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Biomedical subjects

Hidehiro Takahashi

Publications and source records attributed to Hidehiro Takahashi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Intranasal administration of adjuvant-combined recombinant influenza virus HA vaccine protects mice from the lethal H5N1 virus infection.

Attenuated recombinant H5N1 influenza virus was constructed to develop a safe H5N1 influenza vaccine. The immunogenicity and protective effect of the vaccine prepared from haemagglutinin-modified recombinant H5N1 influenza virus was evaluated in mice intranasally co-administered with cholera toxin B subunit containing a trace amount of holotoxin (CTB*), synthetic double-stranded RNA, poly (I:C) or chitin microparticles (CMP) as adjuvants. Intranasal administration of recombinant H5 HA split vaccine with CTB* or poly(I:C) and/or CMP elicited an immunological response with both anti-H5 HA IgA in the nasal wash and anti-H5 HA IgG antibody in the serum, and showed a protective against lethal H5N1 A/Hong Kong/483/97 (HK483) infection. We also demonstrated that intranasal co-administration of antigen with both poly (I:C) and CMP enhanced the expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 3, TLR7 in the spleen. These results indicate that poly (I:C) and CMP are highly effective as mucosal adjuvants for use with the nasal H5N1 vaccine.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2006

Tristetraprolin inhibits HIV-1 production by binding to genomic RNA.

HIV-1 genome has an AU-rich sequence and requires rapid nuclear export by Rev activity to prevent multiple splicing. HIV-1 infection occurs in activated CD4(+) T cells where the decay of mRNAs of cytokines and chemokines is regulated by the binding of AU-rich elements to the mRNA-destabilizing protein tristetraprolin. We here investigated the influence of tristetraprolin on the replication of HIV-1. Treatment of siRNA against tristetraprolin in a latently HIV-1 infected cell line increases HIV-1 production following stimulation. A chloramphenicol acetyltransferase and luciferase assay revealed that exogenous tristetraprolin reduced HIV-1 virion production and in contrast increased the multiply spliced products. Furthermore, quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed tristetraprolin increases the ratio of multiple-spliced RNAs to un-, single-spliced RNA. Moreover, an electrophoretic mobility shift assay showed that tristetraprolin binds to synthesized HIV-1 RNA with AU-rich sequence but not to RNA with less AU sequence. These results suggest that tristetraprolin is a regulator of HIV-1 replication and enhances splicing by direct binding to AU-rich sequence of HIV-1 RNAs.

Cell Line↗
PubMed2006

Thymus-derived leukemia-lymphoma in mice transgenic for the Tax gene of human T-lymphotropic virus type I.

Adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma (ATLL) is a group of T-cell malignancies caused by infection with human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). Although the pathogenesis of ATLL remains incompletely understood, the viral regulatory protein Tax is centrally involved in cellular transformation. Here we describe the generation of HTLV-I Tax transgenic mice using the Lck proximal promoter to restrict transgene expression to developing thymocytes. After prolonged latency periods, transgenic mice developed diffuse large-cell lymphomas and leukemia with clinical, pathological and immunological features characteristic of acute ATLL. Transgenic mice were functionally immunocompromised and they developed opportunistic infections. Fulminant disease also developed rapidly in SCID mice after engraftment of lymphomatous cells from transgenic mice. Flow cytometry showed that the cells were CD4(-) and CD8(-), but CD44(+), CD25(+) and cytoplasmic CD3(+). This phenotype is indicative of a thymus-derived pre-T-cell phenotype, and disease development was associated with the constitutive activation of NF-kappaB. Our model accurately reproduces human disease and will provide a tool for analysis of the molecular events in transformation and for the development of new therapeutics.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Protection against influenza virus infection by intranasal vaccine with surf clam microparticles (SMP) as an adjuvant.

A safe and effective adjuvant is necessary to enhance mucosal immune responses for the development of an inactivated intranasal influenza vaccine. The present study demonstrated the effectiveness of surf clam microparticles (SMP) derived from natural surf clams as an adjuvant for an intranasal influenza vaccine. The adjuvant effect of SMP was examined when co-administered intranasally with inactivated A/PR8 (H1N1) influenza virus hemagglutinin vaccine in BALB/c mice. Administration of the vaccine with SMP induced a high anti-PR8 haemagglutinin (HA)-specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) response in the nasal wash and immunoglobulin G (IgG) response in the serum, resulting in protection against both nasal-restricted infection and lethal lung infection by A/PR8 virus. In addition, administration of SMP with A/Yamagata (H1N1), A/Beijing (H1N1), or A/Guizhou (H3N2) vaccine conferred complete protection against A/PR8 virus challenge in the nasal infection model, suggesting that SMP adjuvanted vaccine can confer cross-protection against variant influenza viruses. The use of SMP is suggested as a new safe and effective mucosal adjuvant for nasal vaccination against influenza virus infection.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2005

Dicer and positive charge of proteins decrease the stability of RNA containing the AU-rich element of GM-CSF.

AU-rich elements (AREs) in the 3'-untranslated region of mRNAs promote rapid decay of the mRNAs for certain cytokines, including that encoding granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). We show that an RNA molecule based on the ARE of GM-CSF mRNA is cleaved between U and A residues in the presence of bovine serum albumin of which cleavage effect is attenuated by acetylation. Furthermore, the expression of RNA molecule containing the ARE of GM-CSF mRNA in human cell lines was increased by inhibition of histone deacetylase activity and attenuation of Dicer expression. These findings suggest that degradation of mRNAs containing an ARE might be regulated by positive charge of polypeptides and Dicer.

3' Untranslated Regions↗
PubMed2005

Protection against influenza virus infection by intranasal administration of hemagglutinin vaccine with chitin microparticles as an adjuvant.

Chitin in the form of microparticles (chitin microparticles, CMP) has been demonstrated to be a potent stimulator of macrophages, promoting T-helper-1 (Th1) activation and cytokine response. In order to examine the mucosal adjuvant effect of CMP co-administered with influenza hemagglutinin (HA) vaccine against influenza infection, CMP were intranasally co-administered with influenza HA vaccine prepared from PR8 (H1N1) virus. Inoculation of the vaccine with CMP induced primary and secondary anti-HA IgA responses in the nasal wash and anti-HA IgG responses in the serum, which were significantly higher than those of nasal vaccination without CMP, and provided a complete protection against a homologous influenza virus challenge in the nasal infection influenza model. In addition, CMP-based immunization using A/Yamagata (H1N1) and A/Guizhou (H3N2) induced PR8 HA-reactive IgA in the nasal washes and specific-IgG in the serum. The immunization with A/Yamagata and CMP resulted in complete protection against a PR8 (H1N1) challenge in A/Yamagata (H1N1)-vaccinated mice, while that with A/Guizhou (H3N2) and CMP exhibited a 100-fold reduction of nasal virus titer, demonstrating the cross-protective effect of CMP and influenza vaccine. It is suggested that CMP provide a safe and effective adjuvant for nasal vaccination with inactivated influenza vaccine.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2005

Dissociation of heterochromatin protein 1 from lamin B receptor induced by human polyomavirus agnoprotein: role in nuclear egress of viral particles.

The nuclear envelope is one of the chief obstacles to the translocation of macromolecules that are larger than the diameter of nuclear pores. Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) bound to the lamin B receptor (LBR) is thought to contribute to reassembly of the nuclear envelope after cell division. Human polyomavirus agnoprotein (Agno) has been shown to bind to HP1alpha and to induce its dissociation from LBR, resulting in destabilization of the nuclear envelope. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching showed that Agno increased the lateral mobility of LBR in the inner nuclear membrane. Biochemical and immunofluorescence analyses showed that Agno is targeted to the nuclear envelope and facilitates the nuclear egress of polyomavirus-like particles. These results indicate that dissociation of HP1alpha from LBR and consequent perturbation of the nuclear envelope induced by polyomavirus Agno promote the translocation of virions out of the nucleus.

Active Transport, Cell Nucleus↗
PubMed2005

Synthetic double-stranded RNA poly(I:C) combined with mucosal vaccine protects against influenza virus infection.

The mucosal adjuvant effect of synthetic double-stranded RNA polyriboinosinic polyribocytidylic acid [poly(I:C)] against influenza virus was examined under intranasal coadministration with inactivated hemagglutinin (HA) vaccine in BALB/c mice and was shown to have a protective effect against both nasal-restricted infection and lethal lung infection. Intranasal administration of vaccine from PR8 (H1N1) with poly(I:C) induced a high anti-HA immunoglobulin A (IgA) response in the nasal wash and IgG antibody response in the serum, while vaccination without poly(I:C) induced little response. Intracerebral injection confirmed the safety of poly(I:C). In addition, we demonstrated that administration of poly(I:C) with either A/Beijing (H1N1) or A/Yamagata (H1N1) vaccine conferred complete protection against PR8 challenge in this mouse nasal infection model, suggesting that poly(I:C) possessed cross-protection ability against variant viruses. To investigate the mechanism of the protective effect of poly(I:C), mRNA levels of Toll-like receptors and cytokines were examined in the nasal-associated lymphoid tissue after vaccination or virus challenge. Intranasal administration of HA vaccine with poly(I:C) up-regulated expression of Toll-like receptor 3 and alpha/beta interferons as well as Th1- and Th2-related cytokines. We propose that poly(I:C) is a new effective intranasal adjuvant for influenza virus vaccine.

Administration, Intranasal↗
PubMed2004

Topoisomerase I dissociates human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase from genomic RNAs.

Both HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) and topoisomerase I bind to structural RNAs and they cooperate to synthesize cDNA during the replication of HIV-1. In this study, we find that human topoisomerase I exclusively dissociated HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, which strongly binds to structural RNAs. Meanwhile, topoisomerase I did not dissociate either HIV-1 nucleocapsid proteins or murine leukemia virus RT which was bound to RNA. We propose that human topoisomerase I may regulate the binding of RT to RNAs and play a pivotal role in HIV-1 replication.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed2004

Specific reactions between purified HIV-1 particles and CD4+ cell membrane fragments in a cell-free system of virus fusion or entry.

The initial step of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection has been studied by Env-mediated fusion or entry assays with appropriate cells expressing CD4 or CXCR4/CCR5 receptors in cultures, where many factors underlying cellular activities likely regulate the fusion/entry efficiency. Here we attempted to develop a more simplified in vitro cell-free fusion/entry reaction that mimics HIV-1 infection in cultures. Membrane fragments of target cells and intact infectious HIV-1 particles were purified, mixed and incubated. The core p24 protein was released from the purified virions and detected by ELISA without detergents in the supernatant of the reaction mixtures. This release reaction proceeded temperature-dependently and in a dose-dependent manner between the virion and membrane fractions, and was specific for HIV-1 Env and CD4. Env-deleted or VSV-G-pseudotyped HIV-1 released little p24, if any. Pretreatment of the membrane fragments with anti-CD4 antibodies inhibited the p24 induction from both X4-tropic and R5-tropic HIV-1. Furthermore, X4 but not R5 HIV-1 reacted with the membrane prepared from intrinsically CXCR4-positive HeLa-CD4 cells, whereas both viruses reacted with that prepared from CCR5-transduced HeLa-CD4 cells, indicating that this cell-free reaction mimics coreceptor usage of HIV-1 infection. Therefore, a potent entry inhibitor of X4 HIV-1, SDF-1alpha, blocked the release from X4 but not R5 HIV-1. Inversely, a weak entry inhibitor of R5 HIV-1, MIP-1beta, partially affected only the release from R5 HIV-1. These results suggest that this cell-free reaction system provides a useful tool to study biochemical fusion/entry mechanisms of HIV-1 and its inhibitors.

Antiviral Agents↗
PubMed2004

BCL-6-positive human herpesvirus 8-associated solid lymphoma arising from liver and spleen as multiple nodular lesions.

We report a case of BCL-6-positive B cell lymphoma with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection. A human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient developed a diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which was found exclusively in the liver and spleen with the absence of lymphadenopathy and effusion in any body cavities. The lymphoma cells were composed of medium to large-sized cells positive for CD20, CD45, and BCL-6, and negative for epithelial cell membrane antigen, CD30, CD45RO, and CD138/syndecan-1, suggesting a germinal center B cell origin. The patient was serologically positive for HHV-8, and HHV-8 was detected in the liver biopsy tissue both by polymerase chain reaction and by immunohistochemistry for HHV-8-encoded latency-associated nuclear antigen. Other HHV-8-associated diseases, such as Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, or multicentric Castleman's disease were not detected in the patient. Chemotherapy was effective and reduced the size of the lymphoma dramatically. This is the first case report of a germinal center B cell-originating lymphoma with HHV-8 infection.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗
PubMed2004

Nucleolin and the packaging signal, psi, promote the budding of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1).

Gag proteins of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) play a pivotal role in the budding of the virion, in which the zinc finger motifs of the gag proteins recognize the packaging signal of genomic RNA. Nucleolin, an RNA-binding protein, is identified as a cellular protein that binds to murine leukemia virus (MuLV) gag proteins and regulates the viral budding, suggesting that HIV-1 gag proteins, the packaging signal, psi and nucleolin affect the budding of HIV-1. Here we report that nucleolin enhances the release of HIV-1 virions which contain psi. Furthermore, nucleolin and gag proteins form a complex incorporated into virions, and nucleolin promotes the infectivity of HIV-1. Our results suggest that an empty particle which contains neither nucleolin nor the genomic RNA is eliminated during the budding process, and this mechanism is beneficial for escape from the host immune response against HIV-1.

Gene Products, gag↗
PubMed2003

Protection against influenza virus infection by intranasal administration of C3d-fused hemagglutinin.

For the induction of mucosal immune responses by intranasal vaccination, cholera toxin B subunits (CTB) and Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin (LT) are often administered as mucosal adjuvants in order to enhance immune responses to mucosally co-administered bystander antigens. However, these toxin also are the causative agents of diarrhea. There is a demand for the establishment of an effective and safer adjuvant or vaccine that elicits mucosal immunity, but does not require the use of CTB or LT adjuvants. In order to induce protective mucosal immune responses in the nasal area against influenza virus infection, we have examined the recombinant protein composed of the complement component, C3d, which is fused to the secreted form of hemagglutinin (sHA-mC3d3) in the influenza-BALB/c mouse model. The fusion protein sHA-mC3d3, the secretory form of hemagglutinin, and the transmembrane form of HA (tmHA) from the influenza virus were intranasally administered to the mice with or without CTB containing a trace amount of holotoxin (CTB*) as an adjuvant. After intranasal administration of these proteins with CTB*, all mice produced nasal IgA and serum IgG antibodies (Abs) against the viral HA. In addition, viral infection was completely inhibited in these mice. In contrast, in the absence of the adjuvant, only sHA-mC3d3-induced locally secreted IgA and serum IgG Abs and provided complete protection against the influenza virus challenge. Thus, C3d fused to the influenza HA antigen is an effective and safe tool for mucosal vaccination.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2003

Human topoisomerase I promotes HIV-1 proviral DNA synthesis: implications for the species specificity and cellular tropism of HIV-1 infection.

Although HIV type 1 (HIV-1) cannot efficiently replicate in simian cells, the mechanism(s) involved in the restriction of virus tropism remain unclear. To investigate this, we have focused on the identification of human cellular factors that can influence the infectivity of HIV-1 derived from African green monkey producer cells. Whereas the infectivity of HIV-1 derived from such cells was only 10-15% of that of human cell-derived virus, expression of human topoisomerase I in the African green monkey cells resulted in a 5-fold increase of the infectivity of progeny HIV-1 virions. Replacement of glutamate-236 and asparagine-237 of human topoisomerase I with the corresponding residues (aspartate and serine, respectively) of the African green monkey enzyme abolished this enhancement of HIV-1 infectivity. This positive effect of human topoisomerase I expression in the African green monkey producer cells seemed to result from the promotion of HIV-1 cDNA synthesis. Thus, human topoisomerase I plays an important role in HIV-1 replication and infectivity, and differences in the species specificity of HIV-1 infection can at least in part be attributed to differences in topoisomerase I activities.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2003

In situ hybridization AT-tailing with catalyzed signal amplification for sensitive and specific in situ detection of human immunodeficiency virus-1 mRNA in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues.

In situ hybridization is one of the most important techniques to visualize gene expression at the cellular level in various tissues. The in situ hybridization-AT tailing (ISH-AT) method uses a specially designed and synthesized oligonucleotide probe that has (AT)10 on the 3' side. This (AT)10 of the probe is elongated by DeltaTth DNA polymerase in the presence of dATP, dTTP, and labeled dUTP in the tissue after hybridization. Through this process the target is labeled with many hapten molecules. In this study, we detected human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues obtained from autopsied patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome by combining ISH-AT with the catalyzed signal amplification (CSA) system (ISH-AT-CSA), although we failed to detect signals from the same samples by conventional in situ hybridization using RNA probes (RISH) with CSA (RISH-CSA). We demonstrated that the ISH-AT-CSA method was superior to RISH-CSA in terms of both sensitivity and specificity, and that it was applicable to fluorescence in situ hybridization and double staining with immunohistochemistry for the characterization of cell phenotypes.

Adenine↗
PubMed2002

Processing of the HTLV-II envelope precursor glycoprotein gp63 by furin is essential for cell fusion activity.

To investigate the relationship between the fusogenic properties of HTLV-II and the processing of the envelope precursor glycoprotein gp63, recombinant cowpox virus expressing this protein was used to infect a range of cell lines derived from different species. Syncytium formation and gp63 processing were observed in all cells with the exception of LoVo cells, which are known to have a dysfunctional form of the endoprotease, furin. Furin has been shown to be necessary for the processing of a number of viral envelope glycoproteins, and gp63 contains a consensus sequence (305)Arg-Arg-Arg-Arg, which is a furin substrate motif. Pulse-chase studies demonstrated gp63 processing in Vero but not in LoVo cells. In addition it could be shown that expression of recombinant furin restored the processing of gp63 to gp46 in LoVo cells, and this resulted in syncytium formation. Our findings suggest that furin plays a pivotal role in cleavage of the HTLV-II envelope gp63, which in turn is a prerequisite for the fusogenic properties of the virus.

Animals↗