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A study of rat oligodendroglia integrin expression and its role in myogenesis indicates that integrin-mediated oligodendrocyte adhesion may initiate signals that trigger myelin gene expression and affect oligodendrocyte differentiation. The oligodendrocyte expressed integrin receptor complex, alpha(OL)-beta(OL), is precipitated due to the action of anti-human beta1 integrin subunit antibody. A disruption of oligodendrocyte adhesion reduces the myelin component mRNA levels.

The fluorescence spectroscopy, multiangle laser light scattering (MALLS) and the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) are used for investigating recombinant vault conformational change in response to a varied solution pH. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of negatively stained vaults at pH 6.5 and 3.4 has confirmed the fluoresce spectroscopy, MALLS and QCM results by providing visual evidence that vaults disassemble into halves as the solution pH is lowered from 6.5 to 3.4.

The Sf9 insect cell expression system is used to form major vault protein (MVP)-only recombinant vaults and a series of protein-mixing experiments are conducted to test whether this particle shell is able to exclude exogenous proteins from interacting with the vault interior. Results demonstrate that the protein shell of the recombinant vault particle is a dynamic structure and suggest a possible mechanism for in vivo assembly of vault-interacting proteins into performed vaults.

Vault particles are the largest naturally occurring ribonucleoprotein complexes found in the cytoplasm. In all 78 copies of major vault protein (MVP) assemble on polyribosome templates, forming recombinant vault particles, which are of great interest as encapsulation carriers for therapeutics delivery and enzyme stabilization. Baculovirus‐insect cell expression is the only system that has been developed for recombinant vault synthesis, but it has low scalability and slow production rate. In this study, we demonstrated the first use of yeast cells for the production of vault particles with full integrity and functionality solely by expressing the complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding MVP. Vaults synthesized in Pichia pastoris yeast cells are morphologically indistinguishable from recombinant vault particles produced in insect cells, and are able to package and stabilize enzymes resulting in improved longevity and catalytic efficiency. Thus, our results imply that the yeast system is an economical alternative to insect cells for the production of recombinant vaults. The consistency of vault morphology between yeast and insect cell systems also underlines that polyribosome templating may be conserved among eukaryotes, which promises the synthesis and assembly of recombinant human vault particles in other eukaryotic organisms. Vault particles are the largest naturally occurring ribonucleoprotein complexes found in cells. Recombinant vault particles, assembled from 78 copies of major vault protein, are of great interest as encapsulation carriers for therapeutics delivery and enzyme stabilization. Here, we demonstrate the use of yeast cells for producing vault particles with full integrity and functionality solely by expressing the MVP cDNA. Vaults synthesized in Pichia pastoris yeast cells are able to package and stabilize enzymes resulting in improved longevity and catalytic efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease, causing a significant burden to females due to reproductive dysfunction. Intensive screening and antibiotic treatment are unable to completely prevent female reproductive dysfunction, thus, efforts have become focused on developing a vaccine. A major impediment is identifying a safe and effective adjuvant which induces cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) cells with attributes capable of halting genital infection and inflammation. Previously, we described a natural nanocapsule called the vault which was engineered to contain major outer membrane protein (MOMP) and was an effective vaccine which significantly reduced early infection and favored development of a cellular immune response in a mouse model. In the current study, we used another chlamydial antigen, a polymorphic membrane protein G-1 (PmpG) peptide, to track antigen-specific cells and evaluate, in depth, the vault vaccine for its protective capacity in the absence of an added adjuvant. We found PmpG-vault immunized mice significantly reduced the genital bacterial burden and histopathologic parameters of inflammation following a C. muridarum challenge. Immunization boosted antigen-specific CD4 cells with a multiple cytokine secretion pattern and reduced the number of inflammatory cells in the genital tract making the vault vaccine platform safe and effective for chlamydial genital infection. We conclude that vaccination with a Chlamydia-vault vaccine boosts antigen-specific immunities that are effective at eradicating infection and preventing reproductive tract inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Modifications of adjuvants that induce cell-mediated over antibody-mediated immunity is desired for development of vaccines. Nanocapsules have been found to be viable adjuvants and are amenable to engineering for desired immune responses. We previously showed that natural nanocapsules called vaults can be genetically engineered to elicit Th1 immunity and protection from a mucosal bacterial infection. The purpose of our study was to characterize immunity produced in response to OVA within vault nanoparticles and compare it to another nanocarrier. Methodology and Principal Findings: We characterized immunity resulting from immunization with the model antigen, ovalbumin (OVA) encased in vault nanocapsules and liposomes. We measured OVA responsive CD8+ and CD4+ memory T cell responses, cytokine production and antibody titers in vitro and in vivo. We found that immunization with OVA contain in vaults induced a greater number of anti-OVA CD8+ memory T cells and production of IFNc plus CD4+ memory T cells. Also, modification of the vault body could change the immune response compared to OVA encased in liposomes. Conclusions/Significance: These experiments show that vault nanocapsules induced strong anti-OVA CD8+ and CD4+ T cell memory responses and modest antibody production, which markedly differed from the immune response induced by liposomes. We also found that the vault nanocapsule could be modified to change antibody isotypes in vivo. Thus it is possible to create a vault nanocapsule vaccine that can result in the unique combination of immunogen-responsive CD8+ and CD4+ T cell immunity coupled with an IgG1 response for future development of vault nanocapsule-based vaccines against antigens for human pathogens and cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Based on our preclinical findings, we are assessing the efficacy of intratumoral injection of dendritic cells (DC) transduced with an adenoviral vector expressing the secondary lymphoid chemokine (CCL21) gene (Ad-CCL21-DC) in a phase I trial in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While this approach shows immune enhancement, the preparation of autologous DC for CCL21 genetic modification is cumbersome, expensive and time consuming. We are evaluating a non-DC based approach which utilizes vault nanoparticles for intratumoral CCL21 delivery to mediate antitumor activity in lung cancer. Principal Findings: Here we describe that vault nanocapsule platform for CCL21 delivery elicits antitumor activity with inhibition of lung cancer growth. Vault nanocapsule packaged CCL21 (CCL21-vaults) demonstrated functional activity in chemotactic and antigen presenting activity assays. Recombinant vaults impacted chemotactic migration of T cells and this effect was predominantly CCL21 dependent as CCL21 neutralization abrogated the CCL21 mediated enhancement in chemotaxis. Intratumoral administration of CCL21-vaults in mice bearing lung cancer enhanced leukocytic infiltrates (CXCR3+T, CCR7+T, IFNγ+T lymphocytes, DEC205+ DC), inhibited lung cancer tumor growth and reduced the frequencies of immune suppressive cells [myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC), T regulatory cells (Treg), IL-10 T cells]. CCL21-vaults induced systemic antitumor responses by augmenting splenic T cell lytic activity against parental tumor cells. Significance: This study demonstrates that the vault nanocapsule can efficiently deliver CCL21 to sustain antitumor activity and inhibit lung cancer growth. The vault nanocapsule can serve as an "off the shelf" approach to deliver antitumor cytokines to treat a broad range of malignancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Generation of robust cell-mediated immune responses at mucosal surfaces while reducing overall inflammation is a primary goal for vaccination. Here we report the use of a recombinant nanoparticle as a vaccine delivery platform against mucosal infections requiring T cell-mediated immunity for eradication. Methodology/Principal Findings: We encapsulated an immunogenic protein, the major outer membrane protein (MOMP) of Chlamydia muridarum, within hollow, vault nanocapsules (MOMP-vaults) that were engineered to bind IgG for enhanced immunity. Intranasal immunization (i.n) with MOMP-vaults induced anti-chlamydial immunity plus significantly attenuated bacterial burden following challenge infection. Vault immunization induced anti-chlamydial immune responses and inflammasome formation but did not activate toll-like receptors. Moreover, MOMP-vault immunization enhanced microbial eradication without the inflammation usually associated with adjuvants. Conclusions/Significance: Vault nanoparticles containing immunogenic proteins delivered to the respiratory tract by the i.n. route can act as ''smart adjuvants'' for inducing protective immunity at distant mucosal surfaces while avoiding destructive inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A draft atomic structure has been determined for the 9.3-MDa protein shell of the vault cytoplasmic particle, revealing stave-like polypeptides forming the barrel-like structure of the vault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vault poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (VPARP) was originally identified as a minor protein component of the vault ribonucleoprotein particle, which may be involved in molecular assembly or subcellular transport. In addition to the association of VPARP with the cytoplasmic vault particle, subpopulations of VPARP localize to the nucleus and the mitotic spindle, indicating that VPARP may have other cellular functions. We found that VPARP was associated with telomerase activity and interacted with exogenously expressed telomerase-associated protein 1 (TEP1) in human cells. To study the possible role of VPARP in telomerase and vault complexes in vivo, mVparp-deficient mice were generated. Mice deficient in mVparp were viable and fertile for up to five generations, with no apparent changes in telomerase activity or telomere length. Vaults purified from mVparpdeficient mouse liver appeared intact, and no defect in association with other vault components was observed. Mice deficient in mTep1, whose disruption alone does not affect telomere function but does affect the stability of vault RNA, showed no additional telomerase or telomere-related phenotypes when the mTep1 deficiency was combined with an mVparp deficiency. These data suggest that murine mTep1 and mVparp, alone or in combination, are dispensable for normal development, telomerase catalysis, telomere length maintenance, and vault structure in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]