We report a case of retained wooden foreign body in the zygomatic region which posed a considerable diagnostic difficulty and was the source of persistent draining sinus and other distressing symptoms. The patient was not aware of the foreign body in the maxillofacial region. In such cases a thorough history of the patient is of utmost importance. The case has been described to highlight the problems associated in managing unlikely foreign bodies at unusual facial sites when there is a possibility that radiolucent material is embedded in the wound.

Extracellular matrices in diverse biological systems are crosslinked by dityrosine covalent bonds catalyzed by the peroxidase/oxidase system. We show that the Immunomodulatory Peroxidase (IMPer), an enzyme secreted by the mosquito Anopheles gambiae midgut, and dual oxidase (Duox) form a dityrosine network that decreases gut permeability to immune elicitors and protects the microbiota by preventing activation of epithelial immunity. It also provides a suitable environment for malaria parasites to develop within the midgut lumen without inducing nitric oxide synthase expression. Disruption of this barrier results in strong and effective pathogen-specific immune responses.

Background

Chronological aging of yeast cells is commonly used as a model for aging of human post-mitotic cells. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown on glucose in the presence of ammonium sulphate is mainly used in yeast aging research. We have analyzed chronological aging of the yeast Hansenula polymorpha grown at conditions that require primary peroxisome metabolism for growth.

Methodology/Principal Findings

The chronological lifespan of H. polymorpha is strongly enhanced when cells are grown on methanol or ethanol, metabolized by peroxisome enzymes, relative to growth on glucose that does not require peroxisomes. The short lifespan of H. polymorpha on glucose is mainly due to medium acidification, whereas most likely ROS do not play an important role. Growth of cells on methanol/methylamine instead of methanol/ammonium sulphate resulted in further lifespan enhancement. This was unrelated to medium acidification. We show that oxidation of methylamine by peroxisomal amine oxidase at carbon starvation conditions is responsible for lifespan extension. The methylamine oxidation product formaldehyde is further oxidized resulting in NADH generation, which contributes to increased ATP generation and reduction of ROS levels in the stationary phase.

Conclusion/Significance

We conclude that primary peroxisome metabolism enhanced chronological lifespan of H. polymorpha. Moreover, the possibility to generate NADH at carbon starvation conditions by an organic nitrogen source supports further extension of the lifespan of the cell. Consequently, the interpretation of CLS analyses in yeast should include possible effects on the energy status of the cell.

Several viruses within the Coronaviridae family have been categorized as either emerging or re-emerging human pathogens, with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) being the most well known. The NIAID-sponsored Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR, www.viprbrc.org) supports bioinformatics workflows for a broad range of human virus pathogens and other related viruses, including the entire Coronaviridae family. ViPR provides access to sequence records, gene and protein annotations, immune epitopes, 3D structures, host factor data, and other data types through an intuitive web-based search interface. Records returned from these queries can then be subjected to web-based analyses including: multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic inference, sequence variation determination, BLAST comparison, and metadata-driven comparative genomics statistical analysis. Additional tools exist to display multiple sequence alignments, view phylogenetic trees, visualize 3D protein structures, transfer existing reference genome annotations to new genomes, and store or share results from any search or analysis within personal private ‘Workbench’ spaces for future access. All of the data and integrated analysis and visualization tools in ViPR are made available without charge as a service to the Coronaviridae research community to facilitate the research and development of diagnostics, prophylactics, vaccines and therapeutics against these human pathogens.

We report an unusual presentation of a sporadic intra-abdominal desmoid tumour, possibly arising from the diaphragm, masquerading as a hepatic mass in a young female without any history of surgery or trauma. Histopathology ruled out a hepatic origin of the tumour as was inferred from pre- and intraoperative evaluation. Immunohistochemistry showed positivity of lesional fibroblastic cells for β-catenin and negativity for CD34, CD117, EMA, SMA, desmin, vimentin, cytokeratin, and ALK1 thereby confirming the diagnosis of a desmoid tumour. There exist only a few reports in the literature on desmoids related to the diaphragm, but only one on a diaphragmatic desmoid that is possibly primary.

After initiation of the leaf primordium, biomass accumulation is controlled mainly by cell proliferation and expansion in the leaves1. However, the Arabidopsis leaf is a complex organ made up of many different cell types and several structures. At the same time, the growing leaf contains cells at different stages of development, with the cells furthest from the petiole being the first to stop expanding and undergo senescence1. Different cells within the leaf are therefore dividing, elongating or differentiating; active, stressed or dead; and/or responding to stimuli in sub-sets of their cellular type at any one time. This makes genomic study of the leaf challenging: for example when analyzing expression data from whole leaves, signals from genetic networks operating in distinct cellular response zones or cell types will be confounded, resulting in an inaccurate profile being generated.

To address this, several methods have been described which enable studies of cell specific gene expression. These include laser-capture microdissection (LCM)2 or GFP expressing plants used for protoplast generation and subsequent fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)3,4, the recently described INTACT system for nuclear precipitation5 and immunoprecipitation of polysomes6.

FACS has been successfully used for a number of studies, including showing that the cell identity and distance from the root tip had a significant effect on the expression profiles of a large number of genes3,7. FACS of GFP lines have also been used to demonstrate cell-specific transcriptional regulation during root nitrogen responses and lateral root development8, salt stress9 auxin distribution in the root10 and to create a gene expression map of the Arabidopsis shoot apical meristem11. Although FACS has previously been used to sort Arabidopsis leaf derived protoplasts based on autofluorescence12,13, so far the use of FACS on Arabidopsis lines expressing GFP in the leaves has been very limited4. In the following protocol we describe a method for obtaining Arabidopsis leaf protoplasts that are compatible with FACS while minimizing the impact of the protoplast generation regime. We demonstrate the method using the KC464 Arabidopsis line, which express GFP in the adaxial epidermis14, the KC274 line, which express GFP in the vascular tissue14 and the TP382 Arabidopsis line, which express a double GFP construct linked to a nuclear localization signal in the guard cells (data not shown; Figure 2). We are currently using this method to study both cell-type specific expression during development and stress, as well as heterogeneous cell populations at various stages of senescence.

Background

Patients with nephrotic syndrome are at an increased risk of thromboembolic events (TEs). However, this association has not been thoroughly investigated in adult patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN).

Methods

A retrospective analysis of all 101 consecutive adult patients with MN diagnosed at our centre during 1995 to 2008 was performed. Pertinent data including thromboembolic events and the risk factors for TEs were recorded.

Results

The cohort was followed for 7.2 ± 3 years. Out of 78 patients with IMN, 15 (19.2%) had at least one TE. No TEs occurred six months after diagnosis. The incidence of TEs in the first 6 months of diagnosis was 7.69% (95%CI, 2.5-17.0) and all patients except one had venous TEs. At the time of diagnosis of MN, the patients with TEs had lower serum albumin (1.9 ± 0.5 vs. 2.4 ± 0.4 g/dl, TE vs. no TE; p < 0.01) and greater serum cholesterol (414 ± 124 vs. 317 ± 108 mg/dl, TE vs. no TE; p = 0.01) and 24-h proteinuria (10.7 ± 3 vs. 7.1 ± 4 g, TE vs. no TE; p < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, cholesterol and creatinine revealed, an odds ratio of 0.8 (95% CI 0.7 – 0.96; p = 0.01) for every one g/dl increase in baseline serum albumin and, an odds ratio of 1.3 (95% CI 1.05-1.58; p = 0.01) for one gram increase in 24-h proteinuria, for TEs.

Conclusions

Our study finding confirms IMN as a prothrombotic state particularly in the first six months of diagnosis. Proteinuria, in addition to hypoalbuminemia, is a risk factor for TEs. These results have important implications for clinical care of patients with IMN, particularly with regards to initiation and duration of prophylactic anticoagulation.

Background:

Evaluation of outcomes can help improve the quality of provision of services within a healthcare setting. There is limited report on patient satisfaction in private-sector in India although they provide three-quarters of healthcare services.

Aim:

The study was designed to report the level of satisfaction among inpatients of a private tertiary care hospital in India.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 102 participants were recruited and their socio-demographic, health-seeking behavior, and satisfaction rating on various aspects of healthcare were elicited. A five item Likert scale was used to obtain the satisfaction rating. Data analysis was done with the help of Stata version-9. Proportions for the discrete variables and means with Standard Deviation for the continuous variables were obtained.

Results:

All the participants were urban and from upper-middle or upper socio-economic strata. The participants reported a high level of overall satisfaction (93%) as well as high satisfaction with physicians (95%), the doctor's interpersonal skills (99%), nursing-care (93%), general services (94%), and pharmacy (88.1%).

Conclusion:

There was a high level of satisfaction reported by the participants at this tertiary level hospital. This might reflect the actual good quality services being provided by the provider or the nonannoying response, which cannot be ruled out.

Background

EF-hand proteins can be activated by the binding of various heavy metals other than calcium, and such complexes can disturb the calcium-signaling pathway and cause toxicity and disease causing state. So far, no comprehensive study has been done to understand different heavy metals binding to calcium signaling proteins.

Results

In this work, the flexibility of the EF-hand motifs are examined by crystallographic and thermodynamic studies of binding of Pb2+, Ba2+ and Sr2+ to Calcium Binding Protein-1 from Entamoeba histolytica (EhCaBP1). The structures of the EhCaBP1- heavy metal complexes are found to be overall similar, nevertheless specific differences in metal coordination, and small differences in the coordination distances between the metal and the ligands in the metal binding loop. The largest such distances occur for the Ba2+- EhCaBP1 complex, where two bariums are bound with partial occupancy at the EF2 motif. Thermodynamic studies confirm that EhCaBP1 has five binding sites for Ba2+ compared to four binding sites for the other metals. These structures and thermodynamic studies reveal that the EF-hand motifs can accommodate several heavy atoms with similar binding affinities. The binding of Ca2+ to the 1st, 2nd and 4th sites and the binding of Ba2+ to the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th sites are both enthalpically and entropically driven, whereas the binding of Sr2+ to the 1st, 2nd and 4th sites are simply enthalpy driven, interestingly in agreement with ITC data, Sr2+ do not coordinate with water in this structure. For all the metals, binding to the 3rd site is only entropy driven.

Conclusion

Energetically, Ca2+ is preferred in three sites, while in one site Ba2+ has better binding energy. The Sr2+-coordination in the EF hand motifs is similar to that of the native Ca2+ bound structure, except for the lack of water coordination. Sr2+ coordination seems to be a pre-formed in nature since all seven coordinating atoms are from the protein itself, which also correlates with entropy contributions in Sr2+ binding. These findings improve our understanding of metal association with calcium binding proteins and of metal induced conformational changes.

Nucleolin is a multi-functional nucleolar protein that is required for ribosomal RNA gene (rRNA) transcription in vivo, but the mechanism by which nucleolin modulates RNA polymerase I (RNAPI) transcription is not well understood. Nucleolin depletion results in an increase in the heterochromatin mark H3K9me2 and a decrease in H4K12Ac and H3K4me3 euchromatin histone marks in rRNA genes. ChIP-seq experiments identified an enrichment of nucleolin in the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) coding and promoter region. Nucleolin is preferentially associated with unmethylated rRNA genes and its depletion leads to the accumulation of RNAPI at the beginning of the transcription unit and a decrease in UBF along the coding and promoter regions. Nucleolin is able to affect the binding of transcription termination factor-1 on the promoter-proximal terminator T0, thus inhibiting the recruitment of TIP5 and HDAC1 and the establishment of a repressive heterochromatin state. These results reveal the importance of nucleolin for the maintenance of the euchromatin state and transcription elongation of rDNA.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by pulmonary edema and acute inflammation leading to pulmonary dysfunction and potentially death. Early medical intervention may ameliorate the severity of ALI, but unfortunately, there are no reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis. We screened for biomarkers in a mouse model of ALI. In this model, inhalation of S. aureus enterotoxin A causes increased capillary permeability, cell damage, and increase protein and cytokine concentration in the lungs. We set out to find predictive biomarkers of ALI in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid before the onset of clinical manifestations. A cutting edge proteomic approach was used to compare BAL fluid harvested 16 h post S. aureus enterotoxin A inhalation versus BAL fluid from vehicle alone treated mice. The proteomic PF 2D platform permitted comparative analysis of proteomic maps and mass spectrometry identified cytochrome b5 and cytokeratin 17 in BAL fluid of mice challenged with S. aureus enterotoxin A. Validation of cytochrome b5 showed tropic expression in epithelial cells of the bronchioles. Importantly, S. aureus enterotoxin A inhalation significantly decreased cytochrome b5 during the onset of lung injury. Validation of cytokeratin 17 showed ubiquitous expression in lung tissue and increased presence in BAL fluid after S. aureus enterotoxin A inhalation. Therefore, these new biomarkers may be predictive of ALI onset in patients and could provide insight regarding the basis of lung injury and inflammation.

The pharmaceutically important compound N-acetylglucosamine (NAG), is used in various therapeutic formulations, skin care products and dietary supplements. Currently, NAG is being produced by an environment-unfriendly chemical process using chitin, a polysaccharide present in abundance in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, as a substrate. In the present study, we report the potential of an eco-friendly biological process for the production of NAG using recombinant bacterial enzymes, chitinase (CHI) and chitobiase (CHB). The treatment of chitin with recombinant CHI alone produced 8% NAG and 72% chitobiose, a homodimer of NAG. However, supplementation of the reaction mixture with another recombinant enzyme, CHB, resulted in approximately six fold increase in NAG production. The product, NAG, was confirmed by HPLC, TLC and ESI-MS studies. Conditions are being optimized for increased production of NAG from chitin.

The use of firearms is becoming more prevalent in the society and hence the number of homicidal and suicidal cases. The severity of gunshot wounds varies depending on the weapons caliber and the distance of firing. Close-range, high-velocity gunshot wounds in the head and neck region can result in devastating esthetic and functional impairment. The complexity in facial skeletal anatomy cause multiple medical and surgical challenges to an operating surgeon, demanding elaborate soft and hard tissue reconstructions. Here we present the successful management of a patient shot by a low-velocity short-range pistol with basic life support measures, wound management, reconstruction, and rehabilitation.

Internal herniation of small intestine is a very rare entity, and it poses a real diagnostic challenge clinically. Recurrent entrapment of the bowel may lead to partial to complete intestinal obstruction and eventually strangulation of the small bowel. Of this rare clinical entity, left paraduodenal hernia is more common. High index of suspicion with prompt management may prevent bowel strangulation and gangrene. We present a case of acute intestinal obstruction due to left paraduodenal hernia with malrotation of midgut in a 55-year-old male patient.

Detachment of epithelial cells from matrix or attachment to an inappropriate matrix engages an apoptotic response known as anoikis, which prevents metastasis. Cellular sensitivity to anoikis is compromised during the oncogenic epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), through unknown mechanisms. We report here a pathway through which EMT confers anoikis resistance. NRAGE (neurotrophin receptor-interacting melanoma antigen) interacted with a component of the E-cadherin complex, ankyrin-G, maintaining NRAGE in the cytoplasm. Oncogenic EMT downregulated ankyrin-G, enhancing the nuclear localization of NRAGE. The oncogenic transcriptional repressor protein TBX2 interacted with NRAGE, repressing the tumor suppressor gene p14ARF. P14ARF sensitized cells to anoikis; conversely, the TBX2/NRAGE complex protected cells against anoikis by downregulating this gene. This represents a novel pathway for the regulation of anoikis by EMT and E-cadherin.

Hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome (HIES), also known as Job's syndrome, is a rare primary immunodeficiency characterized by eczema, recurrent skin and lung infections, elevated serum IgE, and connective tissue and skeletal abnormalities. Individuals with HIES share a characteristic facial appearance and many oral manifestations including retained primary dentition, a high-arched palate, variations of the oral mucosa and gingiva, and recurrent oral candidiasis. An 18-year-old lady presented with gingival swelling, bleeding from the gums, recurrent skin infections, and recurrent respiratory infections with intermittent fever. After thorough extra oral, intra oral and radiographic examination, serological investigations were performed. Growth of candida hyphae in the biopsy specimen of gingiva and increased levels of serum IgE with typical extra oral findings established the diagnosis as Job's syndrome (hyper IgE syndrome). Treatment with anti-fungal antibiotics and phase-I therapy including scaling and root planing followed by gingivoplasty using diode laser (980 nm) was performed. HIES was previously defined on the basis of clinical manifestations and laboratory markers that were not specific to the disease. With the identification of STAT3 mutations as the cause of HIES, we can definitively characterize the disease at molecular and immunologic levels. This case emphasizes the role of the dentist in the diagnosis of rare syndromes which alters the treatment plan.

Central giant cell granulomas (CGCGs) are uncommon but the most aggressive benign intraosseous tumors of jaws, with an unpredictable outcome. They account for less than 7% of all benign jaw lesions, with a female to male ratio of about 2:1. The classical “brown tumor” is commonly seen in the long bones, pelvis, and ribs. Facial bone involvement is rare and usually appears as solitary or multilocular soap bubble like radiolucencies. CGCGs are traditionally treated by both surgical and intralesional injection, with a variable recurrence rate. Here, we report a 12-year-old female patient with mandibular brown tumor as a first sign of secondary hyperthyroidism induced due to vitamin D deficiency and hypocalcemia.

Background:

Reports of series of central jaw tumours in children are rare hence predicting their biological behaviour as well as treatment, prognosis have not been documented from this part of the world.

Aim:

To study retrospectively, the paediatric central jaw tumours, reported to our institute with relation to site of occurrence, presentation and biological behaviour.

Materials and Methods:

All consecutive patients (<18 years), between 2004-2010, histologically diagnosed as having an intraosseous tumour or tumour-like lesions formed the study population. Patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were only considered for further study. The entire study material was analyzed and grouped into various categories for logical conclusions. The data accumulated were grouped, entered and analyzed.

Results:

Sixty-one cases fulfilled the criteria. Gender distribution was equal, with mandible predominance (2.2:1) and a predominance of non-odontogenic lesions (2:1). There were 4 malignant and 57 benign conditions. Anterior jaw lesions were 23 while 38 were present in the posterior region of jaws (1:1:6).

Conclusions:

The pattern of central jaw tumours presentation in children from this part of India has been documented. In this study, paediatric jaw tumours are less common compared to those in adults with non-odontogenic tumours being common. The finding of the present study indicates that an impacted tooth, beyond the eruption time deserves more attention for the reason of associated pathologies in children.

The Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR, www.ViPRbrc.org) is an integrated repository of data and analysis tools for multiple virus families, supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRC) program. ViPR contains information for human pathogenic viruses belonging to the Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Caliciviridae, Coronaviridae, Flaviviridae, Filoviridae, Hepeviridae, Herpesviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Picornaviridae, Poxviridae, Reoviridae, Rhabdoviridae and Togaviridae families, with plans to support additional virus families in the future. ViPR captures various types of information, including sequence records, gene and protein annotations, 3D protein structures, immune epitope locations, clinical and surveillance metadata and novel data derived from comparative genomics analysis. Analytical and visualization tools for metadata-driven statistical sequence analysis, multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree construction, BLAST comparison and sequence variation determination are also provided. Data filtering and analysis workflows can be combined and the results saved in personal ‘Workbenches’ for future use. ViPR tools and data are available without charge as a service to the virology research community to help facilitate the development of diagnostics, prophylactics and therapeutics for priority pathogens and other viruses.

Women are at higher risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection when pregnant. The decreasing risk of malaria with subsequent pregnancies is attributed to parity-dependent acquisition of antibodies against placental parasites expressing variant surface antigens, VAR2CSA, that mediate placental sequestration through adhesion to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA). However, modulation of immunity during pregnancy may also contribute to increase the risk of malaria. We compared antibody responses among 30 Mozambican primigravidae and 60 multigravidae at delivery, 40 men, and 40 children. IgG levels were measured against the surface antigens of erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum isolated from 12 pregnant women (4 placental and 8 peripheral blood isolates) and 26 nonpregnant hosts. We also measured IgG levels against merozoite recombinant antigens and total IgG. Placental P. falciparum infection was associated with increased levels of total IgG as well as IgG levels against merozoite antigens and parasite isolates from pregnant and nonpregnant hosts. We therefore stratified comparisons of antibody levels by placental infection. Compared to multigravidae, uninfected primigravidae had lower total IgG as well as lower levels of IgGs against peripheral blood isolates from both pregnant and nonpregnant hosts. These differences were not explained by use of bed nets, season at delivery, neighborhood of residence, or age. Compared to men, infected primigravidae had higher levels of IgGs against isolates from pregnant women and CSA-binding lines but not against other isolates, supporting the concept of a pregnancy-specific development of immunity to these parasite variants. Results of this study show that parity and placental infection can modulate immune responses during pregnancy against malaria parasites.

Background:

The unicystic variety of ameloblastoma is reported to be significantly less prone to recurrence in young patients than its conventional counterpart, and therefore can be treated conservatively. This paper describes a technique of using an osteoperiosteal flap to allow complete enucleation of a unicystic ameloblastoma. The technique maintains the continuity of the mandible and restores full thickness as well as strength of the mandible to promote early healing. It also maintains blood supply and proper facial contour so that esthetics is unimpaired.

Materials and Methods:

We describe two cases of unicystic ameloblastoma in which we used an osteoperiosteal flap. This flap was then infractured at the lower border to obliterate the dead space.

Results:

The sequential radiographs demonstrate early incorporation of the graft and complete filling of the defect by 3 months. At 5 years of follow-up in our first case, complete healing of bone was observed.

Conclusions:

We believe that these procedures can be the treatment of choice in such cases, especially with larger lesions, as these rapidly restore the patient's facial contour to normal as well as reduce the healing time.

Background

The role of frozen section (FS) in intraoperative decision making for surgical staging of endometrial cancer is controversial. Objective of this study is to assess the agreement rate between the FS and paraffin section (PS); and the potential impact of the role of FS in the intra-operative decision making for the complete surgical staging in low risk endometrial cancer.

Methods

This is a retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with intra-operative FS stage I, grade I or II endometrial cancer from 1995–2004. FS results were compared with final pathology results with regard to tumor grade, depth of myometrial invasion, cervical involvement, lymphovascular invasion, and lymph node involvement. Agreement statistic with kappa was calculated using SPSS statistical software. Categorical variables were tested using chi-square test with p value of ≤0.05 being statistically significant.

Results

Of the 457 patients with endometrial cancer, 146 were evaluated by intra-operative FS and met inclusion criteria. FS results were in disagreement with permanent section in 35% for the grade (kappa 0.58, p = 0.003), 28% for depth of myometrial invasion (kappa 0.61, p<0.0001), 13% for cervical involvement (kappa 0.78, p = 0.002), and 32% for lymphovascular invasion (kappa 0.6, p = 0.01). Permanent pathology upstaged 31.9% & 23.2% of FS stage IA, & IB specimen respectively. Lymph node dissection was done in 56.8%. Lymph node metastasis was identified in 8.4%. Use of intraoperative FS would have resulted in suboptimal surgical treatment in 13% stage IA and 6.6% of stage IB patients respectively by foregoing lymphadenectomy.

Conclusion

A significant number of patients with low risk endometrial cancer by FS were upstaged and upgraded on final pathology. Before placing absolute reliance on intraoperative FS to undertake complete surgical staging, the inherent limitation of the same in predicting final stage and grade highlighted by our data need to be carefully considered.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is emerging as an important new therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer, chronic viral infections, and other diseases characterized by pathological immune suppression. With the goal of developing more potent IDO inhibitors, a systematic study of 4-phenyl-imidazole (4-PI) derivatives was undertaken. Computational docking experiments guided design and synthesis efforts with analogs of 4-PI. In particular, three interactions of 4-PI analogs with IDO were studied: the active site entrance, the interior of the active site and the heme iron binding. The three most potent inhibitors (1, 17 and 18) appear to exploit interactions with C129 and S167 in the interior of the active site. All three inhibitors are approximately ten-fold more potent than 4-PI. The study represents the first example of enzyme inhibitor development with the recently reported crystal structure of IDO and offers important lessons in the search for more potent inhibitors.

The Vpr protein of HIV-1 functions as a vital accessory gene by regulating various cellular functions, including cell differentiation, apoptosis, nuclear factor of κB (NF-κB) suppression and cell-cycle arrest of the host cell. Several reports have indicated that Vpr complexes with the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), but it remains unclear whether the GR pathway is required for Vpr to function1. Here, we report that Vpr uses the GR pathway as a recruitment vehicle for the NF-κB co-activating protein, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1). The GR interaction with Vpr is both necessary and sufficient to facilitate this interaction by potentiating the formation of a Vpr–GR–PARP-1 complex. The recruitment of PARP-1 by the Vpr–GR complex prevents its nuclear localization, which is necessary for Vpr to suppress NF-κB. The association of GR with PARP-1 is not observed with steroid (glucocorticoid) treatment, indicating that the GR association with PARP-1 is a gain of function that is solely attributed to HIV-1 Vpr. These data provide important insights into Vpr biology and its role in HIV pathogenesis.

DCs play crucial role in the development of protective immunity to malaria. However, how malaria parasites trigger immune responses in DCs remains unclear. Here, we purified merozoites, food vacuoles and parasite membrane fragments released during the Plasmodium falciparum schizont burst to homogeneity and tested for the activation of BMDCs from wild type and TLR2-/-, TLR4-/-, TLR9-/- and MyD88-/- C57BL/6J mice. The results demonstrate that a protein-DNA complex is the exclusive parasite component that activates DCs by a TLR9-dependent pathway to produce inflammatory cytokines. Complex formation with proteins is essential for the entry of parasite DNA into DCs for TLR9 recognition, and thus proteins convert inactive DNA into a potent immunostimulatory molecule. Exogenous cationic polymers, polylysine and chitosan, can impart stimulatory activity to parasite DNA, indicating that complex formation involves ionic interactions. Merozoites and DNA-protein complex could also induced inflammatory cytokine responses in human blood DCs. Hemozoin is neither a TLR9 ligand for DCs nor functions as a carrier of DNA into cells. Further, while TLR9 is critical for DCs to induce the production of IFN-γ by NK cells, this receptor is not required for NK cells to secret IFN-γ and cell-to-cell contact among myeloid DCs, plasmacytoid DCs and NK cells is required for IFN-γ production. Together, these results contribute substantially toward the understanding of malaria parasite recognition mechanisms. More importantly, our findings that proteins and carbohydrate polymers are able to confer stimulatory activity to an otherwise inactive parasite DNA have important implications for the development of vaccine against malaria.