Polr3b heterozygosity in mice induces both beneficial and deleterious effects on health during ageing with no effect on lifespan.

The genetic pathways that modulate ageing in multicellular organisms are typically highly conserved across wide evolutionary distances. Recently RNA polymerase III (Pol III) was shown to promote ageing in yeast, C. elegans and D. melanogaster. In this study we investigated the role of Pol III in mammalian ageing using C57BL/6N mice heterozygous for Pol III (Polr3b+/-). We identified sexually dimorphic, organ-specific beneficial as well as detrimental effects of the Polr3b+/- mutation on health. Female Polr3b+/- mice displayed improved bone health during ageing, but their ability to maintain an effective gut barrier function was compromised and they were susceptible to idiopathic dermatitis (ID). In contrast, male Polr3b+/- mice were lighter than wild-type (WT) males and had a significantly improved gut barrier function in old age. Several metabolic parameters were affected by both age and sex, but no genotype differences were detected. Neither male nor female Polr3b+/- mice were long-lived compared to WT controls. Overall, we find no evidence that a reduced Pol III activity extends mouse lifespan but we do find some potential organ- and sex-specific benefits for old-age health.

Analysis of immune responses to attenuated alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 formulated with and without adjuvant.

The experimental vaccine for bovine malignant catarrhal fever consists of viable attenuated alcelaphine herpesvirus 1 (AlHV-1) derived by extensive culture passage, combined with an oil-in-water adjuvant, delivered intramuscularly. This immunisation strategy was over 80% effective in previous experimental and field trials and protection appeared to be associated with induction of virus-neutralising antibodies. Whether the vaccine virus is required to be viable at the point of immunisation and whether adjuvant is required to induce the appropriate immune responses remains unclear. To address these issues two studies were performed, firstly to analyse immune responses in the presence and absence of adjuvant and secondly, to investigate immune responses to vaccines containing adjuvant plus viable or inactivated AlHV-1. The first study showed that viable attenuated AlHV-1 in the absence of adjuvant induced virus-specific antibodies but the titres of virus-neutralising antibodies were significantly lower than those induced by vaccine containing viable virus and adjuvant, suggesting adjuvant was required for optimal responses. In contrast, the second study found that the vaccine containing inactivated (>99.9%) AlHV-1 induced similar levels of virus-neutralising antibody to the equivalent formulation containing viable AlHV-1. Together these studies suggest that the MCF vaccine acts as an antigen depot for induction of immune responses, requiring adjuvant and a suitable antigen source, which need not be viable virus. These observations may help in directing the development of alternative MCF vaccine formulations for distribution in the absence of an extensive cold chain.

Essential Role of Patient Blood Management in a Pandemic: A Call for Action.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic. Global health care now faces unprecedented challenges with widespread and rapid human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and high morbidity and mortality with COVID-19 worldwide. Across the world, medical care is hampered by a critical shortage of not only hand sanitizers, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and hospital beds, but also impediments to the blood supply. Blood donation centers in many areas around the globe have mostly closed. Donors, practicing social distancing, some either with illness or undergoing self-quarantine, are quickly diminishing. Drastic public health initiatives have focused on containment and "flattening the curve" while invaluable resources are being depleted. In some countries, the point has been reached at which the demand for such resources, including donor blood, outstrips the supply. Questions as to the safety of blood persist. Although it does not appear very likely that the virus can be transmitted through allogeneic blood transfusion, this still remains to be fully determined. As options dwindle, we must enact regional and national shortage plans worldwide and more vitally disseminate the knowledge of and immediately implement patient blood management (PBM). PBM is an evidence-based bundle of care to optimize medical and surgical patient outcomes by clinically managing and preserving a patient's own blood. This multinational and diverse group of authors issue this "Call to Action" underscoring "The Essential Role of Patient Blood Management in the Management of Pandemics" and urging all stakeholders and providers to implement the practical and commonsense principles of PBM and its multiprofessional and multimodality approaches.

Cell mediated and innate immune responses in pigs following vaccination and challenge with Toxoplasma parasites.

Toxoplasma gondii has a worldwide distribution and can infect almost all warm blooded animals including pigs and humans. This study aims to examine the immune responses induced in pigs following vaccination (live S48 tachyzoites) and/or challenge with T. gondii oocysts, through the examination of changes in levels of transcription in CD4, CD8α, IFN-γ, IL-12p35, CXCR3, MyD88. The experiment involved four groups of animals; pigs in group 1 (Challenged) (Chal) were challenged orally with (1 × 103 oocysts) on day 28 of the experiment. Pigs in group 2 (Vaccinated /Challenged) (Vac/Chal) were vaccinated (S48 isolate tachyzoites) on day 0, then challenged on day 28. The group 3 (Vaccinated) (Vac) animals were vaccinated (S48 isolate tachyzoites) on day 0 of the experiment. Finally the group 4 (control) pigs remained non-vaccinated and non-challenged. All animals were culled 6 weeks post challenge. At post mortem samples of retropharyngeal lymph node (RLN), mesenteric LN (MLN) and spleen were collected, RNA was extracted and cDNA synthesised. The results showed significant increases in IFN-γ expression in samples from groups 1 (Chal) and 2 (Vac/Chal) (RLN) and groups 1, 2 and 3 (Vac) (spleen) and in MyD88 expression (RLN) in samples from groups 1, 2 and 3 compared to the group 4 (control) animals. Significant increases were also observed in CD8α expression in group 1 (Chal) (RLN) and groups 1 and 2 (Vac/Chal) (RLN and MLN) compared against group 4 (control) and group 3 (Vac) respectively. Conversely, significant down regulation of CD4 and/or IL-12p35 transcription was found in at least one sample from groups 1 (Chal), 2 (Vac/Chal) and 3 (Vac) compared to group 4 (control) pigs. This study demonstrates that cell mediated and innate immune responses are generated in pigs following exposure to T. gondii parasites (oocysts or tachyzoites), key amongst them appear to be IFN-γ, MyD88 and CD8α.

SIRT3 & SIRT7: Potential Novel Biomarkers for Determining Outcome in Pancreatic Cancer Patients.

PURPOSE: The sirtuin gene family has been linked with tumourigenesis, in both a tumour promoter and suppressor capacity. Information regarding the function of sirtuins in pancreatic cancer is sparse and equivocal. We undertook a novel study investigating SIRT1-7 protein expression in a cohort of pancreatic tumours. The aim of this study was to establish a protein expression profile for SIRT1-7 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) and to determine if there were associations between SIRT1-7 expression, clinico-pathological parameters and patient outcome. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Immunohistochemical analysis of SIRT1-7 protein levels was undertaken in a tissue micro-array comprising 77 resected PDACs. Statistical analyses determined if SIRT1-7 protein expression was associated with clinical parameters or outcome. RESULTS: Two sirtuin family members demonstrated significant associations with clinico-pathological parameters and patient outcome. Low level SIRT3 expression in the tumour cytoplasm correlated with more aggressive tumours, and a shorter time to relapse and death, in the absence of chemotherapeutic intervention. Low levels of nuclear SIRT7 expression were also associated with an aggressive tumour phenotype and poorer outcome, as measured by disease-free and disease-specific survival time, 12 months post-diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that SIRT3 and SIRT7 possess tumour suppressor properties in the context of pancreatic cancer. SIRT3 may also represent a novel predictive biomarker to determine which patients may or may not respond to chemotherapy. This study opens up an interesting avenue of investigation to potentially identify predictive biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer, a disease that has seen no significant improvement in survival over the past 40 years.

Vaccination of pigs with the S48 strain of Toxoplasma gondii--safer meat for human consumption.

As clinical toxoplasmosis is not considered a problem in pigs, the main reason to implement a control strategy against Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) in this species is to reduce the establishment of T. gondii tissue cysts in pork, consequently reducing the risk of the parasite entering the human food chain. Consumption of T. gondii tissue cysts from raw or undercooked meat is one of the main sources of human infection, with infected pork being considered a high risk. This study incorporates a mouse bioassay with molecular detection of T. gondii DNA to study the effectiveness of vaccination (incomplete S48 strain) in its ability to reduce tissue cyst burden in pigs, following oocyst (M4 strain) challenge. Results from the mouse bioassay show that 100% of mice which had received porcine tissues from vaccinated and challenged pigs survived compared with 51.1% of mice which received tissues from non-vaccinated and challenged pigs. The presence (or absence) of T. gondii DNA from individual mouse brains also confirmed these results. This indicates a reduction in viable T. gondii tissue cysts within tissues from pigs which have been previously vaccinated with the S48 strain. In addition, the study demonstrated that the main predilection sites for the parasite were found to be brain and highly vascular muscles (such as tongue, diaphragm, heart and masseter) of pigs, while meat cuts used as human food such as chop, loin, left tricep and left semitendinosus, had a lower burden of T. gondii tissue cysts. These promising results highlight the potential of S48 strain tachyzoites for reducing the number of T. gondii tissues cysts in pork and thus improving food safety.

Preliminary characterisation of Pentlands paramyxovirus-1, -2 and -3, three new paramyxoviruses of rodents.

A paramyxovirus was discovered by chance during the primary culture of grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) kidney cells from the UK. Amplification, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of part of the genome encoding a region of the RNA polymerase (L gene) confirmed that the virus was a member of the Paramyxovirinae subfamily, but that it did not partition with any of the currently recognised paramyxovirus genera and instead segregated with the unclassified rodent viruses, J-virus, Beilong virus and Tailam virus as well as paramyxoviruses recently detected in rodents in Africa. A subsequent examination of kidney samples from red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) revealed that they too harboured a paramyxovirus, but sequence analysis of the corresponding region of the L gene revealed that it was approximately 67% identical to the grey squirrel virus, suggesting the presence of a second species of virus. In addition, one of the red squirrels examined harboured a second virus with approximately 69% identity to the grey squirrel virus, but only approximately 63% identity to the other red squirrel viruses, signifying the presence of a third species of paramyxovirus. In a sample of 22 red and grey squirrels 68% of those examined were found to harbour virus suggesting that paramyxovirus infection in squirrels may be common within the UK.

Development of maternal and foetal immune responses in cattle following experimental challenge with Neospora caninum at day 210 of gestation.

This study examined the immunological responses of pregnant cattle and their foetuses following an experimental challenge with live Neospora caninum tachyzoites at day 210 of gestation. Animals were bled prior to and weekly throughout the experiment and sacrificed at 14, 28, 42 and 56 days post inoculation (dpi). At post mortem examination, samples of lymph nodes and spleen were collected from both dam and foetus for immunological analysis. Subcutaneous (sc) inoculation over the left prefemoral (LPF) lymph node of pregnant cattle at day 210 of gestation, led to the vertical transmission of parasites by 14 dpi, however no foetal deaths were observed in the infected animals. Foetuses from infected dams mounted Neospora-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune (CMI) responses by 14 dpi. These responses involved anti-Neospora IgG, antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation, and the production of the cytokines IFN-γ, interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10. There was also evidence of innate immunity during the response against Neospora from infected dams, with statistically significant (p < 0.05) increases in mean expression of toll like receptors (TLR)-2 on 56 dpi in maternal spleen, LPF, right prefemoral (RPF), left uterine (LUL) and right uterine (RUL) lymph nodes and TLR-9 in retropharyngeal (RLN), LPF and RPF lymph nodes from 28 dpi. Statistically significant (p < 0.05) increases in mean TLR-9 were detected in spleen samples from foetuses of infected dams, compared to the foetuses from control animals. Our results show that vertical transmission of the parasite occurred in all infected dams, with their foetuses showing effective Neospora-specific cell mediated, humoral and innate immune responses.

Multicenter analyses demonstrate significant clinical effects of minor histocompatibility antigens on GvHD and GvL after HLA-matched related and unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The effect of minor H antigen mismatching on the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) after HLA-matched hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has mainly been demonstrated in single-center studies. Yet, the International Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Workshops (IHIW) provide a collaborative platform to execute crucial large studies. In collaboration with 20 laboratories of the IHIW, the roles of 10 autosomal and 10 Y chromosome-encoded minor H antigens were investigated on GvHD and relapse incidence in 639 HLA-identical related donor (IRD) and 210 HLA-matched unrelated donor (MUD) HSCT recipients. Donor and recipient DNA samples were genotyped for the minor H antigens HA-1, HA-2, HA-3, HA-8, HB-1, ACC-1, ACC-2, SP110, PANE1, UGT2B17, and HY. The correlations with the primary outcomes GvHD (acute or chronic GvHD), survival, and relapse were statistically analyzed. The results of these multicenter analyses show that none of the HLA class I-restricted HY antigens were found to be associated with any of the primary outcomes. Interestingly, of the HLA class II-restricted HY antigens analyzed, HLA-DQ5 positive recipients showed a significantly increased GvHD-free survival in female-to-male HSCT compared with male-to-female HSCT (P = .013). Yet, analysis of the overall gender effect, thus independent of the known HY antigens, between the gender groups demonstrated an increased GvHD incidence in the female-to-male transplantations (P < .005) and a decreased GvHD-free survival in the female-to-male transplantations (P < .001). Of all autosomally encoded minor H antigens, only mismatching for the broadly expressed minor H antigen HA-8 increased the GvHD incidence in IRD HSCT (Hazard ratio [HR] = 5.28, P < .005), but not in MUD HSCT. Most striking was the influence of hematopoietic restricted minor H antigens on GvL as mismatching for hematopoietic minor H antigens correlated with lower relapse rates (P = .078), higher relapse-free survival (P = .029), and higher overall survival (P = .032) in recipients with GvHD, but not in those without GvHD. In conclusion, the significant GvHD effect of the broadly expressed minor H antigen HA-8 favors matching for HA-8 in IRD, but not in MUD, patient/donor pairs. The GvHD-GvL association demonstrating a significant lower relapse in hematopoietic minor H antigen mismatched patient/donor pairs underlines their clinical applicability for adoptive immunotherapy, enhancing the GvL effect in a GvHD controllable manner.

Host gene expression changes in cattle infected with Alcelaphine herpesvirus 1.

Malignant catarrhal fever is a lymphoproliferative disease of cattle and other ungulates caused by infection with gamma-herpesviruses of the genus Macavirus. These viruses do not establish a productive infection but instead replicate in a cell-associated fashion in T lymphocytes, leading to systemic immune dysregulation and a generally fatal outcome. Despite significant progress in understanding the pathology of this disease, its pathogenesis remains unclear. To identify genes and pathways affected in clinical MCF, sixteen bovine GeneCHIP microarrays were used to assay RNA from kidney and lymph node of four MCF-affected and four control Bos taurus steers. This is the first expression study of AlHV-1-MCF in the bovine host. Over 250 genes showed significant changes in gene expression in either lymph node or kidney, while expression of 35 genes was altered in both tissues. Pathway and annotation analysis of the microarray data showed that immune response and inflammatory genes were up-regulated in the kidney while proliferation-associated transcripts were additionally increased in the lymph node. The genes that showed the largest expression rises in both diseased tissues included cytotoxic enzymes and pro-inflammatory chemokines. These data are consistent with disease-induced stimulation of inflammatory responses involving interferon-γ, including cytotoxic T cell recruitment and activation in peripheral tissues containing virus-infected cells. However it remains unclear whether the tissue damage in MCF lesions is due entirely to the activity of infected cells or whether uninfected T cells, recruited and activated at lesion sites through the action of infected cells, contribute to the pathogenesis of MCF.

Duration of protective immunity and antibody responses in cattle immunised against alcelaphine herpesvirus-1-induced malignant catarrhal fever.

Protection of cattle from alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AlHV-1)-induced malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) has been described previously, using an attenuated virus vaccine in an unlicensed adjuvant. The vaccine was hypothesised to induce a protective barrier of virus-neutralising antibody in the oro-nasal region, supported by the observation of high titre neutralising antibodies in nasal secretions of protected animals. Here we describe further analysis of this vaccine strategy, studying the effectiveness of the vaccine formulated with a licensed adjuvant; the duration of immunity induced; and the virus-specific antibody responses in plasma and nasal secretions. The results presented here show that the attenuated AlHV-1 vaccine in a licensed adjuvant protected cattle from fatal intranasal challenge with pathogenic AlHV-1 at three or six months. In addition, animals protected from MCF had significantly higher initial anti-viral antibody titres than animals that succumbed to disease; and these antibody titres remained relatively stable after challenge, while titres in vaccinated animals with MCF increased significantly prior to the onset of clinical disease. These data support the view that a mucosal barrier of neutralising antibody blocks infection of vaccinated animals and suggests that the magnitude of the initial response may correlate with long-term protection. Interestingly, the high titre virus-neutralising antibody responses seen in animals that succumbed to MCF after vaccination were not protective.

A captured viral interleukin 10 gene with cellular exon structure.

We have characterized a novel, captured and fully functional viral interleukin (IL)-10 homologue ((OvHV)IL-10) from the gammaherpesvirus ovine herpesvirus 2. Unlike IL-10 homologues from other gammaherpesviruses, the (OvHV)IL-10 peptide sequence was highly divergent from that of the host species. The (OvHV)IL-10 gene is unique amongst virus captured genes in that it has precisely retained the original cellular exon structure, having five exons of similar sizes to the cellular counterparts. However, the sizes of the introns are dramatically reduced. The (OvHV)IL-10 protein was shown to be a non-glycosylated, secreted protein of M(r) 21 000 with a signal peptidase cleavage site between amino acids 26 and 27 of the nascent peptide. Functional assays showed that (OvHV)IL-10, in a similar way to ovine IL-10, stimulated mast cell proliferation and inhibited macrophage inflammatory chemokine production. This is the first example of a captured herpesvirus gene retaining the full cellular gene structure.

An immunisation strategy for the protection of cattle against alcelaphine herpesvirus-1-induced malignant catarrhal fever.

The aim of this study was to stimulate immunity in the oro-nasal-pharyngeal region of cattle to protect them from alcelaphine herpesvirus-1 (AlHV-1)-induced malignant catarrhal fever. Attenuated C500 strain AlHV-1 was used along with Freund's adjuvant intramuscularly (IM) in the upper neck region to immunise cattle. Virulent C500 strain AlHV-1 was used for intranasal challenge. Nine of ten cattle were protected. Protection was associated with high levels of neutralising antibody in nasal secretions. Some protected animals showed transient low levels of viral DNA in blood samples and in one lymph node sample after challenge whereas viral DNA was detected in the blood and in lymph node samples of all animals with MCF. This is the most promising immunisation strategy to date for the control of malignant catarrhal fever.

Phenotype frequencies of autosomal minor histocompatibility antigens display significant differences among populations.

Minor histocompatibility (H) antigens are allogeneic target molecules having significant roles in alloimmune responses after human leukocyte antigen-matched solid organ and stem cell transplantation (SCT). Minor H antigens are instrumental in the processes of transplant rejection, graft-versus-host disease, and in the curative graft-versus-tumor effect of SCT. The latter characteristic enabled the current application of selected minor H antigens in clinical immunotherapeutic SCT protocols. No information exists on the global phenotypic distribution of the currently identified minor H antigens. Therefore, an estimation of their overall impact in human leukocyte antigen-matched solid organ and SCT in the major ethnic populations is still lacking. For the first time, a worldwide phenotype frequency analysis of ten autosomal minor H antigens was executed by 31 laboratories and comprised 2,685 randomly selected individuals from six major ethnic populations. Significant differences in minor H antigen frequencies were observed between the ethnic populations, some of which appeared to be geographically correlated.

Infection with recombinant orf viruses demonstrates that the viral interleukin-10 is a virulence factor.

Orf virus is the prototype parapoxvirus that causes the contagious skin disease orf. It encodes an orthologue of the cytokine interleukin (IL)-10. Recombinant orf viruses were constructed in which the viral interleukin-10 (vorfIL-10) was disabled (vorfIL-10ko) and reinserted (vorfrevIL-10) at the same locus and compared to wild-type virus for their ability to induce skin lesions in sheep. After either primary infection or reinfection, smaller less severe lesions were recorded in the vorfIL-10ko-infected animals compared with either of the vorfIL-10-intact virus-infected animals. Thus, the vorfIL-10ko virus was attenuated compared with the vorfIL-10 intact viruses, demonstrating that orf virus IL-10 is a virulence factor. The virus IL-10 is one of several virulence or immuno-modulatory factors expressed by orf virus. Removal of any one of these genes would be expected to have only a partial effect on virulence, which is what was observed in this study with vorfIL-10.

Orf virus immuno-modulation and the host immune response.

Orf virus encodes a range of immuno-modulatory genes that interfere with host anti-virus immune and inflammatory effector mechanisms. The function of these reflects the pathogenesis of orf. The orf virus interferon resistance protein (OVIFNR) and virus IL-10 (vIL-10) inhibit interferon production and activity. In addition the vIL-10 suppresses inflammatory cytokine production by activated macrophages and keratinocytes. The virus GM-CSF inhibitory factor (GIF) is a novel virus protein that binds to and inhibits the biological activity of GM-CSF and IL-2. Together, these immuno-modulators target key effector mechanisms of host anti-virus immunity to allow time for virus replication in epidermal cells.