Silvana Valdebenito, Akira Ono, Libin Rong, Eliseo A Eugenin
{"title":"The role of tunneling nanotubes during early stages of HIV infection and reactivation: implications in HIV cure.","authors":"Silvana Valdebenito, Akira Ono, Libin Rong, Eliseo A Eugenin","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0015","DOIUrl":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), also called cytonemes or tumor microtubes, correspond to cellular processes that enable long-range communication. TNTs are plasma membrane extensions that form tubular processes that connect the cytoplasm of two or more cells. TNTs are mostly expressed during the early stages of development and poorly expressed in adulthood. However, in disease conditions such as stroke, cancer, and viral infections such as HIV, TNTs proliferate, but their role is poorly understood. TNTs function has been associated with signaling coordination, organelle sharing, and the transfer of infectious agents such as HIV. Here, we describe the critical role and function of TNTs during HIV infection and reactivation, as well as the use of TNTs for cure strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"2 2","pages":"169-186"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10355284/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9853137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Muhammad G Saleh, Linda Chang, Huajun Liang, Meghann C Ryan, Eric Cunningham, Jonathan Garner, Eleanor Wilson, Andrea R Levine, Shyamasundaran Kottilil, Thomas Ernst
{"title":"Ongoing oxidative stress in individuals with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.","authors":"Muhammad G Saleh, Linda Chang, Huajun Liang, Meghann C Ryan, Eric Cunningham, Jonathan Garner, Eleanor Wilson, Andrea R Levine, Shyamasundaran Kottilil, Thomas Ernst","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0006","DOIUrl":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with lower plasma glutathione (GSH) levels due to oxidative stress. However, plasma levels may not reflect brain GSH levels. Individuals with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) have a higher prevalence of cognitive fatigue, which might be related to altered brain γ-aminobutyric-acid (GABA) levels. Hence, our study aims to measure the brain GSH and GABA levels in PASC.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>29 PASC participants and 24 uninfected controls were recruited for this study. Each was evaluated with detailed neuropsychiatric assessments and an edited proton MRS (Hadamard Encoding and Reconstruction of Mega-Edited Spectroscopy, HERMES) method to measure GABA and GSH concentrations in predominantly grey matter (GM) and predominantly white matter (WM) brain frontal voxels.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>PASC participants were 219 ± 137 days since their COVID-19 diagnosis. Nine individuals with PASC were hospitalized. Compared to controls, individuals with PASC had similar levels of GABA in both brain regions, but lower GSH and greater age-related GSH decline in the frontal GM region.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The lower-than-normal frontal GM GSH level in participants with PASC suggest that they have ongoing oxidative stress in the brain, and that older individuals may be even more vulnerable to oxidative stress.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"2 2","pages":"89-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10355326/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10108340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meta-analysis of the effects of palmitic acid on microglia activation and neurodegeneration","authors":"Heping Zhou, Sulie L. Chang","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Objectives Evidence suggests that obesity may represent a risk factor for neurodegenerative pathologies including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). With excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation, increased production of adipokines, elevated levels of free fatty acids (FFAs) including palmitic acid (PA), the most abundant saturated fatty acid (SFA) in circulation. Excessive PA has been shown to induce lipotoxicity in many different types of cells including microglia and neuronal cells. We hypothesized that PA may contribute to the development of obesity-associated neurological conditions. Methods This study was designed to examine how increased PA may affect microglia activation and neurodegeneration using QIAGEN Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). Kramer analysis was used to quantitatively characterize the impact of PA on microglia activation and neurodegeneration. Results Simulated increase of PA enhanced the activities of intermediating molecules including CCL5, IL1β, IL1RN, IL6, NF-κB, NOS2, PTGS2, TLR2, TLR4, and TNF. Increased PA level induced microglia activation with a z score of 2.38 (p=0.0173) and neurodegeneration with a z score of 1.55 (p=0.121). Increased PA level also activated neuroinflammation signaling pathway, the top canonical pathway associated with both microglia activation and neurodegeneration. Conclusions Our IPA analysis demonstrated that increased PA significantly induced microglia activation and might augment neurodegeneration by altering the activities of key intermediating molecules and canonical pathways. Our findings shed light on how increased PA level may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative pathologies in the course of obesity.","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"0 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44100713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Milica Markovic, Pravin Yeapuri, Krista L Namminga, Yaman Lu, Maamoon Saleh, Katherine E Olson, Howard E Gendelman, R Lee Mosley
{"title":"Interleukin-2 expands neuroprotective regulatory T cells in Parkinson's disease.","authors":"Milica Markovic, Pravin Yeapuri, Krista L Namminga, Yaman Lu, Maamoon Saleh, Katherine E Olson, Howard E Gendelman, R Lee Mosley","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0001","DOIUrl":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pharmacological approaches that boost neuroprotective regulatory T cell (Treg) number and function lead to neuroprotective activities in neurodegenerative disorders.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We investigated whether low-dose interleukin 2 (IL-2) expands Treg populations and protects nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in a model of Parkinson's disease (PD).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>IL-2 at 2.5 × 10<sup>4</sup> IU/dose/mouse was administered for 5 days. Lymphocytes were isolated and phenotype determined by flow cytometric analyses. To 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) intoxicated mice, 0.5 × 10<sup>6</sup> of enriched IL-2-induced Tregs were adoptively transferred to assess the effects on nigrostriatal neuron survival.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>IL-2 increased frequencies of CD4<sup>+</sup>CD25<sup>+</sup>CD127<sup>low</sup>FoxP3<sup>+</sup> Tregs that express ICOS and CD39 in blood and spleen. Adoptive transfer of IL-2-induced Tregs to MPTP-treated recipients increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)<sup>+</sup> nigral dopaminergic neuronal bodies by 51% and TH<sup>+</sup> striatal termini by 52% compared to control MPTP-treated animal controls.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>IL-2 expands numbers of neuroprotective Tregs providing a vehicle for neuroprotection of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in a pre-clinical PD model.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"43-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9254387/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42624818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brandt Pence, Yufeng Zhang, Ivy Antwi, Theodore James Cory
{"title":"Senescent macrophages alter fibroblast fibrogenesis in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.","authors":"Brandt Pence, Yufeng Zhang, Ivy Antwi, Theodore James Cory","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>SARS-CoV-2 has, since its emergence in 2019, become a global pandemic. Disease outcomes are worsened in older patients who are infected. The causes for this is multifactorial, but one potential cause for this disparity is increased rates of cellular senescence in older individuals, particularly in immune cells. Cellular senescence, the accumulation of factors resulting in cell growth arrest and apoptosis resistance, increases as individuals age. In immune cells, senescence is associated with increased inflammation, and alterations in immune response. We utilized a co-culture system consisting of senescent or non-senescent macrophages directly cultured with fibroblasts, and infected with SARS-CoV-2. We assessed the expression of collagen and fibronectin, important molecules in the extracellular matrix, as well as a number of fibrogenic factors. We observed that infection with SARS-CoV-2 induced collagen production in co-cultures with senescent, but not non-senescent macrophages. Fibronectin expression was decreased in both co-culture conditions. While significant results were not observed, concentrations of other fibrogenic molecules were consistent with the collagen results. These data demonstrate that senescence in macrophages alters the production of fibrotic molecules from fibroblasts in a SARS-CoV-2 infection model. As collagen and fibronectin expression are generally directly correlated, this suggests that senescence dysregulates fibrogenesis in response to infection with SARS-CoV-2. There is a need to further investigate the mechanisms for these changes.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"37-42"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9726213/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9181565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Suresh B Rangasamy, Debashis Dutta, Susanta Mondal, Moumita Majumder, Sridevi Dasarathy, Goutam Chandra, Kalipada Pahan
{"title":"Protection of dopaminergic neurons in hemiparkinsonian monkeys by flavouring ingredient glyceryl tribenzoate.","authors":"Suresh B Rangasamy, Debashis Dutta, Susanta Mondal, Moumita Majumder, Sridevi Dasarathy, Goutam Chandra, Kalipada Pahan","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0005","DOIUrl":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and this study underlines the significance of a small molecule glyceryl tribenzoate (GTB), a FDA approved food additive, in preventing parkinsonian pathologies in MPTP-induced animal models. The study conducted in MPTP-induced mice demonstrated dose-dependent protection of nigral tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and striatal dopamine level by GTB oral treatment and the optimum dose was found to be 50 mg/kg/d. In the next phase, the study was carried out in MPTP-injected hemiparkinsonian monkeys, which recapitulate better clinical parkinsonian syndromes. GTB inhibited MPTP-driven induction of glial inflammation, which was evidenced by reduced level of GTP-p21<sup>Ras</sup> and phospho-p65 in SN of monkeys. It led to decreased expression of inflammatory markers such as IL-1β and iNOS. Simultaneously, GTB oral treatment protected nigral TH cells, striatal dopamine, and improved motor behaviour of hemiparkinsonian monkeys. Presence of sodium benzoate, a GTB metabolite and a FDA-approved drug for urea cycle disorders and glycine encephalopathy, in the brain suggests that the neuroprotective effect imparted by GTB might be mediated by sodium benzoate. Although the mechanism of action of GTB is poorly understood, the study sheds light on the therapeutic possibility of a food additive GTB in PD.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"7-22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9212717/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10607038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nikhil K Kota, Michael Vigorito, Velu Krishnan, Sulie L Chang
{"title":"Using IPA tools to characterize molecular pathways underlying the involvement of IRF7 in antiviral response to HIV.","authors":"Nikhil K Kota, Michael Vigorito, Velu Krishnan, Sulie L Chang","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Interferon Regulatory Factors (IRFs) regulate transcription of type-I interferons (IFNs) and IFN-stimulated genes. We previously reported that IFN-regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) is significantly upregulated in the brain of HIV-1 transgenic (HIV-1Tg) rats compared to F344 control rats in a region dependent manner [Li MD, Cao J, Wang S, Wang J, Sarkar S, Vigorito M, et al. Transcriptome sequencing of gene expression in the brain of the HIV-1 transgenic rat. PLoS One 2013]. The RNA deep-sequencing data were deposited in the NCBI SRA database with Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) number GSE47474. Our current study utilized QIAGEN CLC Genomics Workbench and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) to identify molecular pathways underlying the involvement of IRF7 in the HIV antiviral response.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The differential RNA expression data between HIV-1Tg and F344 rats as well as HAND+ and HIV+ cognitively normal patients was collected from GSE47474 and GSE152416, respectively. The \"Core Expression Data Analysis\" function identified the significant canonical pathways in the datasets with or without IRF7 and its 455 associated molecules.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>It was found that IRF7 and its 455 associated molecules altered the expression of pathways involving neurotransmission, neuronal survival, and immune function.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This <i>in-silico</i> study reveals that IRF7 is involved in the promotion of macrophage activity, neuronal differentiation, the modulation of the Th-1/Th-2 ratio, and the suppression of HIV-1 translation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that bioinformatics tools such as IPA can be employed to simulate the complete knockout of a target molecule such as IRF7 to study its involvement in biological pathways.</p>","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"23-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9923504/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10779624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Santosh Kumar, C. Dash, G. Pendyala, S. Yelamanchili, S. Maggirwar, J. Bidlack, Sulie L. Chang
{"title":"The 26th Scientific Conference of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology: College of Pharmacy, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, June 1-3, 2022","authors":"Santosh Kumar, C. Dash, G. Pendyala, S. Yelamanchili, S. Maggirwar, J. Bidlack, Sulie L. Chang","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The 26th Scientific Conference of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology (SNIP) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee, June 1-3, 2022, is SNIP’s first full-fledged meeting in person since the onset of the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic. The three-day meeting encompasses a variety of activities that include a pre-conference session, many scientific sessions (eight symposia and two plenary lectures), two special talks, a poster session, oral talks, a mentoring session for early career investigators, a diversity and inclusion SNIP committee session, a business meeting, and an award session. A conference summary, detailed program agenda, accepted poster abstracts, and presentation abstracts are included in this brief report published in advance of the meeting.","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"51 - 107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45076040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“The Galaxy Within” on the cover of NeuroImmune Pharmacology & Therapeutics","authors":"Douglas D Meigs, D. Johnsen","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0011","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This letter introduces the cover image of the new open-access journal NeuroImmune Pharmacology and Therapeutics (NIPT). The cover image is titled, “The Galaxy Within”, by Dchordpdx (Dustin Johnsen, Ph.D.). This letter also features additional images by Dr. Johnsen and brief discussion of their relevance to neurodegenerative research. The NIPT journal is now accepting submissions for peer-reviewed publication. Article-processing charges will be waived for all submissions in the journal’s first two years of publication. Unsolicited submissions and contributions to special theme issues are welcome. Submission queries may be addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Howard E. Gendelman, with correspondence copied to the journal’s editorial office at nipt@unmc.edu.","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"3 - 5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46668230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introducing NeuroImmune Pharmacology and Therapeutics (NIPT), the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology (SNIP)","authors":"Sulie L. Chang, H. Gendelman, Santosh Kumar","doi":"10.1515/nipt-2022-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/nipt-2022-0007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74278,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImmune pharmacology and therapeutics","volume":"1 1","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49445394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}