Browsing by Subject "Antimicrobial peptides"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Antimikrobielle Aktivität der Histone bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen
(2017) Kunkel, Yasmin; Stange, Eduard F.
The human intestine harbours a multitude of microorganisms. In addition to its func-tion as a protective layer against pathogens, it has to prevent an excessive immune answer against commensales simultaneously. Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) with their cationic character are playing an essential role in protection, because they are able to form voltage dependent channels on the surface of microorganism, which kill pathogens. In addition to the classical AMPs more antimicrobial active polypeptides, such as members of the histone family, were isolated. Histones are alkaline proteins, which are components of the chromatine. They are foremost responsible for packaging the DNA and for posttranslational modifications. Five different families can be differentiated: the core histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4, as well as the linker histone H1. While extracellular histones show strong antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of microorganisms, the mechanism of their toxicity has not yet been sufficiently determined. If the antimicrobial protection layer of the intestine is weakened, due to a diminished expression of AMPs for instance, microorganisms can penetrate the mucosa and trigger inflammations. These findings have been confirmed in different tissues of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of this work is to determine whether histones play a role in IBD. In the first part a systematic analysis of the transcriptome (Q-PCR) and the transla-tome (Western Blotting) of the core histones of colonic tissue was performed. In tis-sues of patients with CD gene expression data showed generally an increase of his-tones. In the cases of H2A and H2B the increase was significant. The quantification on the protein level offered an extreme variance of the expression of all core histones, irrespective of the analysed group. Significant differences were not detected. However, in trend H2B was lower in inflammation. After the systematic analysis, histones were then isolated of human colonic tissue. Before the extracted histones were fractionated via RP-HPLC and screened via MALDI-TOF-MS, different methods for the isolation of histones had been compared. The antimicrobial activity of the isolated histones of different intestinal tissues and mucus showed no differences between healthy controls and patients with IBD in flow cytometric tests. A significant increase of the histone activity in inflamed tissues of UC was only detected against S. aureus. The impact of the extracted histones seems to be strain-specific and higher against gram-positive species. As expected, extracel-lular histones could be detected in the mucus by immunehistological staining. Through ELISAs, protein concentrations of H2A and H2B were determined in the mucus and thus a slight increase of the histone proteins in UC was observed. In the last part of this work, the interactions of recombinant histones among them-selves and with other AMPs were analysed by flow cytometric viability assays. A strain-specific increase of the antimicrobial activity of histones among themselves and with AMPs was found. Thereby synergistic effects occurred frequently. The in-teractions of histones against several bacteria were visualised by electron microscope images and furthermore an agglutination of the microorganisms as well as a massive loss of cell integrity were detected. Variantions of the histones’ transcriptome and the translatome, as well as variations of the antimicrobial activity of histones in CED would have been evaluated as patho-logic defects. However, in this work such effects could not been confirmed. Because of their enormous antimicrobial activity histones still play an important role in the protection against microorganisms in the colon. Further studies have to show, if his-tones possess a therapeutic potential, and if they can be used as new antibiotics. This work was able to verify the strong potential of histones against different pathogens, which is absolutely comparable with the potential of classic AMPs, and could pro-mote inspiration for subsequent studies.
Serotonin reuptake transporter deficiency promotes liver steatosis and impairs intestinal barrier function in obese mice fed a Western‐style diet
(2023) Rosa, Louisa Filipe; Haasis, Eva; Knauss, Annkathrin; Guseva, Daria; Bischoff, Stephan C.
Background: Intestinal barrier dysfunctions have been associated with liver steatosis and metabolic diseases. Besides nutritional factors, like a Western-style diet (WSD), serotonin has been linked with leaky gut. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the role of serotonin in the pathogenesis of intestinal barrier dysfunctions and liver steatosis in mice fed high-fat and high-sugar diets. Methods: 6–8 weeks old male serotonin reuptake transporter knockout mice (SERT−/−) and wild-type controls (SERT+/+) were fed either a WSD or a control diet (CD) ad libitum with or without fructose 30% (F) added to the drinking water for 12 weeks. Markers of liver steatosis and intestinal barrier function were assessed. Key Results: SERT−/− mice showed increased weight gain compared with SERT+/+ mice when fed a WSD ± F for 12 weeks (p < 0.05), whereby SERT−/− mice exhibited reduced energy (−21%) intake. Furthermore, SERT knockout resulted in a more pronounced liver steatosis (p < 0.05), enhanced levels of endotoxin in portal vein plasma (p < 0.05), and increased liver expression of Tnf and Myd88 (p < 0.05), when mice were fed a WSD ± F. Finally, SERT−/− mice, when compared with SERT+/+ mice, had a decreased mRNA expression of Muc2 (p < 0.01), Ocln (p < 0.05), Cldn5 (p = 0.054) and 7 (p < 0.01), Defa5 (p < 0.05) and other antimicrobial peptides in the ileum. On the protein level, ZO-1 (p < 0.01) and DEFA5 protein (p < 0.0001) were decreased. Conclusion and Inferences: Our data demonstrate that SERT knockout causes weight gain, liver steatosis, and leaky gut, especially in mice fed a WSD. Therefore, SERT induction could be a novel therapeutic approach to improve metabolic diseases associated with intestinal barrier dysfunction.
Vitamin A- and D-deficient diets disrupt intestinal antimicrobial peptide defense involving Wnt and STAT5 signaling pathways in mice
(2023) Filipe Rosa, Louisa; Petersen, Patricia P.; Görtz, Lisa F.; Stolzer, Iris; Kaden-Volynets, Valentina; Günther, Claudia; Bischoff, Stephan C.
Vitamin A and D deficiencies are associated with immune modulatory effects and intestinal barrier impairment. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. C57BL/6J mice were fed either a diet lacking in vitamin A (VAd), vitamin D (VDd) or a control diet (CD) for 12 weeks. Gut barrier function, antimicrobial peptide (AMP) defense and regulatory pathways were assessed. VAd mice compared to CD mice showed a reduced villus length in the ileum (p < 0.01) and decreased crypt depth in the colon (p < 0.05). In both VAd- and VDd-fed mice, ileal α-defensin 5 (p < 0.05/p < 0.0001 for VAd/VDd) and lysozyme protein levels (p < 0.001/p < 0.0001) were decreased. Moreover, mRNA expression of lysozyme (p < 0.05/p < 0.05) and total cryptdins (p < 0.001/p < 0.01) were reduced compared to controls. Furthermore, matrix metalloproteinase-7 (Mmp7) mRNA (p < 0.0001/p < 0.001) as well as components of the Wnt signaling pathway were decreased. VAd- and VDd-fed mice, compared to control mice, exhibited increased expression of pro-inflammatory markers and β-defensins in the colon. Organoid cell culture confirmed that vitamins A and D regulate AMP expression, likely through the Jak/STAT5 signaling pathway. In conclusion, our data show that vitamin A and D regulate intestinal antimicrobial peptide defense through Wnt and STAT5 signaling pathways.