http://hdl.handle.net/10033/6801 Abt. Chemische Biologie (CBIO) Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:45:51 GMT 2013-06-19T15:45:51Z http://hdl.handle.net/10033/283773 Title: Involvement of the mitogen activated protein kinase Hog1p in the response of Candida albicans to iron availability. Authors: Kaba, Hani Ej; Nimtz, Manfred; Müller, Peter P; Bilitewski, Ursula Abstract: ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Iron is an essential nutrient for almost all organisms, and generating iron limiting conditions for pathogens is one of the host defense strategies against microbial infections. Excess of iron can be toxic; therefore, iron uptake is tightly controlled. The high affinity iron uptake system of the opportunistic pathogenic yeast Candida albicans has been shown to be essential for virulence. Several transcription factors and regulators of iron uptake genes were identified, but the knowledge of signaling pathways is still limited. Gene expression profiling of the Deltahog1 deletion mutant indicated an involvement of the mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase Hog1p. However, the function of Hog1p in the response of C. albicans to iron availability was not studied in detail. Thus, we analyzed phenotypic and molecular responses of C. albicans to different iron concentrations particularly with respect to the activity of the Hog1p MAP kinase module. RESULTS: We observed flocculation of yeast cells, when the iron ion concentration was equal to or higher than 5 muM. This phenotype was dependent on the MAP kinase Hog1p and the corresponding MAP kinase kinase Pbs2p. Moreover, high extracellular iron ion concentrations led to hyper-phosphorylation of Hog1p. We determined lower amounts of multicopper ferroxidase (MCFO) proteins and lower ferric reductase activity, when the iron ion concentration in the medium was increased. This effect was also observed for the Deltahog1 mutant. However, the amounts of MCFO proteins and the cell surface ferric reductase activity were increased in the Deltahog1 in comparison to wild type cells. This effect was independent of iron availability in growth media. CONCLUSIONS: In C. albicans, the MAP kinase Hog1p is part of the network regulating the response of the organism to iron availability. Hog1p was transiently phosphorylated under high iron concentrations and was essential for a flocculent phenotype. Furthermore, deletion of HOG1 led to increased levels of components of the reductive iron uptake system in comparison to the wild-type, independent of iron concentrations in the media. However, the additional induction of this system by low iron concentrations was independent of HOG1. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10033/283773 2013-01-24T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10033/270452 Title: High immune response rates and decreased frequencies of regulatory T cells in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients after tumor cell vaccination. Authors: Pohla, Heike; Buchner, Alexander; Stadlbauer, Birgit; Frankenberger, Bernhard; Stevanovic, Stefan; Walter, Steffen; Frank, Ronald; Schwachula, Tim; Olek, Sven; Kopp, Joachim; Willimsky, Gerald; Stief, Christian G; Hofstetter, Alfons; Pezzutto, Antonio; Blankenstein, Thomas; Oberneder, Ralph; Schendel, Dolores J Abstract: Our previously reported phase I clinical trial with the allogeneic gene-modified tumor cell line RCC-26/CD80/IL-2 showed that vaccination was well tolerated and feasible in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. Substantial disease stabilization was observed in most patients despite a high tumor burden at study entry. To investigate alterations in immune responses that might contribute to this effect, we performed an extended immune monitoring that included analysis of reactivity against multiple antigens, cytokine/chemokine changes in serum and determination of the frequencies of immune suppressor cell populations, including natural regulatory T cells (nTregs) and myeloid-derived suppressor cell subsets (MDSCs). An overall immune response capacity to virus-derived control peptides was present in 100% of patients before vaccination. Vaccine-induced immune responses to tumor-associated antigens occurred in 75% of patients, demonstrating the potent immune stimulatory capacity of this generic vaccine. Furthermore, some patients reacted to peptide epitopes of antigens not expressed by the vaccine, showing that epitope-spreading occurred in vivo. Frequencies of nTregs and MDSCs were comparable to healthy donors at the beginning of study. A significant decrease of nTregs was detected after vaccination (p = 0.012). High immune response rates, decreased frequencies of nTregs and a mixed T helper 1/T helper 2 (T(H)1/T(H)2)-like cytokine pattern support the applicability of this RCC generic vaccine for use in combination therapies. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10033/270452 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10033/269716 Title: The fungicide fludioxonil antagonizes fluconazole activity in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans. Authors: Buschart, Anna; Burakowska, Anna; Bilitewski, Ursula Abstract: The fungicide fludioxonil is widely used in agriculture. Residua of this fungicide are occasionally detected in fruits and can therefore be ingested by humans. The human fungal pathogen Candida albicans expresses the target of fludioxonil, Nik1p, a type III histidine kinase involved in stress response. Inhibition of yeast and hyphae growth was hardly observable after treatment of C. albicans SC5314 with fludioxonil. As a side effect, however, we observed a concentration-dependent induction of the expression of the genes CDR1 and CDR2, encoding ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. This was independent of the presence of the target of fludioxonil as induction was also observed in a Δnik1 deletion mutant. Deletion of the CDR1 gene aggravated the inhibition of germ tube formation by fludioxonil, indicating that, in the wild-type, the fungicide was discharged from the cell by Cdr1p. Cdr1p is also known as a resistance factor of C. albicans against the commonly used antimycotic fluconazole. Thus, the effect of concurrent exposure to fludioxonil and known cargoes of ABC transporters on their extrusion and the growth of C. albicans was examined. Pre-incubation with fludioxonil decreased the export rate of rhodamine 6G. The resistance to fluconazole was increased by fludioxonil, independently of Nik1p. Therefore, exposure of C. albicans to fludioxonil may lead to increased resistance to fluconazole treatment. Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10033/269716 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10033/267812 Title: Analysis of gene expression data from non-small cell lung carcinoma cell lines reveals distinct sub-classes from those identified at the phenotype level. Authors: Dalby, Andrew R; Emam, Ibrahim; Franke, Raimo Abstract: Microarray data from cell lines of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (NSCLC) can be used to look for differences in gene expression between the cell lines derived from different tumour samples, and to investigate if these differences can be used to cluster the cell lines into distinct groups. Dividing the cell lines into classes can help to improve diagnosis and the development of screens for new drug candidates. The micro-array data is first subjected to quality control analysis and then subsequently normalised using three alternate methods to reduce the chances of differences being artefacts resulting from the normalisation process. The final clustering into sub-classes was carried out in a conservative manner such that sub-classes were consistent across all three normalisation methods. If there is structure in the cell line population it was expected that this would agree with histological classifications, but this was not found to be the case. To check the biological consistency of the sub-classes the set of most strongly differentially expressed genes was be identified for each pair of clusters to check if the genes that most strongly define sub-classes have biological functions consistent with NSCLC. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10033/267812 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z