Protocol for chronic hepatitis B virus infection mouse model development by patient-derived orthotopic xenografts.

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization, more than 250 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus, and almost 800.000 patients die annually of mediated liver disorders. Therefore, adequate biological test systems are needed that could fully simulate the course of chronic hepatitis B virus infection, including in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS: In this study, we will assess the effectiveness of existing protocols for isolation and cultivation of primary cells derived from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in terms of the yield of viable cells and their ability to replicate the hepatitis B virus using isolation and cultivation methods for adhesive primary cells, flow cytometry and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Another part of our study will be devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of hepatocellular carcinoma grafting methods to obtain patient-derived heterotopic and orthotopic xenograft mouse avatars using animal X-ray irradiation and surgery procedures and in vivo fluorescent signals visualization and measurements. Our study will be completed by histological methods. DISCUSSION: This will be the first extensive comparative study of the main modern methods and protocols for isolation and cultivation primary hepatocellular carcinoma cells and tumor engraftment to the mice. All protocols will be optimized and characterized using the: (1) efficiency of the method for isolation cells from removed hepatocellular carcinoma in terms of their quantity and viability; (2) efficiency of the primary cell cultivation protocol in terms of the rate of monolayer formation and hepatitis B virus replication; (3) efficiency of the grafting method in terms of the growth rate and the possibility of hepatitis B virus persistence and replication in mice. The most effective methods will be recommended for use in translational biomedical research.

Protocol for assessment of the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas RNP delivery to different types of target cells.

BACKGROUND: Delivery of CRISPR/Cas RNPs to target cells still remains the biggest bottleneck to genome editing. Many efforts are made to develop efficient CRISPR/Cas RNP delivery methods that will not affect viability of target cell dramatically. Popular current methods and protocols of CRISPR/Cas RNP delivery include lipofection and electroporation, transduction by osmocytosis and reversible permeabilization and erythrocyte-based methods. METHODS: In this study we will assess the efficiency and optimize current CRISPR/Cas RNP delivery protocols to target cells. We will conduct our work using molecular cloning, protein expression and purification, cell culture, flow cytometry (immunocytochemistry) and cellular imaging techniques. DISCUSSION: This will be the first extensive comparative study of popular current methods and protocols of CRISPR/Cas RNP delivery to human cell lines and primary cells. All protocols will be optimized and characterized using the following criteria i) protein delivery and genome editing efficacy; ii) viability of target cells after delivery (post-transduction recovery); iii) scalability of delivery process; iv) cost-effectiveness of the delivery process and v) intellectual property rights. Some methods will be considered 'research-use only', others will be recommended for scaling and application in the development of cell-based therapies.

Generation and Characterization of Human Single-Chain Antibodies Against Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely distributed and relocated in the environment as a result of the incomplete combustion of organic matter. Many PAHs and their epoxides are highly toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic to microorganisms as well as to higher systems including humans. BP is one of the most toxicologically active PAHs and is often used as a prototype for this entire class of contaminants. In order to select anti-BP antibodies, the conjugate of BP with BSA (BP-BSA) was used to screen naïve combinatorial phage library of human scFvs. Seven unique scFvs against BP-BSA were selected after three rounds of selection. Analysis of the genes encoding the scFvs subdivided them to gene families and subfamilies. Homology with the closest germline ranged from 80.21% to 97.57% for heavy chains and 88.89% to 98.57% for the light chains. Four of the seven scFv amino acid residues sequences without stop codons in frame were selected for proteomic analysis with each other. Four scFvs encoded unique non-related proteins with low-sequence identity among them. All CDRs and the boundaries in the CDR3 formation were carried out. Two of the scFvs (T68 and T72) with the highest binding capabilities to PAHs were expressed in E. coli and purified using a nickel resin. The KDs of T68 to BP-BSA, chrysene, pyrene, and benzo[a]anthracene were almost similar, approximately 10(-7 )M. The KDs of T72 to benzo[a]anthracene and chrysene were 9.42 × 10(-8 )M and 2.63 × 10(-7 )M, respectively. The computational models of T68 and T72 active centers were different.

Presence of aberrant VH6 domains in anti-interferon-γ autoantibodies in multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Anti-cytokine autoantibodies (auto-Abs) are ubiquitous both in patients suffering from infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and in healthy individuals. Particularly anti-IFN-γ auto-Abs are shown to be elevated in blood of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of present study was to investigate whether repertoires of anti-IFN-γ auto-Abs differ in MS patients and healthy donors. METHODS: Using phage display technique we have compared repertoires of the genes encoding anti-IFN-γ single-chain variable fragments selected from MS and naïve phage display libraries. RESULTS: The panel of anti-IFN-γ auto-Abs selected from MS library includes (i) 'fetal' auto-Abs, encoded by the VH6-1 gene segment and the combination proximal D segments with distal JH segments; (ii) naïve auto-Abs; (iii) affinity maturated antibodies; and (iv) abnormal single-domain antibodies. Meanwhile, the panel of anti-IFN-γ auto-Abs selected from naïve library mainly contains the naïve antibodies. Moreover, the overall antibody repertoire of MS library is skewed compared to the overall repertoire of naïve library and also contained the antibodies carrying a 'fetal' VH6 domain and the ratio of κ and λ chains was reversed. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest existence of a special mechanism or trigger that provides for reconstitution of the immune system in MS.