Scientific Resources

As the sole target of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) to HIV,the envelope glycoprotein (Env) trimer is the focus of vaccination strategies designed to elicit protective bnAbs in humans. Because HIV Env is densely glycosylated with 75-90 N-glycans per trimer,most bnAbs use or accommodate them in their binding epitope,making the glycosylation of recombinant Env a key aspect of HIV vaccine design. Upon analysis of three HIV strains,we here find that site-specific glycosylation of Env from infectious virus closely matches Envs from corresponding recombinant membrane-bound trimers. However,viral Envs differ significantly from recombinant soluble,cleaved (SOSIP) Env trimers,strongly impacting antigenicity. These results provide a benchmark for virus Env glycosylation needed for the design of soluble Env trimers as part of an overall HIV vaccine strategy. View Publication

Cytokine responses from monocytes and macrophages exposed to bacteria are of particular importance in innate immunity. Focusing on the impact of the immunoregulatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-27 on control of innate immune system responses,we examined human immune responses to bacterial products and bacterial infection by E. coli and S. typhimurium. Since the effect of IL-27 treatment in human myeloid cells infected with bacteria is understudied,we treated human monocytes and macrophages with IL-27 and either LPS,flagellin,or bacteria,to investigate the effect on inflammatory signaling and cytokine responses. We determined that simultaneous stimulation with IL-27 and LPS derived from E. coli or S. typhimurium resulted in enhanced IL-12p40,TNF-$\alpha$,and IL-6 expression compared to that by LPS alone. To elucidate if IL-27 manipulated the cellular response to infection with bacteria,we infected IL-27 treated human macrophages with S. typhimurium. While IL-27 did not affect susceptibility to S. typhimurium infection or S. typhimurium-induced cell death,IL-27 significantly enhanced proinflammatory cytokine production in infected cells. Taken together,we highlight a role for IL-27 in modulating innate immune responses to bacterial infection. View Publication

Neurologic melioidosis occurs in both human and animals; however,the mechanism by which the pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei invades the central nervous system (CNS) remains unclear. B. pseudomallei-loaded Ly6C cells have been suggested as a putative portal; however,during melioidosis,lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can drive disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This study aims to test whether the Trojan horse-like mechanism occurs during endotoxemia. The expression levels of cerebral cytokines,chemokines and cell adhesion molecules; the activation of astrocytes,microglia and endothelial cells; and the increased vascular permeability and brain-infiltrating leukocytes were evaluated using B. pseudomallei,B. thailandensis,B. cenocepacia and B. multivorans LPS-induced brains. Accordingly,different degrees of BBB damage in those brains with endotoxemia were established. The B. multivorans LPS-induced brain exhibited the highest levels of disruptive BBB according to the above mediators/indicators. Into these distinct groups of endotoxemic mice,B. pseudomallei-loaded Ly6C cells or free B. pseudomallei were adoptively transferred at equal bacterial concentrations (103 CFU). The bacterial load and number of cases of meningeal neutrophil infiltration in the brains of animals treated with B. pseudomallei-loaded Ly6C cells were higher than those in brains induced by free B. pseudomallei in any of the endotoxemic groups. In particular,these results were reproducible in B. multivorans LPS-induced brains. We suggest that B. pseudomallei-loaded cells can act as a Trojan horse and are more effective than free B. pseudomallei in invading the CNS under septic or endotoxemic conditions even when there is a high degree of BBB disruption. View Publication

Neutrophils are short-lived cells that play important roles in both health and disease. Neutrophils and monocytes originate from the granulocyte monocyte progenitor (GMP) in bone marrow; however,unipotent neutrophil progenitors are not well defined. Here,we use cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) methodologies to identify a committed unipotent early-stage neutrophil progenitor (NeP) in adult mouse bone marrow. Importantly,we found a similar unipotent NeP (hNeP) in human bone marrow. Both NeP and hNeP generate only neutrophils. NeP and hNeP both significantly increase tumor growth when transferred into murine cancer models,including a humanized mouse model. hNeP are present in the blood of treatment-naive melanoma patients but not of healthy subjects. hNeP can be readily identified by flow cytometry and could be used as a biomarker for early cancer discovery. Understanding the biology of hNeP should allow the development of new therapeutic targets for neutrophil-related diseases,including cancer. View Publication

The human brain is composed of a complex assembly of about 171 billion heterogeneous cellular units (86 billion neurons and 85 billion non-neuronal glia cells). A comprehensive description of brain cells is necessary to understand the nervous system in health and disease. Recently,advances in genomics have permitted the accurate analysis of the full transcriptome of single cells (scRNA-seq). We have built upon such technical progress to combine scRNA-seq with patch-clamping electrophysiological recording and morphological analysis of single human neurons in vitro. This new powerful method,referred to as Patch-seq,enables a thorough,multimodal profiling of neurons and permits us to expose the links between functional properties,morphology,and gene expression. Here,we present a detailed Patch-seq protocol for isolating single neurons from in vitro neuronal cultures. We have validated the Patch-seq whole-transcriptome profiling method with human neurons generated from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs/iPSCs) derived from healthy subjects,but the procedure may be applied to any kind of cell type in vitro. Patch-seq may be used on neurons in vitro to profile cell types and states in depth to unravel the human molecular basis of neuronal diversity and investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying brain disorders. View Publication

Traumatic spinal cord injury results in persistent disability due to disconnection of surviving neural elements. Neural stem cell transplantation has been proposed as a therapeutic option,but optimal cell type and mechanistic aspects remain poorly defined. Here,we describe robust engraftment into lesioned immunodeficient mice of human neuroepithelial stem cells derived from the developing spinal cord and maintained in self-renewing adherent conditions for long periods. Extensive elongation of both graft and host axons occurs. Improved functional recovery after transplantation depends on neural relay function through the grafted neurons,requires the matching of neural identity to the anatomical site of injury,and is accompanied by expression of specific marker proteins. Thus,human neuroepithelial stem cells may provide an anatomically specific relay function for spinal cord injury recovery. View Publication

Enterochromaffin (EC) cells constitute the largest population of intestinal epithelial enteroendocrine (EE) cells. EC cells are proposed to be specialized mechanosensory cells that release serotonin in response to epithelial forces,and thereby regulate intestinal fluid secretion. However,it is unknown whether EE and EC cells are directly mechanosensitive,and if so,what the molecular mechanism of their mechanosensitivity is. Consequently,the role of EE and EC cells in gastrointestinal mechanobiology is unclear. Piezo2 mechanosensitive ion channels are important for some specialized epithelial mechanosensors,and they are expressed in mouse and human EC cells. Here,we use EC and EE cell lineage tracing in multiple mouse models to show that Piezo2 is expressed in a subset of murine EE and EC cells,and it is distributed near serotonin vesicles by superresolution microscopy. Mechanical stimulation of a subset of isolated EE cells leads to a rapid inward ionic current,which is diminished by Piezo2 knockdown and channel inhibitors. In these mechanosensitive EE cells force leads to Piezo2-dependent intracellular Ca2+ increase in isolated cells as well as in EE cells within intestinal organoids,and Piezo2-dependent mechanosensitive serotonin release in EC cells. Conditional knockout of intestinal epithelial Piezo2 results in a significant decrease in mechanically stimulated epithelial secretion. This study shows that a subset of primary EE and EC cells is mechanosensitive,uncovers Piezo2 as their primary mechanotransducer,defines the molecular mechanism of their mechanotransduction and mechanosensitive serotonin release,and establishes the role of epithelial Piezo2 mechanosensitive ion channels in regulation of intestinal physiology. View Publication

Cattle are an economically important domestic animal species. In vitro 2D cultures of intestinal epithelial cells or epithelial cell lines have been widely used to study cell function and host-pathogen interactions in the bovine intestine. However,these cultures lack the cellular diversity encountered in the intestinal epithelium,and the physiological relevance of monocultures of transformed cell lines is uncertain. Little is also known of the factors that influence cell differentiation and homeostasis in the bovine intestinal epithelium,and few cell-specific markers that can distinguish the different intestinal epithelial cell lineages have been reported. Here we describe a simple and reliable procedure to establish in vitro 3D enteroid,or mini gut" cultures from bovine small intestinal (ileal) crypts. These enteroids contained a continuous central lumen lined with a single layer of polarized enterocytes bound by tight junctions with abundant microvilli on their apical surfaces. Histological and transcriptional analyses suggested that the enteroids comprised a mixed population of intestinal epithelial cell lineages including intestinal stem cells enterocytes Paneth cells goblet cells and enteroendocrine cells. We show that bovine enteroids can be successfully maintained long-term through multiple serial passages without observable changes to their growth characteristics morphology or transcriptome. Furthermore the bovine enteroids can be cryopreserved and viable cultures recovered from frozen stocks. Our data suggest that these 3D bovine enteroid cultures represent a novel physiologically-relevant and tractable in vitro system in which epithelial cell differentiation and function and host-pathogen interactions in the bovine small intestine can be studied." View Publication

Broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies (bNAbs) isolated from infected subjects display protective potential in animal models. Their elicitation by immunization is thus highly desirable. The HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) is the sole viral target of bnAbs,but is also targeted by binding,non-neutralizing antibodies. Env-based immunogens tested so far in various animal species and humans have elicited binding and autologous neutralizing antibodies but not bNAbs (with a few notable exceptions). The underlying reasons for this are not well understood despite intensive efforts to characterize the binding specificities of the elicited antibodies; mostly by employing serologic methodologies and monoclonal antibody isolation and characterization. These approaches provide limited information on the ontogenies and clonal B cell lineages that expand following Env-immunization. Thus,our current understanding on how the expansion of particular B cell lineages by Env may be linked to the development of non-neutralizing antibodies is limited. Here,in addition to serological analysis,we employed high-throughput BCR sequence analysis from the periphery,lymph nodes and bone marrow,as well as B cell- and antibody-isolation and characterization methods,to compare in great detail the B cell and antibody responses elicited in non-human primates by two forms of the clade C HIV Env 426c: one representing the full length extracellular portion of Env while the other lacking the variable domains 1,2 and 3 and three conserved N-linked glycosylation sites. The two forms were equally immunogenic,but only the latter elicited neutralizing antibodies by stimulating a more restricted expansion of B cells to a narrower set of IGH/IGK/IGL-V genes that represented a small fraction (0.003-0.02{\%}) of total B cells. Our study provides new information on how Env antigenic differences drastically affect the expansion of particular B cell lineages and supports immunogen-design efforts aiming at stimulating the expansion of cells expressing particular B cell receptors. View Publication

In recent years,immunotherapy has shown considerable promise in the management of several malignancies. However,the majority of preclinical studies have been conducted in rodents,the results of which often translate poorly to patients given the substantial differences between murine and human immunology. As the porcine immune system is far more analogous to that of humans,pigs may serve as a supplementary preclinical model for future testing of such therapies. We have generated the genetically modified Oncopig with inducible tumor formation resulting from concomitant KRAS(G12D) and TP53(R167H) mutations under control of an adenoviral vector Cre-recombinase (AdCre). The objective of this study was to characterize the tumor microenvironment in this novel animal model with respect to T-cell responses in particular and to elucidate the potential use of Oncopigs for future preclinical testing of cancer immunotherapies. In this study,we observed pronounced intratumoral T-cell infiltration with a strong CD8$\beta$(+) predominance alongside a representation of highly differentiated $\gamma$$\delta$ T cells. The infiltrating CD8$\beta$(+) T cells displayed increased expression of the cytotoxic marker perforin when compared with the peripheral T-cell pool. Similarly,there was robust granzyme B staining localizing to the tumors; affirming the presence of cytotoxic immune cells within the tumor. In parallel with this antitumor immune response,the tumors displayed enrichment in FOXP3-expressing T cells and increased gene expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1),cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4),and programmed death-ligand 1 (PDL1). Finally,we investigated the Oncopig immune system in mediating antitumor immunity. We observed pronounced killing of autologous tumor cells,which demonstrates the propensity of the Oncopig immune system to recognize and mount a cytotoxic response against tumor cells. Together,these findings suggest innate and adaptive recognition of the induced tumors with a concomitant in vivo suppression of T-cell effector functions. Combined,the data support that the Oncopig may serve as a valuable model for future preclinical testing of immunotherapies aimed at reactivating tumor-directed cytotoxicity in vivo. View Publication

Economic development has become a prominent issue for state governments. Nevertheless,states vary in the economic policies they choose. Two general approaches to the issue are discussed: the maintenance/attraction strategy and the creation strategy. Factor analysis allows us to gauge state effort on these two criteria. Regression analysis shows that political culture is an important factor in predicting which approach a state chooses,with traditionalistic states favoring the maintenance/attraction strategy,and moralistic states favoring the creation alternative. Other predictors of state policy choices include the condition of the economy and the diffusion of innovations. Also discussed is the interaction of political culture with other relevant variables in shaping state policies.

The T cell antigen receptor (TCR) recognizes peptides from pathogenic proteins bound in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). To convert this binding event into downstream signaling,the TCR complex contains immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs) that act as docking sites for the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase ZAP-70. Unique among antigen receptors,the TCR complex uses 10 ITAMs to transduce peptide-MHC binding to the cell interior. Using synthetic,drug-inducible receptor-ligand pairs,it was found that greater ITAM multiplicity primarily enhanced the efficiency with which ligand binding was converted into an intracellular signal. This manifested as an increase in the fraction of cells that became activated in response to antigen,and a more synchronous initiation of TCR-proximal signaling,rather than direct amplification of the intracellular signals. Exploiting these findings,the potency and selectivity of chimeric antigen receptors targeted against cancer were substantially enhanced by modulating the number of encoded ITAMs. View Publication