 Å. The Evasin-4 crystal structure revealed an L-shaped architecture formed by an N- and C-terminal subdomain consisting of eight β-strands and an α-helix that adopts a substantially different position compared with closely related Evasin-1. Further investigation into E66S CCL5–Evasin-4 complex formation with NMR spectroscopy showed that residues of the N terminus are involved in binding to CCL5. The peptide derived from the N-terminal region of Evasin-4 possessed nanomolar affinity to CCL5 and inhibited CCL5 activity in monocyte migration assays. This suggests that Evasin-4 derivatives could be used as a starting point for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stepan S Denisov
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Mercedes Ramírez-Escudero
- Department of Crystal and Structural Chemistry, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Alexandra C A Heinzmann
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Johannes H Ippel
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Philip E Dawson
- Department of Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA
| | - Rory R Koenen
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Tilman M Hackeng
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Bert J C Janssen
- Department of Crystal and Structural Chemistry, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ingrid Dijkgraaf
- Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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8
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Darlot B, Eaton JRO, Geis-Asteggiante L, Yakala GK, Karuppanan K, Davies G, Robinson CV, Kawamura A, Bhattacharya S. Engineered anti-inflammatory peptides inspired by mapping an evasin-chemokine interaction. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:10926-10939. [PMID: 32471866 PMCID: PMC7415964 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra120.014103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2020] [Revised: 05/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Chemokines mediate leukocyte migration and homeostasis and are key targets in inflammatory diseases including atherosclerosis, cytokine storm, and chronic autoimmune disease. Chemokine redundancy and ensuing network robustness has frustrated therapeutic development. Salivary evasins from ticks bind multiple chemokines to overcome redundancy and are effective in several preclinical disease models. Their clinical development has not progressed because of concerns regarding potential immunogenicity, parenteral delivery, and cost. Peptides mimicking protein activity can overcome the perceived limitations of therapeutic proteins. Here we show that peptides possessing multiple chemokine-binding and anti-inflammatory activities can be developed from the chemokine-binding site of an evasin. We used hydrogen-deuterium exchange MS to map the binding interface of the evasin P672 that physically interacts with C-C motif chemokine ligand (CCL) 8 and synthesized a 16-mer peptide (BK1.1) based on this interface region in evasin P672. Fluorescent polarization and native MS approaches showed that BK1.1 binds CCL8, CCL7, and CCL18 and disrupts CCL8 homodimerization. We show that a BK1.1 derivative, BK1.3, has substantially improved ability to disrupt P672 binding to CCL8, CCL2, and CCL3 in an AlphaScreen assay. Using isothermal titration calorimetry, we show that BK1.3 directly binds CCL8. BK1.3 also has substantially improved ability to inhibit CCL8, CCL7, CCL2, and CCL3 chemotactic function in vitro We show that local as well as systemic administration of BK1.3 potently blocks inflammation in vivo Identification and characterization of the chemokine-binding interface of evasins could thus inspire the development of novel anti-inflammatory peptides that therapeutically target the chemokine network in inflammatory diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoit Darlot
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - James R O Eaton
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Lucia Geis-Asteggiante
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Gopala K Yakala
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Kalimuthu Karuppanan
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Graham Davies
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Carol V Robinson
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Akane Kawamura
- Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom .,Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Shoumo Bhattacharya
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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9
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Semisynthesis of an evasin from tick saliva reveals a critical role of tyrosine sulfation for chemokine binding and inhibition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:12657-12664. [PMID: 32461364 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2000605117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Blood-feeding arthropods produce antiinflammatory salivary proteins called evasins that function through inhibition of chemokine-receptor signaling in the host. Herein, we show that the evasin ACA-01 from the Amblyomma cajennense tick can be posttranslationally sulfated at two tyrosine residues, albeit as a mixture of sulfated variants. Homogenously sulfated variants of the proteins were efficiently assembled via a semisynthetic native chemical ligation strategy. Sulfation significantly improved the binding affinity of ACA-01 for a range of proinflammatory chemokines and enhanced the ability of ACA-01 to inhibit chemokine signaling through cognate receptors. Comparisons of evasin sequences and structural data suggest that tyrosine sulfation serves as a receptor mimetic strategy for recognizing and suppressing the proinflammatory activity of a wide variety of mammalian chemokines. As such, the incorporation of this posttranslational modification (PTM) or mimics thereof into evasins may provide a strategy to optimize tick salivary proteins for antiinflammatory applications.
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10
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Varasteh Moradi S, Gagoski D, Mureev S, Walden P, McMahon KA, Parton RG, Johnston WA, Alexandrov K. Mapping Interactions among Cell-Free Expressed Zika Virus Proteins. J Proteome Res 2020; 19:1522-1532. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.9b00771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shayli Varasteh Moradi
- CSIRO-QUT Synthetic Biology Alliance, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Dejan Gagoski
- Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Sergey Mureev
- CSIRO-QUT Synthetic Biology Alliance, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Patricia Walden
- CSIRO-QUT Synthetic Biology Alliance, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Kerrie-Ann McMahon
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Robert G. Parton
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
- Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Wayne A. Johnston
- CSIRO-QUT Synthetic Biology Alliance, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Kirill Alexandrov
- CSIRO-QUT Synthetic Biology Alliance, Centre for Tropical Crops and Bio-commodities, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
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11
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Kim TK, Tirloni L, Pinto AFM, Diedrich JK, Moresco JJ, Yates JR, da Silva Vaz I, Mulenga A. Time-resolved proteomic profile of Amblyomma americanum tick saliva during feeding. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2020; 14:e0007758. [PMID: 32049966 PMCID: PMC7041860 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007758] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Revised: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Amblyomma americanum ticks transmit more than a third of human tick-borne disease (TBD) agents in the United States. Tick saliva proteins are critical to success of ticks as vectors of TBD agents, and thus might serve as targets in tick antigen-based vaccines to prevent TBD infections. We describe a systems biology approach to identify, by LC-MS/MS, saliva proteins (tick = 1182, rabbit = 335) that A. americanum ticks likely inject into the host every 24 h during the first 8 days of feeding, and towards the end of feeding. Searching against entries in GenBank grouped tick and rabbit proteins into 27 and 25 functional categories. Aside from housekeeping-like proteins, majority of tick saliva proteins belong to the tick-specific (no homology to non-tick organisms: 32%), protease inhibitors (13%), proteases (8%), glycine-rich proteins (6%) and lipocalins (4%) categories. Global secretion dynamics analysis suggests that majority (74%) of proteins in this study are associated with regulating initial tick feeding functions and transmission of pathogens as they are secreted within 24–48 h of tick attachment. Comparative analysis of the A. americanum tick saliva proteome to five other tick saliva proteomes identified 284 conserved tick saliva proteins: we speculate that these regulate critical tick feeding functions and might serve as tick vaccine antigens. We discuss our findings in the context of understanding A. americanum tick feeding physiology as a means through which we can find effective targets for a vaccine against tick feeding. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, is a medically important species in US that transmits 5 of the 16 reported tick-borne disease agents. Most recently, bites of this tick were associated with red meat allergies in humans. Vaccination of animals against tick feeding has been shown to be a sustainable and an effective alternative to current acaricide based tick control method which has several limitations. The pre-requisite to tick vaccine development is to understand the molecular basis of tick feeding physiology. Toward this goal, this study has identified proteins that A. americanum ticks inject into the host at different phases of its feeding cycle. This data set has identified proteins that A. americanum inject into the host within 24–48 h of feeding before it starts to transmit pathogens. Of high importance, we identified 284 proteins that are present in saliva of other tick species, which we suspect regulate important role(s) in tick feeding success and might represent rich source target antigens for a tick vaccine. Overall, this study provides a foundation to understand the molecular mechanisms regulating tick feeding physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tae Kwon Kim
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Lucas Tirloni
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Antônio F. M. Pinto
- Foundation Peptide Biology Lab, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Californai, United States of America
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Jolene K. Diedrich
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
- Mass Spectrometry Core, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - James J. Moresco
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
- Mass Spectrometry Core, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - John R. Yates
- Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Itabajara da Silva Vaz
- Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Albert Mulenga
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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12
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Bhattacharya S, Kawamura A. Using evasins to target the chemokine network in inflammation. ADVANCES IN PROTEIN CHEMISTRY AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 2019; 119:1-38. [PMID: 31997766 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2019.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Inflammation, is driven by a network comprising cytokines, chemokines, their target receptors and leukocytes, and is a major pathologic mechanism that adversely affects organ function in diverse human diseases. Despite being supported by substantial target validation, no successful anti-chemokine therapeutic to treat inflammatory disease has yet been developed. This is in part because of the robustness of the chemokine network, which emerges from a large total chemokine load in disease, promiscuous expression of receptors on leukocytes, promiscuous and synergistic interactions between chemokines and receptors, and feedforward loops created by secretion of chemokines by leukocytes themselves. Many parasites, including viruses, helminths and ticks, evade the chemokine network by producing proteins that bind promiscuously to chemokines or their receptors. Evasins - three small glycoproteins identified in the saliva of the brown dog tick - bind multiple chemokines, and are active in several animal models of inflammatory disease. Over 50 evasin homologs have recently been identified from diverse tick species. Characterization of the chemokine binding patterns of evasins show that several have anti-chemokine activities that extend substantially beyond those previously described. These studies indicate that evasins function at the site of the tick bite by reducing total chemokine load. This not only reduces chemokine signaling to receptors, but also interrupts feedforward loops, thus disabling the chemokine network. Taking the lead from nature, a goal for the development of new anti-chemokine therapeutics would be to reduce the total chemokine load in disease. This could be achieved by administering appropriate evasin combinations or by smaller peptides that mimic evasin action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shoumo Bhattacharya
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Akane Kawamura
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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13
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Bhusal RP, Eaton JRO, Chowdhury ST, Power CA, Proudfoot AEI, Stone MJ, Bhattacharya S. Evasins: Tick Salivary Proteins that Inhibit Mammalian Chemokines. Trends Biochem Sci 2019; 45:108-122. [PMID: 31679840 PMCID: PMC7322545 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2019.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 10/03/2019] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Ticks are hematophagous arachnids that parasitize mammals and other hosts, feeding on their blood. Ticks secrete numerous salivary factors that enhance host blood flow or suppress the host inflammatory response. The recruitment of leukocytes, a hallmark of inflammation, is regulated by chemokines, which activate chemokine receptors on the leukocytes. Ticks target this process by secreting glycoproteins called Evasins, which bind to chemokines and prevent leukocyte recruitment. This review describes the recent discovery of numerous Evasins produced by ticks, their classification into two structural and functional classes, and the efficacy of Evasins in animal models of inflammatory diseases. The review also proposes a standard nomenclature system for Evasins and discusses the potential of repurposing or engineering Evasins as therapeutic anti-inflammatory agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ram Prasad Bhusal
- Infection and Immunity Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
| | - James R O Eaton
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine (RDM) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Sayeeda T Chowdhury
- Infection and Immunity Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
| | - Christine A Power
- Biopharm Discovery, GlaxoSmithKline, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2NY, UK
| | | | - Martin J Stone
- Infection and Immunity Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia.
| | - Shoumo Bhattacharya
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine (RDM) Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
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14
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Štibrániová I, Bartíková P, Holíková V, Kazimírová M. Deciphering Biological Processes at the Tick-Host Interface Opens New Strategies for Treatment of Human Diseases. Front Physiol 2019; 10:830. [PMID: 31333488 PMCID: PMC6617849 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Ticks are obligatory blood-feeding ectoparasites, causing blood loss and skin damage in their hosts. In addition, ticks also transmit a number of various pathogenic microorganisms that cause serious diseases in humans and animals. Ticks evolved a wide array of salivary bioactive compounds that, upon injection into the host skin, inhibit or modulate host reactions such as hemostasis, inflammation and wound healing. Modulation of the tick attachment site in the host skin involves mainly molecules which affect physiological processes orchestrated by cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. Suppressing host defense reactions is crucial for tick survival and reproduction. Furthermore, pharmacologically active compounds in tick saliva have a promising therapeutic potential for treatment of some human diseases connected with disorders in hemostasis and immune system. These disorders are often associated to alterations in signaling pathways and dysregulation or overexpression of specific cytokines which, in turn, affect mechanisms of angiogenesis, cell motility and cytoskeletal regulation. Moreover, tick salivary molecules were found to exert cytotoxic and cytolytic effects on various tumor cells and have anti-angiogenic properties. Elucidation of the mode of action of tick bioactive molecules on the regulation of cell processes in their mammalian hosts could provide new tools for understanding the complex changes leading to immune disorders and cancer. Tick bioactive molecules may also be exploited as new pharmacological inhibitors of the signaling pathways of cytokines and thus help alleviate patient discomfort and increase patient survival. We review the current knowledge about tick salivary peptides and proteins that have been identified and functionally characterized in in vitro and/or in vivo models and their therapeutic perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iveta Štibrániová
- Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Pavlína Bartíková
- Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Viera Holíková
- Biomedical Research Center, Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Mária Kazimírová
- Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
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15
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Denisov SS, Ippel JH, Heinzmann ACA, Koenen RR, Ortega-Gomez A, Soehnlein O, Hackeng TM, Dijkgraaf I. Tick saliva protein Evasin-3 modulates chemotaxis by disrupting CXCL8 interactions with glycosaminoglycans and CXCR2. J Biol Chem 2019; 294:12370-12379. [PMID: 31235521 PMCID: PMC6699855 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.008902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2019] [Revised: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Chemokines are a group of chemotaxis proteins that regulate cell trafficking and play important roles in immune responses and inflammation. Ticks are blood-sucking parasites that secrete numerous immune-modulatory agents in their saliva to evade host immune responses. Evasin-3 is a small salivary protein that belongs to a class of chemokine-binding proteins isolated from the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Evasin-3 has been shown to have a high affinity for chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL8 and to diminish inflammation in mice. In the present study, solution NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the structure of Evasin-3 and its CXCL8–Evasin-3 complex. Evasin-3 is found to disrupt the glycosaminoglycan-binding site of CXCL8 and inhibit the interaction of CXCL8 with CXCR2. Structural data were used to design two novel CXCL8-binding peptides. The linear tEv3 17–56 and cyclic tcEv3 16–56 dPG Evasin-3 variants were chemically synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis. The affinity of these newly synthesized variants to CXCL8 was measured by surface plasmon resonance biosensor analysis. The Kd values of tEv3 17–56 and tcEv3 16–56 dPG were 27 and 13 nm, respectively. Both compounds effectively inhibited CXCL8-induced migration of polymorphonuclear neutrophils. The present results suggest utility of synthetic Evasin-3 variants as scaffolds for designing and fine-tuning new chemokine-binding agents that suppress immune responses and inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stepan S Denisov
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Johannes H Ippel
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Alexandra C A Heinzmann
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Rory R Koenen
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Almudena Ortega-Gomez
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig Maximilian University, 80336, Munich, Germany
| | - Oliver Soehnlein
- Institute for Cardiovascular Prevention, Ludwig Maximilian University, 80336, Munich, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research, 13316, Berlin, Germany; Partner Site Munich Heart Alliance, 80802 Munich, Germany; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tilman M Hackeng
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Ingrid Dijkgraaf
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Maastricht, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
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16
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Lee AW, Deruaz M, Lynch C, Davies G, Singh K, Alenazi Y, Eaton JRO, Kawamura A, Shaw J, Proudfoot AEI, Dias JM, Bhattacharya S. A knottin scaffold directs the CXC-chemokine-binding specificity of tick evasins. J Biol Chem 2019; 294:11199-11212. [PMID: 31167786 PMCID: PMC6643034 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.008817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2019] [Revised: 05/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Tick evasins (EVAs) bind either CC- or CXC-chemokines by a poorly understood promiscuous or "one-to-many" mechanism to neutralize inflammation. Because EVAs potently inhibit inflammation in many preclinical models, highlighting their potential as biological therapeutics for inflammatory diseases, we sought to further unravel the CXC-chemokine-EVA interactions. Using yeast surface display, we identified and characterized 27 novel CXC-chemokine-binding evasins homologous to EVA3 and defined two functional classes. The first, which included EVA3, exclusively bound ELR+ CXC-chemokines, whereas the second class bound both ELR+ and ELR- CXC-chemokines, in several cases including CXC-motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) but, surprisingly, not CXCL8. The X-ray crystal structure of EVA3 at a resolution of 1.79 Å revealed a single antiparallel β-sheet with six conserved cysteine residues forming a disulfide-bonded knottin scaffold that creates a contiguous solvent-accessible surface. Swapping analyses identified distinct knottin scaffold segments necessary for different CXC-chemokine-binding activities, implying that differential ligand positioning, at least in part, plays a role in promiscuous binding. Swapping segments also transferred chemokine-binding activity, resulting in a hybrid EVA with dual CXCL10- and CXCL8-binding activities. The solvent-accessible surfaces of the knottin scaffold segments have distinctive shape and charge, which we suggest drives chemokine-binding specificity. These studies provide structural and mechanistic insight into how CXC-chemokine-binding tick EVAs achieve class specificity but also engage in promiscuous binding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela W Lee
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Maud Deruaz
- Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, 1228 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Christopher Lynch
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Graham Davies
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Kamayani Singh
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Yara Alenazi
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - James R O Eaton
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom.,Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom
| | - Akane Kawamura
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom.,Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom
| | - Jeffrey Shaw
- Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, 1228 Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - João M Dias
- Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute, 1228 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Shoumo Bhattacharya
- Radcliffe Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
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17
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Mans BJ. Chemical Equilibrium at the Tick-Host Feeding Interface:A Critical Examination of Biological Relevance in Hematophagous Behavior. Front Physiol 2019; 10:530. [PMID: 31118903 PMCID: PMC6504839 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Ticks secrete hundreds to thousands of proteins into the feeding site, that presumably all play important functions in the modulation of host defense mechanisms. The current review considers the assumption that tick proteins have functional relevance during feeding. The feeding site may be described as a closed system and could be treated as an ideal equilibrium system, thereby allowing modeling of tick-host interactions in an equilibrium state. In this equilibrium state, the concentration of host and tick proteins and their affinities will determine functional relevance at the tick-host interface. Using this approach, many characterized tick proteins may have functional relevant concentrations and affinities at the feeding site. Conversely, the feeding site is not an ideal closed system, but is dynamic and changing, leading to possible overestimation of tick protein concentration at the feeding site and consequently an overestimation of functional relevance. Ticks have evolved different possible strategies to deal with this dynamic environment and overcome the barrier that equilibrium kinetics poses to tick feeding. Even so, cognisance of the limitations that equilibrium binding place on deductions of functional relevance should serve as an important incentive to determine both the concentration and affinity of tick proteins proposed to be functional at the feeding site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben J. Mans
- Epidemiology, Parasites and Vectors, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Research, Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
- Department of Life and Consumer Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
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18
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Vechtova P, Sterbova J, Sterba J, Vancova M, Rego ROM, Selinger M, Strnad M, Golovchenko M, Rudenko N, Grubhoffer L. A bite so sweet: the glycobiology interface of tick-host-pathogen interactions. Parasit Vectors 2018; 11:594. [PMID: 30428923 PMCID: PMC6236881 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-018-3062-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2017] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Vector-borne diseases constitute 17% of all infectious diseases in the world; among the blood-feeding arthropods, ticks transmit the highest number of pathogens. Understanding the interactions between the tick vector, the mammalian host and the pathogens circulating between them is the basis for the successful development of vaccines against ticks or the tick-transmitted pathogens as well as for the development of specific treatments against tick-borne infections. A lot of effort has been put into transcriptomic and proteomic analyses; however, the protein-carbohydrate interactions and the overall glycobiology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens has not been given the importance or priority deserved. Novel (bio)analytical techniques and their availability have immensely increased the possibilities in glycobiology research and thus novel information in the glycobiology of ticks and tick-borne pathogens is being generated at a faster pace each year. This review brings a comprehensive summary of the knowledge on both the glycosylated proteins and the glycan-binding proteins of the ticks as well as the tick-transmitted pathogens, with emphasis on the interactions allowing the infection of both the ticks and the hosts by various bacteria and tick-borne encephalitis virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavlina Vechtova
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. .,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
| | - Jarmila Sterbova
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Sterba
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Marie Vancova
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Ryan O M Rego
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Selinger
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Strnad
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Maryna Golovchenko
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Nataliia Rudenko
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Libor Grubhoffer
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.,Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1760, CZ-37005, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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19
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Alenazi Y, Singh K, Davies G, Eaton JRO, Elders P, Kawamura A, Bhattacharya S. Genetically engineered two-warhead evasins provide a method to achieve precision targeting of disease-relevant chemokine subsets. Sci Rep 2018; 8:6333. [PMID: 29679010 PMCID: PMC5910400 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24568-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2017] [Accepted: 04/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Both CC and CXC-class chemokines drive inflammatory disease. Tick salivary chemokine-binding proteins (CKBPs), or evasins, specifically bind subsets of CC- or CXC-chemokines, and could precisely target disease-relevant chemokines. Here we have used yeast surface display to identify two tick evasins: a CC-CKBP, P1243 from Amblyomma americanum and a CXC-CKBP, P1156 from Ixodes ricinus. P1243 binds 11 CC-chemokines with Kd < 10 nM, and 10 CC-chemokines with Kd between 10 and 100 nM. P1156 binds two ELR + CXC-chemokines with Kd < 10 nM, and four ELR + CXC-chemokines with Kd between 10 and 100 nM. Both CKBPs neutralize chemokine activity with IC50 < 10 nM in cell migration assays. As both CC- and CXC-CKBP activities are desirable in a single agent, we have engineered "two-warhead" CKBPs to create single agents that bind and neutralize subsets of CC and CXC chemokines. These results show that tick evasins can be linked to create non-natural proteins that target subsets of CC and CXC chemokines. We suggest that "two-warhead" evasins, designed by matching the activities of parental evasins to CC and CXC chemokines expressed in disease, would achieve precision targeting of inflammatory disease-relevant chemokines by a single agent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yara Alenazi
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Kamayani Singh
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Graham Davies
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - James R O Eaton
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Philip Elders
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Akane Kawamura
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Shoumo Bhattacharya
- RDM Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
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