| 1. |
- Varga, M G, et al.
(författare)
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Pathogenic Helicobacter pylori strains translocate DNA and activate TLR9 via the cancer-associated cag type IV secretion system
- 2016
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Ingår i: Oncogene. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0950-9232 .- 1476-5594. ; 35:48, s. 6262-6269
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the strongest identified risk factor for gastric cancer, the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. An H. pylori constituent that augments cancer risk is the strain-specific cag pathogenicity island, which encodes a type IV secretion system (T4SS) that translocates a pro-inflammatory and oncogenic protein, CagA, into epithelial cells. However, the majority of persons colonized with CagA+ H. pylori strains do not develop cancer, suggesting that other microbial effectors also have a role in carcinogenesis. Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) is an endosome bound, innate immune receptor that detects and responds to hypo-methylated CpG DNA motifs that are most commonly found in microbial genomes. High-expression tlr9 polymorphisms have been linked to the development of premalignant lesions in the stomach. We now demonstrate that levels of H. pylori-mediated TLR9 activation and expression are directly related to gastric cancer risk in human populations. Mechanistically, we show for the first time that the H. pylori cancer-associated cag T4SS is required for TLR9 activation and that H. pylori DNA is actively translocated by the cag T4SS to engage this host receptor. Activation of TLR9 occurs through a contact-dependent mechanism between pathogen and host, and involves transfer of microbial DNA that is both protected as well as exposed during transport. These results indicate that TLR9 activation via the cag island may modify the risk for malignancy within the context of H. pylori infection and provide an important framework for future studies investigating the microbial-epithelial interface in gastric carcinogenesis.
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| 2. |
- Cegelski, Lynette, et al.
(författare)
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Small-molecule inhibitors target Escherichia coli amyloid biogenesis and biofilm formation
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature Chemical Biology. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1552-4450 .- 1552-4469. ; 5:12, s. 913-919
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Curli are functional extracellular amyloid fibers produced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) and other Enterobacteriaceae. Ring-fused 2-pyridones, such as FN075 and BibC6, inhibited curli biogenesis in UPEC and prevented the in vitro polymerization of the major curli subunit protein CsgA. The curlicides FN075 and BibC6 share a common chemical lineage with other ring-fused 2-pyridones termed pilicides. Pilicides inhibit the assembly of type1pili, which are required for pathogenesis during urinary tract infection. Notably, the curlicides retained pilicide activities and inhibited both curli-dependent and type 1–dependent biofilms. Furthermore, pretreatment of UPEC with FN075 significantly attenuated virulence in a mouse model of urinary tract infection. Curli and type 1pili exhibited exclusive and independent roles in promoting UPEC biofilms, and curli provided a fitness advantage in vivo. Thus, the ability of FN075 to block the biogenesis of both curli and type 1pili endows unique anti-biofilm and anti-virulence activities on these compounds.
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| 3. |
- Engström, Patrik, et al.
(författare)
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Expansion of the Chlamydia trachomatis inclusion does not require bacterial replication
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Medical Microbiology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1438-4221 .- 1618-0607. ; 305:3, s. 378-382
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chlamydia trachomatis replication takes place inside of a host cell, exclusively within a vacuole known as the inclusion. During an infection, the inclusion expands to accommodate the increasing numbers of C. trachomatis. However, whether inclusion expansion requires bacterial replication and/or de novo protein synthesis has not been previously investigated in detail. Therefore, using a chemical biology approach, we herein investigated C. trachomatis inclusion expansion under varying conditions in vitro. Under normal cell culture conditions, inclusion expansion correlated with C trachomatis replication. When bacterial replication was inhibited using KSK120: an inhibitor that targets C. trachomatis glucose metabolism, inclusions expanded even in the absence of bacterial replication. In contrast, when bacterial protein synthesis was inhibited using chloramphenicol, expansion of inclusions was blocked. Together, these data suggest that de novo protein synthesis is necessary, whereas bacterial replication is dispensable for C trachomatis inclusion expansion. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.
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| 4. |
- Franks, P. W., et al.
(författare)
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Technological readiness and implementation of genomic-driven precision medicine for complex diseases
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Internal Medicine. - : Wiley. - 0954-6820 .- 1365-2796. ; 290:3, s. 602-620
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The fields of human genetics and genomics have generated considerable knowledge about the mechanistic basis of many diseases. Genomic approaches to diagnosis, prognostication, prevention and treatment - genomic-driven precision medicine (GDPM) - may help optimize medical practice. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of GDPM of complex diseases across major medical specialties. We focus on technological readiness: how rapidly a test can be implemented into health care. Although these areas of medicine are diverse, key similarities exist across almost all areas. Many medical areas have, within their standards of care, at least one GDPM test for a genetic variant of strong effect that aids the identification/diagnosis of a more homogeneous subset within a larger disease group or identifies a subset with different therapeutic requirements. However, for almost all complex diseases, the majority of patients do not carry established single-gene mutations with large effects. Thus, research is underway that seeks to determine the polygenic basis of many complex diseases. Nevertheless, most complex diseases are caused by the interplay of genetic, behavioural and environmental risk factors, which will likely necessitate models for prediction and diagnosis that incorporate genetic and non-genetic data.
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| 5. |
- Horvath, Dragos, et al.
(författare)
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Design of a general-purpose European compound screening library for EU-OPENSCREEN
- 2014
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Ingår i: ChemMedChem. - : Wiley. - 1860-7179 .- 1860-7187. ; 9:10, s. 2309-2326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work describes a collaborative effort to define and apply a protocol for the rational selection of a general-purpose screening library, to be used by the screening platforms affiliated with the EU-OPENSCREEN initiative. It is designed as a standard source of compounds for primary screening against novel biological targets, at the request of research partners. Given the general nature of the potential applications of this compound collection, the focus of the selection strategy lies on ensuring chemical stability, absence of reactive compounds, screening-compliant physicochemical properties, loose compliance to drug-likeness criteria (as drug design is a major, but not exclusive application), and maximal diversity/coverage of chemical space, aimed at providing hits for a wide spectrum of drugable targets. Finally, practical availability/cost issues cannot be avoided. The main goal of this publication is to inform potential future users of this library about its conception, sources, and characteristics. The outline of the selection procedure, notably of the filtering rules designed by a large committee of European medicinal chemists and chemoinformaticians, may be of general methodological interest for the screening/medicinal chemistry community. The selection task of 200K molecules out of a pre-filtered set of 1.4M candidates was shared by five independent European research groups, each picking a subset of 40K compounds according to their own in-house methodology and expertise. An in-depth analysis of chemical space coverage of the library serves not only to characterize the collection, but also to compare the various chemoinformatics-driven selection procedures of maximal diversity sets. Compound selections contributed by various participating groups were mapped onto general-purpose self-organizing maps (SOMs) built on the basis of marketed drugs and bioactive reference molecules. In this way, the occupancy of chemical space by the EU-OPENSCREEN library could be directly compared with distributions of known bioactives of various classes. This mapping highlights the relevance of the selection and shows how the consensus reached by merging the five different 40K selections contributes to achieve this relevance. The approach also allows one to readily identify subsets of target-or target-class-oriented compounds from the EU-OPENSCREEN library to suit the needs of the diverse range of potential users. The final EU-OPENSCREEN library, assembled by merging five independent selections of 40K compounds from various expert groups, represents an excellent example of a Europe-wide collaborative effort toward the common objective of building best-in-class European open screening platforms.
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| 6. |
- Larsson, Andreas, et al.
(författare)
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Multivariate design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of peptide inhibitors of FimC/FimH protein-protein interactions in uropathogenic Escherichia coli
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0022-2623 .- 1520-4804. ; 48:4, s. 935-945
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A peptide library targeting protein-protein interactions crucial for pilus assembly in Gram negative bacteria has been designed using statistical molecular design. A nonamer peptide scaffold was used, with seven positions being varied. The selection was performed in the building block space, and previously known structure-activity data were included in the design procedure. This resulted in a heavily reduced library consisting of 32 peptides which was prepared by solid-phase synthesis. The ability of the peptides to inhibit the protein-protein interaction between the periplasmic chaperone FimC and the pilus adhesin FimH was then determined in an ELISA. Novel peptides with the capability to inhibit the FimC/FimH protein(-)protein interaction to the same extent as the native FimC peptides were discovered. Multivariate QSAR studies of the response in the ELISA gave valuable information on the properties of amino acids which were preferred at the seven positions in the nonamer scaffold. This information can be used in attempts to develop optimized peptides and peptidomimetics that inhibit pilus assembly in pathogenic bacteria.
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| 7. |
- Reithuber, Elisabeth, et al.
(författare)
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THCz : Small molecules with antimicrobial activity that block cell wall lipid intermediates
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 118:47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emerging antibiotic resistance demands identification of novel antibacterial compound classes. A bacterial whole-cell screen based on pneumococcal autolysin-mediated lysis induction was developed to identify potential bacterial cell wall synthesis inhibitors. A hit class comprising a 1-amino substituted tetrahydrocarbazole (THCz) scaffold, containing two essential amine groups, displayed bactericidal activity against a broad range of gram-positive and selected gram-negative pathogens in the low micromolar range. Mode of action studies revealed that THCz inhibit cell envelope synthesis by targeting undecaprenyl pyrophosphate-containing lipid intermediates and thus simultaneously inhibit peptidoglycan, teichoic acid, and polysaccharide capsule biosynthesis. Resistance did not readily develop in vitro, and the ease of synthesizing and modifying these small molecules, as compared to natural lipid II-binding antibiotics, makes THCz promising scaffolds for development of cell wall-targeting antimicrobials.
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| 8. |
- Semenza, Jan C., et al.
(författare)
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Determinants and Drivers of Infectious Disease Threat Events in Europe
- 2016
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Ingår i: Emerging Infectious Diseases. - : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). - 1080-6040 .- 1080-6059. ; 22:4, s. 581-589
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infectious disease threat events (IDTEs) are increasing in frequency worldwide. We analyzed underlying drivers of 116 IDTEs detected in Europe during 2008-2013 by epidemic intelligence at the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control. Seventeen drivers were identified and categorized into 3 groups: globalization and environment, sociodemographic, and public health systems. A combination of >= 2 drivers was responsible for most IDTEs. The driver category globalization and environment contributed to 61% of individual IDTEs, and the top 5 individual drivers of all IDTEs were travel and tourism, food and water quality, natural environment, global trade, and climate. Hierarchical cluster analysis of all drivers identified travel and tourism as a distinctly separate driver. Monitoring and modeling such disease drivers can help anticipate future IDTEs and strengthen control measures. More important, intervening directly on these underlying drivers can diminish the likelihood of the occurrence of an IDTE and reduce the associated human and economic costs.
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