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Item Diversity and Complexity of the Large Surface Protein Family in the Compacted Genomes of Multiple Pneumocystis Species(American Society for Microbiology, 2020-03-03) Ma, Liang; Chen, Zehua; Huang, Da Wei; Cissé, Ousmane H.; Rothenburger, Jamie L.; Latinne, Alice; Bishop, Lisa; Blair, Robert; Brenchley, Jason M.; Chabé, Magali; Deng, Xilong; Hirsch, Vanessa; Keesler, Rebekah; Kutty, Geetha; Liu, Yueqin; Margolis, Daniel; Morand, Serge; Pahar, Bapi; Peng, Li; Van Rompay, Koen K.A.; Song, Xiaohong; Song, Jun; Sukura, Antti; Thapar, Sabrina; Wang, Honghui; Weissenbacher-Lang, Christiane; Xu, Jie; Lee, Chao-Hung; Jardine, Claire; Lempicki, Richard A.; Cushion, Melanie T.; Cuomo, Christina A.; Kovacs, Joseph A.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of MedicinePneumocystis, a major opportunistic pathogen in patients with a broad range of immunodeficiencies, contains abundant surface proteins encoded by a multicopy gene family, termed the major surface glycoprotein (Msg) gene superfamily. This superfamily has been identified in all Pneumocystis species characterized to date, highlighting its important role in Pneumocystis biology. In this report, through a comprehensive and in-depth characterization of 459 msg genes from 7 Pneumocystis species, we demonstrate, for the first time, the phylogeny and evolution of conserved domains in Msg proteins and provide a detailed description of the classification, unique characteristics, and phylogenetic relatedness of five Msg families. We further describe, for the first time, the relative expression levels of individual msg families in two rodent Pneumocystis species, the substantial variability of the msg repertoires in P. carinii from laboratory and wild rats, and the distinct features of the expression site for the classic msg genes in Pneumocystis from 8 mammalian host species. Our analysis suggests multiple functions for this superfamily rather than just conferring antigenic variation to allow immune evasion as previously believed. This study provides a rich source of information that lays the foundation for the continued experimental exploration of the functions of the Msg superfamily in Pneumocystis biology.Item Effects of tobacco on human gingival fibroblasts(2011) Zhang, Weiping; Windsor, L. Jack; Song, Fengyu; Kowolik, Michael J.; Lee, Chao-Hung; Subramaniam, Denise RogersThe negative heath consequences of smoking are widely recognized, but there are still about 20% of the people in United States using tobacco products. Cigarette smoke condensate (CSC), the particulate matter of cigarette smoke, is comprised of thousands of chemicals (e.g., nicotine). Secondary only to bacterial plaque, cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for periodontal disease. Human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) are the main cellular component of periodontal connective tissues. During the development of periodontal disease, collagen degradation occurs. Collagen is the major extracellular matrix component of the gingiva. The major extracellular matrix degrading enzymes produced by the HGFs are the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The MMPs are mainly modulated by the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). In this dissertation, three studies aimed at understanding the effects of tobacco on human gingival fibroblasts and their mechanisms have been conducted: the effects of CSC on HGF-mediated collagen degradation; comparison of the effects of CSC on HGFs with that of nicotine; and the combined effects of CSC and bacteria on HGFs. The cell proliferation of HGFs decreased and cytotoxicity increased in HGFs treated with increasing concentrations of CSC. CSC increased the collagen degrading ability of the HGFs by altering the production and localization of MMPs and TIMPs. Nicotine is one of the major components and the most pharmacologically active agent in tobacco. The percentage of nicotine in the CSC was 2.4%. CSC (100 µg/ml) increased the collagen degrading ability of the HGFs by affecting membrane associated MMP-2, MMP-14, and TIMP-2, but the level of nicotine in the CSC may only play a limited role in this process. Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is an opportunistic pathogen involved in periodontal disease. The combined effects of CSC and P. gingivalis supernatant increased HGF-mediated collagen degradation by destroying the balance between the MMPs and TIMPs at the protein and mRNA levels. This project demonstrated that tobacco (with or without P. gingivalis) increased HGF mediated collagen degradation, as seen in the periodontal disease, through altering the MMPs and TIMPs.Item Ethanol-triggered Lipophagy Requires SQSTM1 in AML12 Hepatic Cells(Nature Publishing group, 2017-08-26) Wang, Lin; Zhou, Jun; Yan, Shengmin; Lei, Guangsheng; Lee, Chao-Hung; Yin, Xiao-Ming; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of MedicineEthanol-induced hepatic lipophagy plays an important cytoprotective role against liver injury, but its mechanism is not fully determined. In the present study, ethanol-induced lipophagy was studied in an immortalized mouse hepatocyte line, AML12. We found that ethanol treatment elevated lipid content in these cells, which could be regulated by autophagy. To determine the potential mechanism, we investigated the role of a key adaptor molecule SQSTM1/p62. SQSTM1 can bind to LC3 on autophagosomes and ubiquitinated molecules on cargos, thus facilitating the autophagic engulfment of the cargo. We found that both LC3 and SQSTM1 could colocalize with lipid droplets (LDs) following ethanol treatment. Colocalization of LC3 with LDs was significantly inhibited by SQSTM1 knockdown, which also reduced ethanol-induced lipid elevation. In addition, increased ubiquitin signals were found to colocalize with SQSTM1 on LDs in response to ethanol. Moreover, the SQSTM1 signal was colocalized with that of perilipin1, a major protein on LDs. Finally, perilipin1 knockdown significantly altered ethanol-induced lipophagy. Taken together, these data support a model in which autophagosomes were directed to the LDs via SQSTM1, which bound to ubiquitinated proteins, possibly including perilipin 1, on LDs. This study provides a potential mechanistic explanation to how ethanol induces lipophagy in hepatocytes.Item Exploration of Endothelial Cell Invasion and Responses to Nicotine and Arginine by Streptococcus Mutans Serotype K Strains in a Sucrose-Induced Biofilm Lifestyle(2019-08) Wagenknecht, Dawn R.; Gregory, Richard L.; Windsor, L. Jack; Galli, Dominique M.; Lee, Chao-Hung; Ji, Julie; Childers, Noel K.Streptococcus mutans, an inhabitant of oral biofilm or dental plaque, adheres to the tooth surface via protein antigen I/II (PA I/II). Pathologic lesions of atherosclerosis (AT) and infective endocarditis (IE) harbor S. mutans. Serotypes f and k strains with collagen binding protein genes cbm and cnm are uncommon in the mouth, but these are the most prevalent S. mutans strains in AT and IE tissues and can invade endothelial cells (EC) in vitro. Tobacco use increases the risk for cardiovascular and oral diseases. Oral S. mutans encounter many substances including nicotine. Arginine is present in saliva and the EC glycocalyx that coats and protects ECs from shear forces of blood flow. Prior studies demonstrated arginine alters S. mutans biofilm. This work characterizes S. mutans serotype k strains and serotype c strains, the most prevalent in the mouth. The effects of nicotine and arginine on biofilm mass, metabolic activity and EC invasion were investigated. Biofilm production by serotypes c and k strains did not differ; there were no differences in responses to nicotine and arginine between these serotypes. Increased production of biofilm was associated with the cbm and cnm genes. Nicotine increased biofilm for all strains whereas arginine plus nicotine reduced bacteria and the extracellular polymeric substances. Previous EC invasion studies were performed with planktonic cultures of S. mutans; therefore, EC invasion by biofilm was evaluated. Significant factors for EC invasion by S. mutans are presence of the cbm gene and lack of PA I/II expression on the bacterial cell surface. Presence of the cnm gene increased EC invasion by biofilm but not planktonic cells. Planktonic cells of six strains invaded better than biofilm, whereas four strains showed increased invasion by biofilm cells. Neither nicotine nor arginine significantly altered the ability of S. mutans biofilm cells to invade ECs. Not all strains with cbm or cnm and no PA I/II expression invaded EC. A strain with PA I/II expression and without cbm and cnm genes invaded EC. While cbm, cnm and PA I/II expression are predictors of EC invasion, additional mechanisms for EC invasion by S. mutans remain to be revealed.Item Microarray studies on effects of Pneumocystis carinii infection on global gene expression in alveolar macrophages(BMC, 2010-04-08) Cheng, Bi-Hua; Liu, Yunlong; Xuei, Xiaoling; Liao, Chung-Ping; Lu, Debao; Lasbury, Mark E.; Durant, Pamela J.; Lee, Chao-Hung; Medicine, School of MedicinePneumocystis pneumonia is a common opportunistic disease in AIDS patients. The alveolar macrophage is an important effector cell in the clearance of Pneumocystis organisms by phagocytosis. However, both the number and phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophages are decreased in Pneumocystis infected hosts. To understand how Pneumocystis inactivates alveolar macrophages, Affymetrix GeneChip® RG-U34A DNA microarrays were used to study the difference in global gene expression in alveolar macrophages from uninfected and Pneumocystis carinii-infected Sprague-Dawley rats. Results Analyses of genes that were affected by Pneumocystis infection showed that many functions in the cells were affected. Antigen presentation, cell-mediated immune response, humoral immune response, and inflammatory response were most severely affected, followed by cellular movement, immune cell trafficking, immunological disease, cell-to-cell signaling and interaction, cell death, organ injury and abnormality, cell signaling, infectious disease, small molecular biochemistry, antimicrobial response, and free radical scavenging. Since rats must be immunosuppressed in order to develop Pneumocystis infection, alveolar macrophages from four rats of the same sex and age that were treated with dexamethasone for the entire eight weeks of the study period were also examined. With a filter of false-discovery rate less than 0.1 and fold change greater than 1.5, 200 genes were found to be up-regulated, and 144 genes were down-regulated by dexamethasone treatment. During Pneumocystis pneumonia, 115 genes were found to be up- and 137 were down-regulated with the same filtering criteria. The top ten genes up-regulated by Pneumocystis infection were Cxcl10, Spp1, S100A9, Rsad2, S100A8, Nos2, RT1-Bb, Lcn2, RT1-Db1, and Srgn with fold changes ranging between 12.33 and 5.34; and the top ten down-regulated ones were Lgals1, Psat1, Tbc1d23, Gsta1, Car5b, Xrcc5, Pdlim1, Alcam, Cidea, and Pkib with fold changes ranging between -4.24 and -2.25. Conclusions In order to survive in the host, Pneumocystis organisms change the expression profile of alveolar macrophages. Results of this study revealed that Pneumocystis infection affects many cellular functions leading to reduced number and activity of alveolar macrophages during Pneumocystis pneumonia.Item Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Impair Alveolar Macrophages through PD-1 Receptor Ligation during Pneumocystis Pneumonia(American Society for Microbiology, 2015-02) Lei, Guang-Sheng; Zhang, Chen; Lee, Chao-Hung; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, IU School of MedicineMyeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) were recently found to accumulate in the lungs during Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP). Adoptive transfer of these cells caused lung damage in recipient mice, suggesting that MDSC accumulation is a mechanism of pathogenesis in PcP. In this study, the phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophages (AMs) was found to decrease by 40% when they were incubated with MDSCs from Pneumocystis-infected mice compared to those incubated with Gr-1+ cells from the bone marrow of uninfected mice. The expression of the PU.1 gene in AMs incubated with MDSCs also was decreased. This PU.1 downregulation was due mainly to decreased histone 3 acetylation and increased DNA methylation caused by MDSCs. MDSCs were found to express high levels of PD-L1, and alveolar macrophages (AMs) were found to express high levels of PD-1 during PcP. Furthermore, PD-1 expression in AMs from uninfected mice was increased by 18-fold when they were incubated with MDSCs compared to those incubated with Gr-1+ cells from the bone marrow of uninfected mice. The adverse effects of MDSCs on AMs were diminished when the MDSCs were pretreated with anti-PD-L1 antibody, suggesting that MDSCs disable AMs through PD-1/PD-L1 ligation during PcP.Item Polyamines and Alveolar Macrophage Apoptosis during Pneumocystis Pneumonia(2009-10-01T18:06:46Z) Liao, Chung-Ping; Lee, Chao-Hung; Lasbury, Mark E.; Davis, Thomas E.; Gregory, Richard L.Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) is the leading opportunistic disease in immunocompromised individuals, particularly in AIDS patients. The alveolar macrophage (AM) is the major type of cell responsible for the clearance of Pneumocystis organisms; however, they undergo a high rate of apoptosis during PCP due to increased intracellular polyamine levels. This study examined the mechanism of this polyamine mediated apoptosis and investigated an alternative therapy for PCP by targeting this mechanism. The elevated polyamine levels were determined to be caused by increased polyamine synthesis and uptake. Increased polyamine uptake was found to be AM-specific, and recruited inflammatory cells including monocytes, B cells, and CD8+ T cells were found to be a potential source of polyamines. The expression of the antizyme inhibitor (AZI), which regulates both polyamine synthesis and uptake, was found to be greatly up-regulated in AMs during PCP. AZI overexpression was confirmed to be the cause of increased polyamine synthesis and uptake and apoptosis of AMs during PCP by gene knockdown assays. Pneumocystis organisms and zymosan were found to induce AZI overexpression in AMs, suggesting that the β-glucan of the Pneumocystis cell wall is responsible for this AZI up-regulation. In addition, levels of mRNA, protein, and activity of polyamine oxidase (PAO) were also found to be increased in AMs during PCP, and its substrates N1-acetylspermidine and N1-acetylspermine were found to induce its up-regulation. These results indicate that the H2O2 generated during PAO-mediated polyamine catabolism caused AMs to undergo apoptosis. Since increased polyamine uptake was demonstrated to be a pathogenic mechanism of PCP in this study, the potential therapeutic activity of five putative polyamine transport inhibitors against PCP was tested. Results showed that compound 44-Ant-44 significantly decreased pulmonary inflammation, organism burden, and macrophage apoptosis, and prolonged the survival of rats with PCP. In summary, this study demonstrated that Pneumocystis organisms induce AZI overexpression, leading to increased polyamine synthesis, uptake, and apoptosis rate in AMs and that targeting polyamine transport is a viable therapeutic approach against PCP.Item Regulation of Collagen V Expression and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition by miR-185 and miR-186 during Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis(Elsevier, 2016-09) Lei, Guang-Sheng; Kline, Hannah L.; Lee, Chao-Hung; Wilkes, David S.; Zhang, Chen; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of MedicineIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease, with no good diagnostic biomarker and limited treatment options. Previous studies suggest that collagen V overexpression and collagen V–mediated immune response play roles in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This study aimed to identify dysregulated miRNA-related collagen V overexpression during idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We found that the expression levels of miR-185 and miR-186 were decreased in the lungs of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients. The levels of miR-185 and miR-186 were not correlated with disease severity of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The direct regulation of COL5A1 by miR-185 and miR-186 was confirmed by a luciferase reporter assay. Furthermore, mimics of miR-185 and miR-186 blocked transforming growth factor-β–induced collagen V overexpression and alleviated transforming growth factor-β–induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition in A549 cells and HCC827 cells. Our findings suggest that attenuated expression of miR-185 and miR-186 may be responsible for collagen V overexpression during idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and these miRNAs may serve as pathogenesis-related biomarkers and treatment targets.Item Relationship of Wound Healing and Angiogenesis to the Cell Kinetics of the Initial Osteogenic Response in Orthopedically Expanded Anterior Maxillary Suture in the Rat(1994-07) Chang, Hwai-nan; Roberts, W. Eugene; Chen, Jie; Christen, Arden G.; Garetto, Lawrence P.; Katona, Thomas R.; Lee, Chao-Hung; McDonald, JamesFollowing sutural expansion, wound healing and angiogenesis precede bone formation. The purpose of this study was to examine angiogenic and subsequent osteogenic responses during a 96 hour time-course following sutural expansion. Fifty rats were divided into: (1) control group that received only angiogenic induction via injection of 5 ng/gm recombinant human endothelial cell growth factor (rhECGF); (2) experimental group that received orthopedic expansion and rhECGF; (3) sham group that received expansion and NaCl injection; and (4) baseline group that received no expansion or injection. Both experimental and sham groups were subdivided further to conduct experiments of 1, 2, 3, and 4 days. All rats were injected with 3H-thymidine (1.0 μCi/gm) 1 hour before euthanasia to label DNA of S-phase cells. The premaxilla was dissected free and demineralized. Sections (4 μm thick) were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Angiogenesis and cell migration were analyzed using a previously established cell kinetics model. The cells were divided into four categories according to nuclear volume: A cells (40-79 μm3), B cells (80-119 μm3), C cells (120-169 μm 3), and D cells (~169 μm3). ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis that enhancement of angiogenesis stimulates reestablishment of osteogenic capability. Blood vessel number, area and endothelial cell labeled index significantly increased in experimental groups, but no difference was found between control and baseline groups (i.e., rhECGF treatment alone). Labeled-pericyte index and activated pericyte's numbers in the experimental group were also higher than in the sham groups. Compared to sham groups, A+A' cell numbers were significantly higher during the first two days in the experimental groups, followed by a rapid decrease at days three and four; C+D cell number peaked at day three. These results demonstrate that supplemental rhECGF enhances angiogenesis in expanded suture but not in nonexpanded suture. Data also suggest that pericytes may serve as a bridge between angiogenesis and osteogenesis.Item Studies of persistent infection in Aedes albopictus cells infected by Banzi virus(1981) Lee, Chao-Hung