A dynamically evolving war between autophagy and pathogenic microorganisms / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Autophagy is an intracellular degradation process that maintains cellular homeostasis. It is essential for protecting organisms from environmental stress. Autophagy can help the host to eliminate invading pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. However, pathogens have evolved multiple strategies to interfere with autophagic signaling pathways or inhibit the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes to form autolysosomes. Moreover, host cell matrix degradation by different types of autophagy can be used for the proliferation and reproduction of pathogens. Thus, determining the roles and mechanisms of autophagy during pathogen infections will promote understanding of the mechanisms of pathogen‍‒‍host interactions and provide new strategies for the treatment of infectious diseases.

Mitochondrial damage induced by HTLV-1 infection in host cells / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective To investigate the effects of human adult T lymphoblastic leukemia virus typeⅠ (HTLV-1) infection on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial damage in host cells. Methods A cell model of HTLV-1 infection was established by co-culturing HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 with HeLa cells. ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential ( MMP) and total mitochondria were detected using specific fluorescence probe labeling method. Cell apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI method. Western blot was performed to detect viral proteins Tax and p19, as well as mitochondrial pro-teins TIM23 and TOM20. After the treatment of MT2 cells with different concentrations of reverse transcrip-tion inhibitors ( ZDV) , relative viral loads were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, and the mass of mitochondria was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results After co-culturing HeLa cells with MT2 cells for 24 h, the ROS level in host cells increased without obvious cell apoptosis, while the mitochon-drial membrane potential, mitochondrial protein expression and total mitochondria decreased significantly. When the replication of HTLV-1 in MT2 cells was inhibited by ZDV, the ROS level and total mitochondria increased. Conclusions HTLV-1 infection can cause oxidative stress in host cells, resulting in mitochon-drial damage. Autophagy might be activated to degrade mitochondrial damage and maintain cell homeostasis during the infection.

Mitochondrial damage induced by HTLV-1 infection in host cells / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effects of human adult T lymphoblastic leukemia virus typeⅠ (HTLV-1) infection on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial damage in host cells.@*Methods@#A cell model of HTLV-1 infection was established by co-culturing HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 with HeLa cells. ROS, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and total mitochondria were detected using specific fluorescence probe labeling method. Cell apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/PI method. Western blot was performed to detect viral proteins Tax and p19, as well as mitochondrial proteins TIM23 and TOM20. After the treatment of MT2 cells with different concentrations of reverse transcription inhibitors (ZDV), relative viral loads were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, and the mass of mitochondria was analyzed by flow cytometry.@*Results@#After co-culturing HeLa cells with MT2 cells for 24 h, the ROS level in host cells increased without obvious cell apoptosis, while the mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial protein expression and total mitochondria decreased significantly. When the replication of HTLV-1 in MT2 cells was inhibited by ZDV, the ROS level and total mitochondria increased.@*Conclusions@#HTLV-1 infection can cause oxidative stress in host cells, resulting in mitochondrial damage. Autophagy might be activated to degrade mitochondrial damage and maintain cell homeostasis during the infection.