Non-typhoidal Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 isolates that cause bacteremia in humans stimulate less inflammasome activation than ST19 isolates associated with gastroenteritis

Salmonella is an enteric pathogen that causes a range of diseases in humans. Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) serovars such as Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium generally cause a self-limiting gastroenteritis whereas typhoidal serovars cause a systemic disease, typhoid fever. However, S. Typhimurium isolates within the multi-locus sequence type ST313 have emerged in sub-Saharan Africa as a major cause of bacteremia in humans. The S. Typhimurium ST313 lineage is phylogenetically distinct from classical S. Typhimurium lineages, such as ST19, that cause zoonotic gastroenteritis worldwide. Previous studies have shown that the ST313 lineage has undergone genome degradation when compared to the ST19 lineage, similar to that observed for typhoidal serovars. Currently, little is known about phenotypic differences between ST313 isolates and other NTS isolates. We find that representative ST313 isolates invade non-phagocytic cells less efficiently than the classical ST19 isolates that are more commonly associated with gastroenteritis. In addition, ST313 isolates induce less Caspase-1-dependent macrophage death and IL-1β release than ST19 isolates. ST313 isolates also express relatively lower levels of mRNA of the genes encoding the SPI-1 effector sopE2 and the flagellin, fliC, providing possible explanations for the decrease in invasion and inflammasome activation. The ST313 isolates have invasion and inflammatory phenotypes that are intermediate; more invasive and inflammatory than Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and less than ST19 isolates associated with gastroenteritis. This suggests that both phenotypically and at the genomic level ST313 isolates are evolving signatures that facilitate a systemic lifestyle in humans.

Impact of bicycle helmet safety legislation on children admitted to a regional pediatric trauma center

PURPOSE

The regional pediatric trauma center in Buffalo, NY, has been active in pediatric injury prevention programs, including community education and distribution of bicycle helmets, since 1990. Since June 1, 1994, the use of bicycle safety helmets for children under 14 years of age has been mandated by a state law in New York. The authors undertook this study to assess the impact of this legislation on the frequency of helmet use in children involved in bicycle crashes presenting to the regional pediatric trauma center, and to assess the impact of helmet use on the number and severity of head injuries.

METHODS

Bicycle crash victims (n = 208) admitted to a regional pediatric trauma center from 1993 to 1995 were studied retrospectively. Head injuries were classified as concussion alone, skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhages (ie, epidural, subdural, and subarachnoid), cerebral contusions, or diffuse cerebral edema alone (without any other intracranial injury). Helmeted children (HC) were compared with nonhelmeted children (NHC) using chi2 and Fisher's Exact test. P value less than .05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

Only 31 children (15%) wore helmets at the time of the crash. Helmet use increased from 2%, during the period of education alone, to 26% after the legislation went into effect (P < .00001). The proportion of children suffering head injuries was similar in both groups (HC, 68%; NHC, 61%; P = NS). However, the type of head injury was different. HC were more likely to sustain concussion alone (HC, 65%; NHC, 44%; P < .03). HC were less likely to have skull fractures (HC, 0%; NHC, 13%; P < .02), and exhibited a trend toward less intracranial hemorrhages (HC, 0%; NHC, 9%; P = NS), cerebral contusions (HC, 3%; NHC, 5%; P = NS), and cerebral edema (HC, 0%; NHC, 0.6%; P = NS). Excluding the isolated concussions, head injuries were noted in only one HC, compared with 30 NHC (P < .04). None of the three children who died wore helmets at the time of the crash, and all died of multiple head injuries.

CONCLUSIONS

The bicycle helmet safety law resulted in a 13-fold increase in the use of bicycle helmets among the children admitted to a regional pediatric trauma center after bicycle crashes, but the helmet use remains inadequate. Helmet use reduced the severity of head injuries, and might have prevented deaths caused by head injuries.

Targeting the Nuclear Import Receptor Kpnβ1 as an Anticancer Therapeutic

Karyopherin beta 1 (Kpnβ1) is a nuclear transport receptor that imports cargoes into the nucleus. Recently, elevated Kpnβ1 expression was found in certain cancers and Kpnβ1 silencing with siRNA was shown to induce cancer cell death. This study aimed to identify novel small molecule inhibitors of Kpnβ1, and determine their anticancer activity. An in silico screen identified molecules that potentially bind Kpnβ1 and Inhibitor of Nuclear Import-43, INI-43 (3-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)pyrrolo[5,4-b]quinoxalin-2-amine) was investigated further as it interfered with the nuclear localization of Kpnβ1 and known Kpnβ1 cargoes NFAT, NFκB, AP-1, and NFY and inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells of different tissue origins. Minimum effect on the proliferation of noncancer cells was observed at the concentration of INI-43 that showed a significant cytotoxic effect on various cervical and esophageal cancer cell lines. A rescue experiment confirmed that INI-43 exerted its cell killing effects, in part, by targeting Kpnβ1. INI-43 treatment elicited a G2-M cell-cycle arrest in cancer cells and induced the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Intraperitoneal administration of INI-43 significantly inhibited the growth of subcutaneously xenografted esophageal and cervical tumor cells. We propose that Kpnβ1 inhibitors could have therapeutic potential for the treatment of cancer. Mol Cancer Ther; 15(4); 560-73. ©2016 AACR.

An international comparison of retinopathy of prematurity grading performance within the Benefits of Oxygen Saturation Targeting II trials

Purpose

To investigate whether the observed international differences in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) treatment rates within the Benefits of Oxygen Saturation Targeting (BOOST) II trials might have been caused by international variation in ROP disease grading.

Methods

Groups of BOOST II trial ophthalmologists in UK, Australia, and New Zealand (ANZ), and an international reference group (INT) used a web based system to grade a selection of RetCam images of ROP acquired during the BOOST II UK trial. Rates of decisions to treat, plus disease grading, ROP stage grading, ROP zone grading, inter-observer variation within groups and intra-observer variation within groups were measured.

Results

Forty-two eye examinations were graded. UK ophthalmologists diagnosed treat-requiring ROP more frequently than ANZ ophthalmologists, 13.9 (3.49) compared to 9.4 (4.46) eye examinations, P=0.038. UK ophthalmologists diagnosed plus disease more frequently than ANZ ophthalmologists, 14.1 (6.23) compared to 8.5 (3.24) eye examinations, P=0.021. ANZ ophthalmologists diagnosed stage 2 ROP more frequently than UK ophthalmologists, 20.2 (5.8) compared to 12.7 (7.1) eye examinations, P=0.026. There were no other significant differences in the grading of ROP stage or zone. Inter-observer variation was higher within the UK group than within the ANZ group. Intra-observer variation was low in both groups.

Conclusions

We have found evidence of international variation in the diagnosis of treatment-requiring ROP. Improved standardisation of the diagnosis of treatment-requiring ROP is required. Measures might include improved training in the grading of ROP, using an international approach, and further development of ROP image analysis software.

The apes' edge: positional learning in chimpanzees and humans

A wide variety of organisms produce actions and signals in particular temporal sequences, including the motor actions recruited during tool-mediated foraging, the arrangement of notes in the songs of birds, whales and gibbons, and the patterning of words in human speech. To accurately reproduce such events, the elements that comprise such sequences must be memorized. Both memory and artificial language learning studies have revealed at least two mechanisms for memorizing sequences, one tracking co-occurrence statistics among items in sequences (i.e., transitional probabilities) and the other one tracking the positions of items in sequences, in particular those of items in sequence-edges. The latter mechanism seems to dominate the encoding of sequences after limited exposure, and to be recruited by a wide array of grammatical phenomena. To assess whether humans differ from other species in their reliance on one mechanism over the other after limited exposure, we presented chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human adults with brief exposure to six items, auditory sequences. Each sequence consisted of three distinct sound types (X, A, B), arranged according to two simple temporal rules: the A item always preceded the B item, and the sequence-edges were always occupied by the X item. In line with previous results with human adults, both species primarily encoded positional information from the sequences; that is, they kept track of the items that occurred in the sequence-edges. In contrast, the sensitivity to co-occurrence statistics was much weaker. Our results suggest that a mechanism to spontaneously encode positional information from sequences is present in both chimpanzees and humans and may represent the default in the absence of training and with brief exposure. As many grammatical regularities exhibit properties of this mechanism, it may be recruited by language and constrain the form that certain grammatical regularities take.

Aversive properties of the kappa opioid agonist U50,488 in the week-old rat pup

mu Opioids have been shown to produce analgesia and to be reinforcing during the first week of life in the rat. kappa Opioids also have analgesic actions in both the infant and adult, but can be aversive in the mature animal. We examined the aversive effects of the kappa opioid agonist U50,488 during the first postnatal week in the rat pup in three ways. In the first experiment, U50,488, injected peripherally (1.0-30.0 mg/kg), was paired with an odor and pups were tested 8 h later for positional preference for avoidance of that odor. This task is similar to conditioned preference/aversion tests used with adult animals. Both 3- and 7-day-old pups learned to avoid the odor adulterated side at the two higher doses. When exposed to odors previously associated with U50,488, pups at both ages decreased locomotor activity. In a second experiment, acute treatment with U50,488 increased ultrasonic distress vocalizations (USV) equally at 3 and 7 days of age, increased locomotor activity, and decreased rectal temperature. Neither of the latter two effects was correlated with the increase in USV production. The third experiment showed that conditioned odor cues increased USV 8 h later in 3- and 7-day-old pups at 1.0-10.0 mg/kg without changes in activity or rectal temperature. The results from these studies suggest that U50,488 can produce aversions in the neonatal rat pup as it does in the adult.

Accessorizing the centrosome: new insights into centriolar appendages and satellites

Centrosomes comprise two centrioles, the mother and daughter, embedded within a multi-layered proteinaceous matrix known as the pericentriolar material. In proliferating cells, centrosomes duplicate once per cell cycle and organise interphase and mitotic microtubule arrays, whereas in quiescent cells, the mother centriole templates primary cilium formation. Centrosomes have acquired various accessory structures to facilitate these disparate functions. In some eukaryotic lineages, mother centrioles can be distinguished from their daughter by the presence of appendages at their distal end, which anchor microtubule minus ends and tether Golgi-derived vesicles involved in ciliogenesis. Moreover, in vertebrate cells, centrosomes are surrounded by a system of cytoplasmic granules known as centriolar satellites. In this review, we will discuss these centriolar accessories and outline recent findings pertaining to their composition, assembly and regulation.

Risk of hemorrhage and appropriate use of blood transfusions in pediatric blunt splenic injuries

OBJECTIVE

To define changes in hematocrit (Hct) and the indications for blood transfusion in pediatric blunt splenic injury.

DESIGN

Retrospective case series

MATERIALS AND METHODS

All children with blunt splenic injuries from 1990 to 1995 were studied (n = 74). Transfusion practices were reviewed for the whole group. Thirty children with isolated splenic injuries who were not transfused were analyzed to document Hct changes (mean +/- 95% confidence intervals).

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

The Hct at presentation was 37 +/- 2%, which rapidly dropped to 31 +/- 2% (p < 0.05) within 24 hours. After remaining stable at that level for the next 5 days, the Hct rose to 33 +/- 4% on day 6 (p = not significant), 35 +/- 4% on day 7 (p = not significant), and 38 +/- 2% (p = not significant) on day 13 +/- 3. Fifteen children received transfusions, all but one of whom had suffered multiple injuries. The transfusion rate declined from 38% of children in 1990 to 10% in 1995.

CONCLUSIONS

After the initial drop within the first 24 hours, the Hct remains stable and rises with time to reach the baseline by day 6. Transfusion rates have declined over time, and transfusions are now used almost exclusively in severely injured children with multiple injuries.

The effect of chronic low level lead exposure on blood-brain barrier function in the developing rat

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) function was assessed in 19-21-day-old rats exposed to low level lead from birth. Newborn rats received lead via milk from lactating dams given drinking water containing 0.1% lead acetate [Pb(Ac)2]. The treatment regime produced lead levels in the neonates within the range 20-80 micrograms dl-1 blood, without affecting growth. Cerebrovascular permeability (PS-product) to the diffusion-limited solute mannitol was unchanged in six regions of the cerebral hemisphere, the cerebellum and the brainstem, suggesting that barrier integrity was not affected by the low dose lead treatment. Regional cerebrovascular permeability to nutrient tracers representing seven BBB transport classes was not impaired by lead treatment. However, the PS estimates for the amino acids lysine and histidine and for thiamine were greater than control in some regions of the cerebral hemisphere. These alterations in nutrient supply to the brain may reflect altered substrate utilization associated with repair processes or delayed maturation of the CNS.

Proteomic profiling of centrosomes across multiple mammalian cell and tissue types by an affinity capture method

Centrosomes are the major microtubule-organizing centers in animals and play fundamental roles in many cellular processes. Understanding how their composition varies across diverse cell types and how it is altered in disease are major unresolved questions, yet currently available centrosome isolation protocols are cumbersome and time-consuming, and they lack scalability. Here, we report the development of centrosome affinity capture (CAPture)-mass spectrometry (MS), a powerful one-step purification method to obtain high-resolution centrosome proteomes from mammalian cells. Utilizing a synthetic peptide derived from CCDC61 protein, CAPture specifically isolates intact centrosomes. Importantly, as a bead-based affinity method, it enables rapid sample processing and multiplexing unlike conventional approaches. Our study demonstrates the power of CAPture-MS to elucidate cell-type-dependent heterogeneity in centrosome composition, dissect hierarchical interactions, and identify previously unknown centrosome components. Overall, CAPture-MS represents a transformative tool to unveil temporal, regulatory, cell-type- and tissue-specific changes in centrosome proteomes in health and disease.

Novel small molecule inhibitor of Kpnβ1 induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells

Karyopherin beta 1 (Kpnβ1) is a major nuclear import receptor that mediates the import of cellular cargoes into the nucleus. Recently it has been shown that Kpnβ1 is highly expressed in several cancers, and its inhibition by siRNA induces apoptotic cancer cell death, while having little effect on non-cancer cells. This study investigated the effect of a novel small molecule, Inhibitor of Nuclear Import-60 (INI-60), on cancer cell biology, as well as nuclear import activities associated with Kpnβ1, and cancer progression in vivo using cervical and oesophageal cancer cell lines. INI-60 treatment resulted in the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, and induced a G1/S cell cycle arrest, followed by cancer cell death via apoptosis. Non-cancer cells were minimally affected by INI-60 at concentrations that inhibited cancer cells. INI-60 treatment altered the localisation of Kpnβ1 and its cargoes, NFκB/p65, NFAT and AP-1, and the overexpression of Kpnβ1 reduced INI-60 cytotoxicity. INI-60 also inhibited KYSE 30 oesophageal cancer cell line growth in vivo. Taken together, these results show that INI-60 inhibits the nuclear import of Kpnβ1 cargoes and interferes with cancer cell biology. INI-60 presents as a potential therapeutic approach for cancers of different tissue origins and warrants further investigation as a novel anti-cancer agent.

A tight balance of Karyopherin β1 expression is required in cervical cancer cells

Background

Karyopherin β1 (Kpnβ1) is the main nuclear import protein involved in the transport of cargoes from the cytoplasm into the cell nucleus. Previous research has found Kpnβ1 to be significantly overexpressed in cervical cancer and other cancer tissues, and further studies showed that inhibition of Kpnβ1 expression by siRNA resulted in cancer cell death, while non-cancer cells were minimally affected. These results suggest that Kpnβ1 has potential as an anticancer therapeutic target, thus warranting further research into the association between Kpnβ1 expression and cancer progression. Here, the biological effects associated with Kpnβ1 overexpression were investigated in order to further elucidate the relationship between Kpnβ1 and the cancer phenotype.

Methods

To evaluate the effect of Kpnβ1 overexpression on cell biology, cell proliferation, cell cycle, cell morphology and cell adhesion assays were performed. To determine whether Kpnβ1 overexpression influences cell sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents like Cisplatin, cell viability assays were performed. Expression levels of key proteins were analysed by Western blot analysis.

Results

Our data revealed that Kpnβ1 overexpression, above that which was already detected in cancer cells, resulted in reduced proliferation of cervical cancer cells. Likewise, normal epithelial cells showed reduced proliferation after Kpnβ1 overxpression. Reduced cancer cell proliferation was associated with a delay in cell cycle progression, as well as changes in the morphology and adhesion properties of cells. Additionally, Kpnβ1 overexpressing HeLa cells exhibited increased sensitivity to cisplatin, as shown by decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis, where p53 and p21 inhibition reduced and enhanced cell sensitivity to Cisplatin, respectively.

Conclusions

Overall, our results suggest that a tight balance of Kpnβ1 expression is required for cellular function, and that perturbation of this balance results in negative effects associated with a variety of biological processes.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-5044-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Abstract B12: Investigating the specificity of the small molecule inhibitor INI-43 for Kpnβ1 in cancer cells

Karyopherin β1 (Kpnβ1) is the major nuclear import protein involved in the shuttling of cargo proteins and mRNAs into the cell nucleus. Recent studies have found that Kpnβ1 levels are significantly upregulated in cancer cells, and that targeted inhibition of Kpnβ1 with siRNA results in reduced proliferation and the induction of apoptosis, suggesting that Kpnβ1 is important for cancer cell survival. Inhibitor of Nuclear Import-43 (INI-43) is a small molecule inhibitor identified in our laboratory as having the potential to interfere with the nuclear import function of Kpnβ1. It has been shown to inhibit the nuclear localization of both Kpnβ1 and known Kpnβ1 cargoes such as NFκB and NFAT, as well as inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells of different tissue origins. This study aimed to investigate the specificity of INI-43 for Kpnβ1 by performing experiments to determine whether expression of exogenous Kpnβ1-GFP was able to rescue cells from the effects of INI-43 treatment. Results show that Kpnβ1 overexpression rescues cell viability, as well as the inhibitory effects that INI-43 has on the nuclear import of NFκB/p65 and NFAT. Overexpression of Kpnβ1 also rescues cells from an INI-43 induced G2/M cell cycle block. In addition, treatment of cells with INI-43 enhances degradation of Kpnβ1, but not of other members of the Karyopherin family. These results suggest that the small molecule inhibitor INI-43 is acting, at least in part, by targeting Kpnβ1.

Citation Format: Sarah Carden, Pauline van der Watt, Patrizia Lavia, Virna Leaner. Investigating the specificity of the small molecule inhibitor INI-43 for Kpnβ1 in cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR International Conference: New Frontiers in Cancer Research; 2017 Jan 18-22; Cape Town, South Africa. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(22 Suppl):Abstract nr B12.

Thin-client medical devices

Designing as little functionality as possible on the device, and placing the processing burden on the server, can reduce the cost of medical devices and provide other benefits.

Transcriptional neural-like signaling contributes to an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment

Tumor innervation has recently been documented and characterized in various settings and tumor types. However, the role that nerves innervating tumors play in the pathogenesis of cancer has not been clarified. In this study, we searched for neural signaling from bulk RNA sequencing from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and looked for patterns of interactions between different cell types within the tumor environment. Using a presynapse signature (PSS) as a probe, we showed that multiple stromal cell types crosstalk and/or contribute to neural signals. Based on the correlation and linear regression, we hypothesized that neural signals contribute to an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). To test this hypothesis, we performed in vitro dorsal root ganglion (DRG)/macrophage coculture experiments. Compared to the M2 macrophage monoculture, the DRG/M2 macrophage coculture prevented anti-inflammatory M2 to pro-inflammatory M1 polarization by LPS stimulation. Finally, a survey of different TCGA tumor types indicated that higher RNA neural signature is predictive of poor patient outcomes in multiple tumor types.