Cristina Parolin

Gene therapy of glioblastoma multiforme via combined expression of suicide and cytokine genes: a pilot study in humans

Retrovirus-mediated gene therapy is a particularly attractive approach for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), given the poor prognosis of this tumour and its localized proliferation in post-mitotic tissue. In this study we assessed, for the first time in humans, the therapeutic potential of a newly designed bicistronic Moloney vector (pLIL-2-TK), combining the expression of a suicide gene (thymidine kinase, tk) with an immunomodulatory gene (human interleukin 2, IL-2). Evidence of transgene activity in the treated tumours is presented.

Intracellular Trafficking and Maturation of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 gB and Virus Egress Require Functional Biogenesis of Multivesicular Bodies

ABSTRACT The biogenesis of multivesicular bodies (MVBs) is topologically equivalent to virion budding. Hence, a number of viruses exploit the MVB pathway to build their envelope and exit from the cell. By expression of dominant negative forms of Vps4 and Vps24, two components of the MVB pathway, we observed an impairment in infectious herpes simplex virus (HSV) assembly/egress, in agreement with a recent report showing the involvement in HSV envelopment of Vps4, the MVB-specific ATPase (C. M. Crump, C. Yates, and T. Minson, J. Virol. 81:7380-7387). Furthermore, HSV infection resulted in morphological changes to MVBs. Glycoprotein B (gB), one of the most highly conserved glycoproteins across the Herpesviridae family, was sorted to MVB membranes. In cells expressing the dominant negative form of Vps4, the site of intracellular gB accumulation was altered; part of gB accumulated as an endoglycosidase H-sensitive immature form at a calreticulin-positive compartment, indicating that gB traffic was dependent on a functional MVB pathway. gB was ubiquitinated in both infected and transfected cells. Ubiquitination was in part dependent on ubiquitin lysine 63, a signal for cargo sorting to MVBs. Partial deletion of the gB cytoplasmic tail resulted in a dramatic reduction of ubiquitination, as well as of progeny virus assembly and release to the extracellular compartment. Thus, HSV envelopment/egress and gB intracellular trafficking are dependent on functional MVB biogenesis. Our data support the view that the sorting of gB to MVB membranes may represent a critical step in HSV envelopment and egress and that modified MVB membranes constitute a platform for HSV cytoplasmic envelopment or that MVB components are recruited to the site(s) of envelopment.

Progress with retroviral gene vectors

Retroviral vectors have become a standard tool for gene transfer technology. Compared with other gene transfer systems, retroviral vectors have several advantages, including their ability to transduce a variety of cell types, to integrate efficiently into the genomic DNA of the recipient cells and to express the transduced gene at high levels. The relatively well understood biology of retroviruses has made possible the development of packaging cell lines which provide in trans all the viral proteins required for viral particle formation. The design of different types of packaging cells has evolved to reduce the possibility of helper virus production. The host range of retroviruses has been expanded by pseudotyping the vectors with heterologous viral glycoproteins and receptor‐specific ligands. The development of lentivirus vectors has allowed efficient gene transfer to quiescent cells. This review describes different strategies adopted for developing vectors to be used in gene therapy applications. Copyright

New anti-human immunodeficiency virus type 1 6-aminoquinolones: Mechanism of action

ABSTRACT A 6-aminoquinolone derivative, WM5, which bears a methyl substituent at the N-1 position and a 4-(2-pyridyl)-1-piperazine moiety at position 7 of the bicyclic quinolone ring system, was previously shown to exhibit potent activity against replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in de novo-infected human lymphoblastoid cells (V. Cecchetti et al., J. Med. Chem. 43:3799-3802, 2000). In this report, we further investigated WM5s mechanism of antiviral activity. WM5 inhibited HIV-1 replication in acutely infected cells as well as in chronically infected cells. The 50% inhibitory concentrations were 0.60 ± 0.06 and 0.85 ± 0.05 μM, respectively. When the effects of WM5 on different steps of the virus life cycle were analyzed, the reverse transcriptase activity and the integrase and protease activities were not impaired. By using a transient trans-complementation assay to examine the activity of WM5 on the replicative potential of HIV-1 in a single round of infection, a sustained inhibition of Tat-mediated long terminal repeat (LTR)-driven transcription (>80% of controls) was obtained in the presence of 5 μM WM5. Interestingly, the aminoquinolone was found to efficiently complex TAR RNA, with a dissociation constant in the nanomolar range (19 ± 0.6 nM). These data indicate that WM5 is a promising lead compound for the development of a new class of HIV-1 transcription inhibitors characterized by recognition of viral RNA target(s).

Role of multivesicular bodies and their components in the egress of enveloped RNA viruses.

As an enveloped virus buds, the nascent viral capsid becomes wrapped in a plasma membrane‐derived lipid envelope, and a membrane fission event is thus necessary to separate the virion from the host cell. This membrane fission event is well characterised in the case of enveloped RNA viruses, where it is promoted by late assembly domains (L‐domains) present at the level of specific viral structural proteins. Research conducted over the past 10 years has demonstrated that L‐domains represent docking sites for cellular proteins essential for the biogenesis of a cellular organelle, the multivesicular body (MVB). In this way, enveloped RNA viruses hijack the MVB components to the cellular site where the budding is executed. This review will focus on the cellular machinery exploited by enveloped RNA viruses in order to be released from infected cells. The role of ubiquitin and lipids in viral budding will also be discussed. Copyright

Seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among attendees of a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Italy

Background and Objectives: An increased prevalence of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV‐2) infection has been recently observed in industrialized countries. Goal: To determine HSV‐2 seroprevalence in a high‐risk population in Italy. Study Design: A cross‐sectional study was performed to ascertain the HSV‐2 prevalence among 919 persons attending an STD clinic in northern Italy. A HSV‐2‐specific glycoprotein G‐2‐based immunoglobulin G enzyme‐linked immunoabsorbent assay (Gull/Meridian ELISA; Meridian Diagnostics, Cincinnati, OH) was used and validated against Western blot analysis. Results: A prevalence of 24.6% was found without differences between males and females. Seroprevalence increased with age and number of partners during the previous year. Compared with Western blot analysis, the Gull/Meridian ELISA showed a sensitivity of 91.9% and a specificity of 98%, and positive and negative predictive values of 93.9% and 97.4%, respectively. Conclusion: This is the first Italian survey of HSV‐2 infection conducted with a properly validated, Food and Drug Administration‐approved, type‐specific serologic method in a high‐risk population. It is likely that between one to three million adults are infected with HSV‐2.

Antiviral properties of quinolone-based drugs.

Quinolones represent an important class of broad-spectrum antibacterials, the main structural features of which are a 1,4 dihydro-4-oxo-quinolinyl moiety bearing an essential carboxyl group at position 3. Quinolones inhibit prokaryotic type II topoisomerases, namely DNA gyrase and, in a few cases, topoisomerase IV, through direct binding to the bacterial chromosome. Based on the hypothesis that these drugs could also bind to the viral nucleic acids or nucleoprotein-complexes, several quinolone derivatives were tested for their antiviral activity. Indeed, antibacterial fluoroquinolones were shown to be effective against vaccinia virus and papovaviruses; these preliminary results prompted the synthesis of modified quinolones to optimize antiviral action and improve selectivity index. The introduction of an aryl group at the piperazine moiety of the fluoroquinolone shifted the activity from antibacterial to antiviral, with a specific action against HIV. The antiviral activity seemed to be related to an inhibitory effect at the transcriptional level, and further evidence suggested a mechanism of action mediated by inhibition of Tat functions. Substitution of the fluorine at position 6 with an amine group to give aryl-piperazinyl-6-amino-quinolones improved the activity and selectivity against HIV-1: the most potent compound of this series was shown to inhibit virus replication through interference with Tat-TAR interaction. A comprehensive SAR investigation was performed based on additional chemical intervention to the quinolone template moiety, such as the introduction of nucleoside derivative functions. The information gained so far will be useful for future rational drug design aimed at developing new compounds with optimized antiviral activity.

T-cell engineering by a chimeric T-cell receptor with antibody-type specificity for the HIV-1 gp120.

Immune-based approaches of cell therapy against viral pathogens such as the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) could be of primary importance for the control of this viral infection. Here, we designed a chimeric cell surface receptor (105TCR) to provide primary human T-lymphocytes with antibody-type specificity for the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein. This receptor includes the single chain Fv domain of the neutralizing anti-gp120 human monoclonal antibody F105, CD8α hinge and the transmembrane and the cytoplasmic domains of TCRζ. Our results show that 105TCR is expressed at the cellular surface and is capable of recognizing the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein inducing highly efficient effector T-cell responses, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation and cytokine secretion. Moreover, human primary CD8+ T-lymphocytes transduced by oncoretroviral and lentiviral vectors containing the 105TCR gene are able to mediate in vitro-specific cytolysis of envelope-expressing cells and HIV-1-infected CD4+ T-lymphocytes. These findings suggest that 105TCR is particularly suited for in vivo efficacy studies.

Inhibition of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Tat-trans-Activation-Responsive Region Interaction by an Antiviral Quinolone Derivative

ABSTRACT WM5, a 6-aminoquinolone derivative, binds with high affinity to the bulge of the trans-activation-responsive region (TAR), whereas it displays low binding affinity for the loop and stem regions of TAR and for random RNA and DNA sequences. Furthermore, WM5 disrupts the natural protein-nucleic acid complex with a 50% inhibitory concentration in the low micromolar range in both in vitro and in vivo assays.

The ubiquitin-conjugating system: multiple roles in viral replication and infection.

Through the combined action of ubiquitinating and deubiquitinating enzymes, conjugation of ubiquitin to a target protein acts as a reversible post-translational modification functionally similar to phosphorylation. Indeed, ubiquitination is more and more recognized as a central process for the fine regulation of many cellular pathways. Due to their nature as obligate intracellular parasites, viruses rely on the most conserved host cell machineries for their own replication. Thus, it is not surprising that members from almost every viral family are challenged by ubiquitin mediated mechanisms in different steps of their life cycle and have evolved in order to by-pass or exploit the cellular ubiquitin conjugating system to maximize their chance to establish a successful infection. In this review we will present several examples of the complex interplay that links viruses and the ubiquitin conjugation machinery, with a special focus on the mechanisms evolved by the human immunodeficiency virus to escape from cellular restriction factors and to exit from infected cells.