Molecular view on PRR cross-talk in antifungal immunity.

The identification of a major class of innate immune receptors, termed pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), has boosted research on innate pathogen recognition. The immune response to a specific pathogen is not restricted to the recognition by one type of PRR or activation of a single cell type, but instead comprises complex collaborations between different receptors, cells and signal mediators. Here we will discuss the cross-talk between PRRs involved in fungal recognition, focusing on the molecular interactions occurring at the plasma membrane.

Crosstalk and DC-SCRIPT: expanding nuclear receptor modulation.

Nuclear receptors (NR) are intracellular receptors that execute a transcriptional program upon binding to hormones, vitamins and metabolic products. They are key regulators of distinct physiological processes, including growth and differentiation, metabolism, and immunity. The impact of NR activation on a given cell can differ from proliferation induction to programmed cell death. NR malfunction is associated with different diseases, such as diabetes, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. Much progress has been made towards understanding the transcriptional regulation by individual NR at the molecular level. However, essentially every cell expresses multiple NR and will encounter complex mixtures of NR ligands during its life cycle. In this review, we will focus on novel insights in balancing NR activity via NR crosstalk and DC-SCRIPT/ZNF366, a bi-functional NR coregulator. The impact on breast cancer development and prognosis will be discussed.

CREB expression in the brains of two closely related parasitic wasp species that differ in long-term memory formation.

The cAMP/PKA signalling pathway and transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) play key roles in long-term memory (LTM) formation. We used two closely related parasitic wasp species, Cotesia glomerata and Cotesia rubecula, which were previously shown to be different in LTM formation, and sequenced at least nine different CREB transcripts in both wasp species. The splicing patterns, functional domains and amino acid sequences were similar to those found in the CREB genes of other organisms. The predicted amino acid sequences of the CREB isoforms were identical in both wasp species. Using real-time quantitative PCR we found that two low abundant CREB transcripts are differentially expressed in the two wasps, whereas the expression levels of high abundant transcripts are similar.

DC-SCRIPT: nuclear receptor modulation and prognostic significance in primary breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Nuclear receptors, including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR)-B, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, and retinoic acid receptor alpha, have been implicated in breast cancer etiology and progression. We investigated the role of dendritic cell-specific transcript (DC-SCRIPT) as coregulator of these nuclear receptors and as a prognostic factor in breast cancer. METHODS: The effect of DC-SCRIPT on the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors was assessed by luciferase reporter assays. DC-SCRIPT expression in normal and tumor tissue from breast cancer patients was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. The prognostic value of tumor DC-SCRIPT mRNA expression was assessed in three independent cohorts of breast cancer patients: a discovery group (n = 47) and a validation group (n = 97) (neither of which had received systemic adjuvant therapy) and in a tamoxifen-treated validation group (n = 68) by using a DC-SCRIPT to porphobilinogen deaminase transcript ratio cutoff of 0.15 determined in the discovery group. Univariate and multivariable Cox proportional hazards model analyses were performed. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: DC-SCRIPT suppressed ER- and PR-mediated transcription in a ligand-dependent fashion, whereas it enhanced the retinoic acid receptor alpha- and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma-mediated transcription. In breast tissue samples from nine patients, DC-SCRIPT mRNA was expressed at lower levels in the tumor than in the corresponding normal tissue (P = .010). Patients in the discovery group with high tumor DC-SCRIPT mRNA levels (66%) had a longer disease-free interval than those with a low DC-SCRIPT mRNA level (34%) (hazard ratio [HR] of recurrence for high vs low DC-SCRIPT level = 0.23, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.06 to 0.93, P = .039), which was confirmed in the validation group (HR of recurrence = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.26 to 0.95, P = .034). This prognostic value was confined to patients with ER- and/or PR-positive tumors (discovery group: HR of recurrence = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.89, P = .030; validation group: HR of recurrence = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.91, P = .028) and was also observed in the second validation group (HR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.97, P = .040). DC-SCRIPT was an independent prognostic factor after correction for tumor size, lymph node status, and adjuvant therapy (n = 145; HR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.29 to 0.85, P = .010). CONCLUSION: DC-SCRIPT is a key regulator of nuclear receptor activity that has prognostic value in breast cancer.