Exosites mediate the anti-inflammatory effects of a multifunctional serpin from the saliva of the tick Ixodes ricinus.

Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are a structurally related but functionally diverse family of ubiquitous proteins. We previously described Ixodes ricinus immunosuppressor (Iris) as a serpin from the saliva of the tick I. ricinus displaying high affinity for human leukocyte elastase. Iris also displays pleotropic effects because it interferes with both the immune response and hemostasis of the host. It thus inhibits lymphocyte proliferation and the secretion of interferon-gamma or tumor necrosis factor-alpha by peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and also platelet adhesion, coagulation and fibrinolysis. Its ability to interfere with coagulation and fibrinolysis, but not platelet adhesion, depends on the integrity of its antiproteolytic reactive center loop domain. Here, we dissect the mechanisms underlying the interaction of recombinant Iris with peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We show that Iris binds to monocytes/macrophages and inhibits their ability to secrete tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Recombinant Iris also has a protective role in endotoxemic shock. The anti-inflammatory ability of Iris does not depend on its antiprotease activity. Moreover, we pinpoint the exosites involved in this activity.

Ir-LBP, an ixodes ricinus tick salivary LTB4-binding lipocalin, interferes with host neutrophil function.

BACKGROUND: During their blood meal, ticks secrete a wide variety of proteins that can interfere with their host's defense mechanisms. Among these proteins, lipocalins play a major role in the modulation of the inflammatory response. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We previously identified 14 new lipocalin genes in the tick Ixodes ricinus. One of them codes for a protein that specifically binds leukotriene B4 with a very high affinity (Kd: +/-1 nM), similar to that of the neutrophil transmembrane receptor BLT1. By in silico approaches, we modeled the 3D structure of the protein and the binding of LTB4 into the ligand pocket. This protein, called Ir-LBP, inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro and delays LTB4-induced apoptosis. Ir-LBP also inhibits the host inflammatory response in vivo by decreasing the number and activation of neutrophils located at the tick bite site. Thus, Ir-LBP participates in the tick's ability to interfere with proper neutrophil function in inflammation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These elements suggest that Ir-LBP is a "scavenger" of LTB4, which, in combination with other factors, such as histamine-binding proteins or proteins inhibiting the classical or alternative complement pathways, permits the tick to properly manage its blood meal. Moreover, with regard to its properties, Ir-LBP could possibly be used as a therapeutic tool for illnesses associated with an increased LTB4 production.

Ixodes ricinus tick lipocalins: identification, cloning, phylogenetic analysis and biochemical characterization.

BACKGROUND: During their blood meal, ticks secrete a wide variety of proteins that interfere with their host's defense mechanisms. Among these proteins, lipocalins play a major role in the modulation of the inflammatory response. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Screening a cDNA library in association with RT-PCR and RACE methodologies allowed us to identify 14 new lipocalin genes in the salivary glands of the Ixodes ricinus hard tick. A computational in-depth structural analysis confirmed that LIRs belong to the lipocalin family. These proteins were called LIR for "Lipocalin from I. ricinus" and numbered from 1 to 14 (LIR1 to LIR14). According to their percentage identity/similarity, LIR proteins may be assigned to 6 distinct phylogenetic groups. The mature proteins have calculated pM and pI varying from 21.8 kDa to 37.2 kDa and from 4.45 to 9.57 respectively. In a western blot analysis, all recombinant LIRs appeared as a series of thin bands at 50-70 kDa, suggesting extensive glycosylation, which was experimentally confirmed by treatment with N-glycosidase F. In addition, the in vivo expression analysis of LIRs in I. ricinus, examined by RT-PCR, showed homogeneous expression profiles for certain phylogenetic groups and relatively heterogeneous profiles for other groups. Finally, we demonstrated that LIR6 codes for a protein that specifically binds leukotriene B4. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This work confirms that, regarding their biochemical properties, expression profile, and sequence signature, lipocalins in Ixodes hard tick genus, and more specifically in the Ixodes ricinus species, are segregated into distinct phylogenetic groups suggesting potential distinct function. This was particularly demonstrated by the ability of LIR6 to scavenge leukotriene B4. The other LIRs did not bind any of the ligands tested, such as 5-hydroxytryptamine, ADP, norepinephrine, platelet activating factor, prostaglandins D2 and E2, and finally leukotrienes B4 and C4.

Distantly related lipocalins share two conserved clusters of hydrophobic residues: use in homology modeling.

BACKGROUND: Lipocalins are widely distributed in nature and are found in bacteria, plants, arthropoda and vertebra. In hematophagous arthropods, they are implicated in the successful accomplishment of the blood meal, interfering with platelet aggregation, blood coagulation and inflammation and in the transmission of disease parasites such as Trypanosoma cruzi and Borrelia burgdorferi. The pairwise sequence identity is low among this family, often below 30%, despite a well conserved tertiary structure. Under the 30% identity threshold, alignment methods do not correctly assign and align proteins. The only safe way to assign a sequence to that family is by experimental determination. However, these procedures are long and costly and cannot always be applied. A way to circumvent the experimental approach is sequence and structure analyze. To further help in that task, the residues implicated in the stabilisation of the lipocalin fold were determined. This was done by analyzing the conserved interactions for ten lipocalins having a maximum pairwise identity of 28% and various functions. RESULTS: It was determined that two hydrophobic clusters of residues are conserved by analysing the ten lipocalin structures and sequences. One cluster is internal to the barrel, involving all strands and the 310 helix. The other is external, involving four strands and the helix lying parallel to the barrel surface. These clusters are also present in RaHBP2, a unusual "outlier" lipocalin from tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus. This information was used to assess assignment of LIR2 a protein from Ixodes ricinus and to build a 3D model that helps to predict function. FTIR data support the lipocalin fold for this protein. CONCLUSION: By sequence and structural analyzes, two conserved clusters of hydrophobic residues in interactions have been identified in lipocalins. Since the residues implicated are not conserved for function, they should provide the minimal subset necessary to confer the lipocalin fold. This information has been used to assign LIR2 to lipocalins and to investigate its structure/function relationship. This study could be applied to other protein families with low pairwise similarity, such as the structurally related fatty acid binding proteins or avidins.

PLMS and PLMW in healthy subjects as a function of age: prevalence and interval distribution.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Several studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) and age in healthy subjects. However, little is known about periodic leg movements during wakefulness (PLMW) in this population. Although the definitions of PLMS and PLMW specify a typical intermovement interval of 20 to 40 seconds, scoring criteria allow an intermovement interval of 4 to 90 seconds. The aim of the present study was to look at the prevalence and interval distribution of PLMS and PLMW in relationship with age in a population of healthy subjects. DESIGN: Periodic leg movements were recorded during 1 night. SETTING: Sleep laboratory, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-seven healthy subjects aged between 5 and 76 years (32 F, 35 M). INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The presence of PLMS was rare before the age of 40, but then the index increased dramatically. PLMW index was higher in younger subjects compared with middle-aged subjects. Interval histograms of PLMS did not revealed a clear peak in younger subjects. With advancing age, PLMS interval histograms show a peak around 15 to 35 seconds, which is not observed in younger subjects. On the other hand, despite high indexes, PLMW interval histograms do not show a clear peak for any age group. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate that interval evaluation is an important feature of the calculation of periodic movements to discriminate spontaneous motor activity from PLMS or PLMW.

Anti-hemostatic effects of a serpin from the saliva of the tick Ixodes ricinus.

Serpins (serine protease inhibitors) are a large family of structurally related proteins found in a wide variety of organisms, including hematophagous arthropods. Protein analyses revealed that Iris, previously described as an immunomodulator secreted in the tick saliva, is related to the leukocyte elastase inhibitor and possesses serpin motifs, including the reactive center loop (RCL), which is involved in the interaction between serpins and serine proteases. Only serine proteases were inhibited by purified recombinant Iris (rIris), whereas mutants L339A and A332P were found devoid of any protease inhibitory activity. The highest Ka was observed with human leukocyte-elastase, suggesting that elastase-like proteases are the natural targets of Iris. In addition, mutation M340R completely changed both Iris substrate specificity and affinity. This likely identified Met-340 as amino acid P1 in the RCL. The effects of rIris and its mutants were also tested on primary hemostasis, blood clotting, and fibrinolysis. rIris increased platelet adhesion, the contact phase-activated pathway of coagulation, and fibrinolysis times in a dose-dependent manner, whereas rIris mutant L339A affected only platelet adhesion. Taken together, these results indicate that Iris disrupts coagulation and fibrinolysis via the anti-proteolytic RCL domain. One or more other domains could be responsible for primary hemostasis inhibition. To our knowledge, this is the first ectoparasite serpin that interferes with both hemostasis and the immune response.

Analysis of CAG repeat expansions in restless legs syndrome.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: A relatively high prevalence of restless legs syndrome symptoms has been recently reported in a substantial proportion of patients affected with spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. Our aim was to investigate whether there is a common genetic etiology between restless legs syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. DESIGN: Systematic differences in the number of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 trinucleotide repeat were investigated by means of an association study. The relationship between the size of the expanded alleles and several clinical features was also considered. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 125 extensively characterized restless legs syndrome patients compared with 188 healthy controls matched for ethnic background. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: No CAG repeat expansions in the pathologic or intermediate range were detected in any of the examined subjects, including patients and controls. A similar allelic distribution was observed in both groups (Mann-Whitney U test = 78406; P = 0.99). Moreover, stratification analyses of the patients' samples according to different clinical and polysomnographic variables disclosed no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: These results do not provide evidence toward an involvement of large CAG trinucleotide expansions at the spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 locus in idiopathic restless legs syndrome.