Search

Among the most significant challenges presented to modern medicine is the problem of cognitive disorders. The relevance of her research is determined by the wide spread of disorders of the higher cortical functions, their significant negative impact on the quality of life of patients, as well as high economic costs on the part of the state and the patient's relatives aimed at organizing medical, diagnostic and rehabilitation processes. The main cause of cognitive impairment in the elderly is Alzheimer's disease. Currently, the criteria for the diagnosis of this nosological form have been developed and are widely used in practice. However, it should be noted that their use is most effective if the patient has a detailed clinical picture, at the stage of dementia. In addition, they provide for the study of biomarkers in a number of cases in the cerebrospinal fluid or using positron emission tomography, which presents certain technical difficulties. Especially significant problems arise in the pre-dement stages. This situation dictates the need to search for new promising diagnostic methods that will have high sensitivity and specificity, as well as the possibility of application in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, including in outpatient settings. The article provides information about modern methods of computer neuroimaging, discusses the research directions of individual biomarkers, and also shows the prospects for using diagnostic test panels developed on the basis of graphene biosensors, taking into account the latest achievements of nanotechnology and their integration into medical science., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Anti-influenza drugs and vaccines have a limited effect due to the high mutation rate of virus genome. The direct impact on the conservative virus genome regions should significantly improve therapeutic effectiveness. The RNA interference mechanism (RNAi) is one of the modern approaches used to solve this problem. In this work, we have investigated the antiviral activity of small interfering RNA (siRNA) against the influenza A/PR/8/34 (H1N1), targeting conserved regions of NP and PA. Polycations were used for intracellular siRNA delivery: chitosan's derivatives (methylglycol and quaternized chitosan), polyethyleneimine, lipofectamine, and hybrid organic/non-organic microcapsules. A comparative study of these delivery systems with fluorescent labeled siRNA was conducted. The antiviral activity of three small interfering RNAs targeting the NP (NP-717, NP-1496) and PA (PA-1630) influenza A viruses genes was demonstrated, depending on the chosen carrier. The most effective intracellular delivery and antiviral activity were observed for hybrid microcapsules.

Influenza A virus (IAV) NS1 protein is one of the key viral factors responsible for virus-host interactions. NS1 counteracts host antiviral defense, participates in the processing and export of cellular mRNAs, regulates the activity of viral RNA polymerase and the expression of viral genes, and influences the cellular signaling systems. Multiple NS1 functions are carried out due to the interactions with cellular factors, the number of which exceeds one hundred. It is noteworthy that only two segments of IAV genome - NS and NP - did not undergo reassortment and evolved in the course of genetic drift, beginning with the pandemic of 1918 to the present. This fact may indicate the importance of NS1 and its numerous interactions with cellular factors in the interspecific adaptation of the virus. The review presents data on the evolution of the human IAV NS1 protein and analysis of the amino acid substitutions in the main structural and functional domains of NS1 protein during evolution.

Seasonal and highly infectious strains of the influenza A and influenza B viruses cause millions of cases of severe complications in elderly people, children, and patients with immune diseases each year. Immunoglobulin A (IgA), which is an active component of humoral immunity, can prevent the spread of the virus in the upper respiratory tract. The preparation and study of the properties of recombinant virus-specific IgA could be an important approach to finding new means of preventing and treating influenza. Based on CHO DG44 cells, we developed stable monoclonal cell lines that produce monomeric and dimeric antibodies FI6-IgA1 and FI6-IgA2m1 to hemagglutinin (HA) of the influenza A virus. When studying the productivity, growth, and stability of the obtained clones, we found that the dimeric form of antibodies of IgA1 isotype is superior to other forms. The dimeric form of IgA antibodies plays a key role in mucosal immunity. Recognizing the prospects of using dimeric IgA as prophylactic and therapeutic mucosal drugs for viral infections, we studied their virus-neutralizing and antiviral activities on MDCK cell culture and compared them with the antibodies of the IgG1 isotype. This study presents the data on antiviral and virus-neutralizing activities of the FI6-IgA1 dimers to seasonal and highly infectious strains of influenza A virus.

Background: Influenza A virus (IAV) is a segmented negative-sense RNA virus that causes seasonal epidemics and periodic pandemics in humans. Two regions (nucleotide positions 82-148 and 497-564) in the positive-sense RNA of the NS segment fold into a multi-branch loop or hairpin structures., Results: We studied 25,384 NS segment positive-sense RNA unique sequences of human and non-human IAVs in order to predict secondary RNA structures of the 82-148 and 497-564 regions using RNAfold software, and determined their host- and lineage-specific distributions. Hairpins prevailed in avian and avian-origin human IAVs, including H1N1pdm1918 and H5N1. In human and swine IAV hairpins distribution varied between evolutionary lineages., Conclusions: These results suggest a possible functional role for these RNA secondary structures and the need for experimental evaluation of these structures in the influenza life cycle.

Influenza A virus is one of the major human pathogens. Despite numerous efforts to produce absolutely effective anti-influenza drugs or vaccines, no such agent has been developed yet. One of the main reasons for this complication is the high mutation rate and the specific structure of influenza A viruses genome. For more than 25 years since the first mapping of the viral genome, it was believed that its 8 genome segments encode 10 proteins. However, the proteome of influenza A viruses has turned out to be much more complex than previously thought. In 2001, the first accessory protein, PB1-F2, translated from the alternative open reading frame, was discovered. Subsequently, six more proteins, PB1-N40, PA-X, PA-N155, PA-N182, M42, and NS3, have been found. It is important to pay close attention to these novel proteins in order to evaluate their role in the pathogenesis of influenza, especially in the case of outbreaks of human infections with new avian viruses, such as H5N1 or H7N9. In this review we summarize the data on the molecular mechanisms used by influenza A viruses to expand their proteome and on the possible functions of the recently discovered viral proteins., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The diagnostic oligonucleotide microarray for subtyping of human and animal influenza A viruses (IAVs) was developed. We proposed a simple method of the fluorescent labeling of genomic segments of all known IAVs subtypes, the composition of the hybridization buffer, as well as the software of the data processing. 48 IAVs strains of different subtypes were analyzed using our microarray. All of them were identified, while 45 of 48 strains were unambiguously subtyped.

Copper deficiency in adult rats was induced by addition of silver chloride to the feed. The concentrations of silver, copper, iron, and zinc and relative activity of genes for copper transporting proteins and copper enzymes were measured in the cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, amygdala, pituitary gland, and hypothalamus. Silver was accumulated only in the hypothalamic-pituitary system. These changes were accompanied by a decrease in the concentration of copper and increase in the contents of iron and zinc. Activity of genes for copper transport enzymes (high-affinity copper transporter; and two copper transport ATPases, ATP7A and ATP7B) and copper enzymes that were formed in the intracellular secretory pathway did not decrease in the brain of rats with copper deficiency. Relative activity of genes for intracellular copper enzymes (Cu(2+)/Zn(2+) superoxide dismutase and subunit IV of cytochrome c oxidase), concentration of immunoreactive polypeptides of superoxide dismutase, and enzymatic activity of superoxide dismutase remained unchanged under these conditions.

Alternative expression of ceruloplasmin (Cp) gene, whose product, blue multicopper ferroxidase, is a neuron survival factor, was studied in the current work. Computer analysis showed that Cp-mRNA isoform, coding for 109 kDa polypeptide, can be formed as a result of the transcription from the alternative promoter in 3'-region of intron 2 of rat Cp gene. Alternative Cp form starts with 25 amino acid residues sequence, coded with intron 2 region. It is followed by amino acid sequence of the main Cp isoform starting from Gly 113. In silico data were experimentally confirmed using RT-PCR. It was demonstrated that the predicted mRNA was generally localized in liver and brain cells of adult rats. Direct sequencing of the obtained PCR-product showed the entire coincidence of the real and predicted mRNAs. It was in vitro showed that approximately 110 kDa Cp-like protein was completed and accumulated in the absence of mitochondria. This protein is transferred into the isolated mitochondria in the reconstructed system. Transport is energy-dependent, it is not accompanied with the shortening of Cp polypeptide length and needs the presence of cytosolic factors. Probably import is determined by the inner protein mitochondria import signal with amino acid sequence KVVYREFTDSTFRE, located in 756-769 region of mature Cp. Possible role of Cp in iron metabolism in mitochondria is under discussion.

ANNOTATION: Translation in all open reading frames (ORF) of human ceruloplasmin (Cp) pseudogene revealed the only translating sequence of 984 nucleotides. The amino acid sequence contains a signal peptide for mitochondrial protein import at N-terminus. The predicted protein without taking the signal peptide into consideration has 92% identity to the corresponding Cp fragment. It contains 20 amino acid substitutions, 8 of them are significant. There is His-X-His motif in the center of a molecule that is typical for copper containing oxidases. Potential copper-binding site appears as a result of the substitution P923H along human Cp sequence. Cp pseudogene transcription product was found in the cultured human cell lines HepG2 and HuTu 80 using RT-PCR strategy. Cp polypeptides with molecular weight of nearly 30 kDa were found in mitochondria of HuTu 80 cells. The possible biological role of mitochondrial Cp is under discussion.

Using immunoblotting method it was found out that ceruloplasmin (Cp) polypeptides are revealed in mitochondria of rats, isolated from brain, liver, testicles and mammary gland. Cp is localized in matrix and inner membranes of mitochondria. Its molecular weight corresponds to the non-glycosilated form of the protein. Computer analysis did not reveal any sequences homologous to the signal peptide for mitochondria protein import (SPMPI) in the rat chromosomal Cp gene. However the analysis of homologous to Cp sequences, presented in databases, detected SPMPI in the human processed Cp pseudogene. Cp pseudogene region of 984 nucleotides long is translated in the only reading frame to the polypeptide of 328 a.a. long including 66 a.a of SPMPI at N-terminus. The predicted protein with the exception of SPMPI is identical to the corresponding Cp fragment at 92%, it has 20 amino acid substitutions, 8 of which are significant. His-X-His motif, typical for copper containing ferroxidases, is located in the centre of a molecule. Potential copper-binding site appears as a result of proline to histidine substitution at 923 position along Cp sequence. The product of Cp pseudogene transcription was detected in the human cultured cells of HepG2 and HuTu 80 cell lines using RT-PCR strategy. 30 kDa polypeptide that interacts with human Cp antibodies was found in mitochondria of HuTu 80 cells. The possible biological role of mitochondrial Cp is under discussion.