Characterization of an electron conduit between bacteria and the extracellular environment

A number of species of Gram-negative bacteria can use insoluble minerals of Fe(III) and Mn(IV) as extracellular respiratory electron acceptors. In some species of Shewanella, deca-heme electron transfer proteins lie at the extracellular face of the outer membrane (OM), where they can interact with insoluble substrates. To reduce extracellular substrates, these redox proteins must be charged by the inner membrane/periplasmic electron transfer system. Here, we present a spectro-potentiometric characterization of a trans-OM icosa-heme complex, MtrCAB, and demonstrate its capacity to move electrons across a lipid bilayer after incorporation into proteoliposomes. We also show that a stable MtrAB subcomplex can assemble in the absence of MtrC; an MtrBC subcomplex is not assembled in the absence of MtrA; and MtrA is only associated to the membrane in cells when MtrB is present. We propose a model for the modular organization of the MtrCAB complex in which MtrC is an extracellular element that mediates electron transfer to extracellular substrates and MtrB is a trans-OM spanning ß-barrel protein that serves as a sheath, within which MtrA and MtrC exchange electrons. We have identified the MtrAB module in a range of bacterial phyla, suggesting that it is widely used in electron exchange with the extracellular environment

Neoadjuvant anti-PD-1 immunotherapy promotes a survival benefit with intratumoral and systemic immune responses in recurrent glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults and is associated with poor survival. The Ivy Foundation Early Phase Clinical Trials Consortium conducted a randomized, multi-institution clinical trial to evaluate immune responses and survival following neoadjuvant and/or adjuvant therapy with pembrolizumab in 35 patients with recurrent, surgically resectable glioblastoma. Patients who were randomized to receive neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, with continued adjuvant therapy following surgery, had significantly extended overall survival compared to patients that were randomized to receive adjuvant, post-surgical programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade alone. Neoadjuvant PD-1 blockade was associated with upregulation of T cell- and interferon-γ-related gene expression, but downregulation of cell-cycle-related gene expression within the tumor, which was not seen in patients that received adjuvant therapy alone. Focal induction of programmed death-ligand 1 in the tumor microenvironment, enhanced clonal expansion of T cells, decreased PD-1 expression on peripheral blood T cells and a decreasing monocytic population was observed more frequently in the neoadjuvant group than in patients treated only in the adjuvant setting. These findings suggest that the neoadjuvant administration of PD-1 blockade enhances both the local and systemic antitumor immune response and may represent a more efficacious approach to the treatment of this uniformly lethal brain tumor

Apolipoprotein A-I and A-I mimetic peptides: a role in atherosclerosis

Cardiovascular disease remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the westernized world. Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of most cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis is a slowly evolving chronic inflammatory disorder involving the intima of large and medium sized arteries that is initiated in response to high plasma lipid levels, especially LDL. Cells of both the innate and adaptive immunity are involved in this chronic inflammation. Although high plasma LDL levels are a major contributor to most stages of the evolution of atherosclerosis, HDL and its major protein apoA-I possess properties that attenuate and may even reverse atherosclerosis. Two major functions are the ability to induce the efflux of cholesterol from cells, particularly lipid-loaded macrophages, in the artery wall for transfer to the liver, a process referred to as reverse cholesterol transport, and the ability to attenuate the pro-inflammatory properties of LDL. The removal of cellular cholesterol from lipid-loaded macrophages may also be anti-inflammatory. One of the most promising therapies to enhance the anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory properties of HDL is apoA-I mimetic peptides. Several of these peptides have been shown to promote cellular cholesterol efflux, attenuate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines by macrophages, and to attenuate the pro-inflammatory properties of LDL. This latter effect may be related to their high affinity for oxidized lipids present in LDL. This review discusses the functional properties of the peptides and their effect on experimental atherosclerosis and the results of initial clinical studies in humans