| 1. |
- Farroni, C., et al.
(författare)
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Dysregulated miR-155 and miR-125b are related to impaired B-cell responses in down syndrome
- 2018
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-3224. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Children with Down Syndrome (DS) suffer from immune deficiency with a severe reduction in switched memory B cells (MBCs) and poor response to vaccination. Chromosome 21 (HSA21) encodes two microRNAs (miRs), miR-125b, and miR-155, that regulate B-cell responses. We studied B- and T- cell subpopulations in tonsils of DS and age-matched healthy donors (HD) and found that the germinal center (GC) reaction was impaired in DS. GC size, numbers of GC B cells and Follicular Helper T cells (TFH) expressing BCL6 cells were severely reduced. The expression of miR-155 and miR-125b was increased in tonsillar memory B cells and miR-125b was also higher than expected in plasma cells (PCs). Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) protein, a miR-155 target, was significantly reduced in MBCs of DS patients. Increased expression of miR-155 was also observed in vitro. MiR-155 was significantly overexpressed in PBMCs activated with CpG, whereas miR-125b was constitutively higher than normal. The increase of miR-155 and its functional consequences were blocked by antagomiRs in vitro. Our data show that the expression of HSA21-encoded miR-155 and miR-125b is altered in B cells of DS individuals both in vivo and in vitro. Because of HSA21-encoded miRs may play a role also in DS-associated dementia and leukemia, our study suggests that antagomiRs may represent pharmacological tools useful for the treatment of DS. © 2007 - 2018 Frontiers Media S.A. All Rights Reserved.
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| 2. |
- Marasco, E., et al.
(författare)
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B-cell activation with CD40L or CpG measures the function of B-cell subsets and identifies specific defects in immunodeficient patients
- 2017
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Ingår i: Eur J Immunol. - : Wiley. - 0014-2980. ; 47:1, s. 131-143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Around 65% of primary immunodeficiencies are antibody deficiencies. Functional tests are useful tools to study B-cell functions in vitro. However, no accepted guidelines for performing and evaluating functional tests have been issued yet. Here, we report our experience on the study of B-cell functions in infancy and throughout childhood. We show that T-independent stimulation with CpG measures proliferation and differentiation potential of memory B cells. Switched memory B cells respond better than IgM memory B cells. On the other hand, CD40L, a T-dependent stimulus, does not induce plasma cell differentiation, but causes proliferation of naive and memory B cells. During childhood, the production of plasmablasts in response to CpG increases with age mirroring the development of memory B cells. The response to CD40L does not change with age. In patients with selective IgA deficiency (SIgAD), we observed that switched memory B cells are reduced due to the absence of IgA memory B cells. In agreement, IgA plasma cells are not generated in response to CpG. Unexpectedly, B cells from SIgAD patients show a reduced proliferative response to CD40L. Our results demonstrate that functional tests are an important tool to assess the functions of the humoral immune system.
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| 3. |
- Björling, Alexander, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Deciphering solution scattering data with experimentally guided molecular dynamics simulations
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1549-9618 .- 1549-9626. ; 11:2, s. 780-787
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Time-resolved X-ray solution scattering is an increasingly popular method to measure conformational changes in proteins. Extracting structural information from the resulting difference X-ray scattering data is a daunting task. We present a method in which the limited but precious information encoded in such scattering curves is combined with the chemical knowledge of molecular force fields. The molecule of interest is then refined toward experimental data using molecular dynamics simulation. Therefore, the energy landscape is biased toward conformations that agree with experimental data. We describe and verify the method, and we provide an implementation in GROMACS.
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| 4. |
- Marcellini, Moreno, et al.
(författare)
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Transient isomers in the photodissociation of bromoiodomethane
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Physics. - : AIP Publishing. - 0021-9606 .- 1089-7690. ; 148:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The photochemistry of halomethanes is fascinating for the complex cascade reactions toward either the parent or newly synthesized molecules. Here, we address the structural rearrangement of photodissociated CH2IBr in methanol and cyclohexane, probed by time-resolved X-ray scattering in liquid solution. Upon selective laser cleavage of the C-I bond, we follow the reaction cascade of the two geminate geometrical isomers, CH2I-Br and CH2Br-I. Both meta-stable isomers decay on different time scales, mediated by solvent interaction, toward the original parent molecule. We observe the internal rearrangement of CH2Br-I to CH2I-Br in cyclohexane by extending the time window up to 3 mu s. We track the photoproduct kinetics of CH2Br-I in methanol solution where only one isomer is observed. The effect of the polarity of solvent on the geminate recombination pathways is discussed. Published by AIP Publishing.
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| 5. |
- Nasedkin, Alexandr, et al.
(författare)
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Deconvoluting Protein (Un)folding Structural Ensembles Using X-Ray Scattering, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics Simulation
- 2015
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 10:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The folding and unfolding of protein domains is an apparently cooperative process, but transient intermediates have been detected in some cases. Such (un) folding intermediates are challenging to investigate structurally as they are typically not long-lived and their role in the (un) folding reaction has often been questioned. One of the most well studied (un) folding pathways is that of Drosophila melanogaster Engrailed homeodomain (EnHD): this 61-residue protein forms a three helix bundle in the native state and folds via a helical intermediate. Here we used molecular dynamics simulations to derive sample conformations of EnHD in the native, intermediate, and unfolded states and selected the relevant structural clusters by comparing to small/wide angle X-ray scattering data at four different temperatures. The results are corroborated using residual dipolar couplings determined by NMR spectroscopy. Our results agree well with the previously proposed (un) folding pathway. However, they also suggest that the fully unfolded state is present at a low fraction throughout the investigated temperature interval, and that the (un) folding intermediate is highly populated at the thermal midpoint in line with the view that this intermediate can be regarded to be the denatured state under physiological conditions. Further, the combination of ensemble structural techniques with MD allows for determination of structures and populations of multiple interconverting structures in solution.
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