@article {1618481, title = {CD11c regulates hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells under stress}, journal = {Blood Adv}, volume = {4}, number = {24}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 22}, pages = {6086-6097}, abstract = {β2 integrins are well-known leukocyte adhesion molecules consisting of 4 members: CD11a-d. Their known biological functions range widely from leukocyte recruitment, phagocytosis, to immunological synapse formation, but the studies have been primarily focused on CD11a and CD11b. CD11c is 1 of the 4 members and is extremely homologous to CD11b. It has been well known as a dendritic cell marker, but the characterization of its function has been limited. We found that CD11c was expressed on the short-term hematopoietic stem cells and multipotent progenitor cells. The lack of CD11c did not affect the number of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in healthy CD11c knockout mice. Different from other β2 integrin members, however, CD11c deficiency was associated with increased apoptosis and significant loss of HSPCs in sepsis and bone marrow transplantation. Although integrins are generally known for their overlapping and redundant roles, we showed that CD11c had a distinct role of regulating the expansion of HSPCs under stress. This study shows that CD11c, a well-known dendritic cell marker, is expressed on HSPCs and serves as their functional regulator. CD11c deficiency leads to the loss of HSPCs via apoptosis in sepsis and bone marrow transplantation.}, keywords = {Animals, CD11 Antigens, CD11c Antigen, CD18 Antigens, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Mice, Mice, Knockout}, issn = {2473-9537}, doi = {10.1182/bloodadvances.2020002504}, author = {Hou, Lifei and Voit, Richard A and Sankaran, Vijay G and Springer, Timothy A. and Yuki, Koichi} } @article {1532243, title = {Evolutionarily distant I domains can functionally replace the essential ligand-binding domain of TRAP}, journal = {Elife}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 07 10}, abstract = {Inserted (I) domains function as ligand-binding domains in adhesins that support cell adhesion and migration in many eukaryotic phyla. These adhesins include integrin αβ heterodimers in metazoans and single subunit transmembrane proteins in apicomplexans such as TRAP in and MIC2 in . Here we show that the I domain of TRAP is essential for sporozoite gliding motility, mosquito salivary gland invasion and mouse infection. Its replacement with the I domain from Toxoplasma MIC2 fully restores tissue invasion and parasite transmission, while replacement with the aX I domain from human integrins still partially restores liver infection. Mutations around the ligand binding site allowed salivary gland invasion but led to inefficient transmission to the rodent host. These results suggest that apicomplexan parasites appropriated polyspecific I domains in part for their ability to engage with multiple ligands and to provide traction for emigration into diverse organs in distant phyla.}, issn = {2050-084X}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.57572}, author = {Klug, Dennis and Goellner, Sarah and Kehrer, Jessica and Sattler, Julia and Strauss, L{\'e}anne and Singer, Mirko and Lu, Chafen and Springer, Timothy A. and Frischknecht, Friedrich} } @article {1532242, title = {Disulfide Exchange in von Willebrand factor Dimerization in the Golgi}, journal = {Blood}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Sep 22}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood.2020005989}, url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32961556/}, author = {Dong, Xianchi and Springer, Timothy A.} } @article {1487026, title = {Design and assessment of TRAP-CSP fusion antigens as effective malaria vaccines}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {15}, number = {1}, year = {2020}, month = {2020}, pages = {e0216260}, abstract = {The circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and thrombospondin-related adhesion protein (TRAP) are major targets for pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine development. However, the CSP-based vaccine RTS,S provides only marginal protection, highlighting the need for innovative vaccine design and development. Here we design and characterize expression and folding of P. berghei (Pb) and P. falciparum (Pf) TRAP-CSP fusion proteins, and evaluate immunogenicity and sterilizing immunity in mice. TRAP N-terminal domains were fused to the CSP C-terminal αTSR domain with or without the CSP repeat region, expressed in mammalian cells, and evaluated with or without N-glycan shaving. Pb and Pf fusions were each expressed substantially better than the TRAP or CSP components alone; furthermore, the fusions but not the CSP component could be purified to homogeneity and were well folded and monomeric. As yields of TRAP and CSP fragments were insufficient, we immunized BALB/c mice with Pb TRAP-CSP fusions in AddaVax adjuvant and tested the effects of absence or presence of the CSP repeats and absence or presence of high mannose N-glycans on total antibody titer and protection from infection by mosquito bite both 2.5 months and 6 months after the last immunization. Fusions containing the repeats were completely protective against challenge and re-challenge, while those lacking repeats were significantly less effective. These results correlated with higher total antibody titers when repeats were present. Our results show that TRAP-CSP fusions increase protein antigen production, have the potential to yield effective vaccines, and also guide design of effective proteins that can be encoded by nucleic acid-based and virally vectored vaccines.}, keywords = {Animals, Antibodies, Antigens, Disease Models, Animal, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Immunization, Malaria, Malaria Vaccines, Mice, Plasmodium berghei, Plasmodium falciparum, Polysaccharides, Protein Folding, Protozoan Proteins, Recombinant Fusion Proteins}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0216260}, author = {Lu, Chafen and Song, Gaojie and Beale, Kristin and Yan, Jiabin and Garst, Emma and Feng, Juan and Lund, Emily and Catteruccia, Flaminia and Springer, Timothy A.} }