Plos One
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Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) and IL-2 Inducible T-cell Kinase (ITK) are enzymes responsible for the phosphorylation and activation of downstream effectors in the B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling and T cell receptor (TCR) signaling pathways, respectively. Ibrutinib is an FDA-approved potent inhibitor of both BTK and ITK that impairs B-cell and T-cell function. CD4 T cells and B cells are essential for the induction of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). ⋯ Ibrutinib was also able to alleviate the clinical manifestations in acute GVHD (aGVHD), where the recipients were given grafts with or without B cells, suggesting that an inhibitory effect of Ibrutinib on T cells contributes to a reduction in both aGVHD and cGVHD pathogenesis. An effective prophylactic regimen is still lacking to both reduce the incidence and severity of human cGVHD following allo-HSCT. Our study shows that Ibrutinib is an effective prophylaxis against several mouse models of cGVHD with minimal toxicity and could be a promising strategy to combat human cGVHD clinically.
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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021447.].
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High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is associated with insulin resistance, which may affect brain synaptic plasticity through impairment of insulin-sensitive processes underlying neuronal survival, learning, and memory. The experimental model consisted of 3 month-old C57BL/6J mice fed either a normal chow diet (control group) or a HFD (60% of calorie from fat; HFD group) for 12 weeks. This model was characterized as a function of time in terms of body weight, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, HOMA-IR values, and plasma triglycerides. ⋯ In liver, HFD elicited (a) a significant decrease of insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) phosphorylation on Tyr608 and increase of Ser307 phosphorylation, indicative of IRS-1 inactivation; (b) these changes were accompanied by inflammatory responses in terms of increases in the expression of NFκB and iNOS and activation of the MAP kinases p38 and JNK; (c) primary hepatocytes from mice fed a HFD showed decreased cellular oxygen consumption rates (indicative of mitochondrial functional impairment); this can be ascribed partly to a decreased expression of PGC1α and mitochondrial biogenesis. In brain, HFD feeding elicited (a) an inactivation of the IRS-1 and, consequentially, (b) a decreased expression and plasma membrane localization of the insulin-sensitive neuronal glucose transporters GLUT3/GLUT4; (c) a suppression of the ERK/CREB pathway, and (d) a substantial decrease in long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of hippocampus (indicative of impaired synaptic plasticity). It may be surmised that 12 weeks fed with HFD induce a systemic insulin resistance that impacts profoundly on brain activity, i.e., synaptic plasticity.
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Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in exon 1 of the huntingtin gene (HTT). The primary neuropathology of HD has been attributed to the preferential degeneration of medium spiny neurons (MSN) in the striatum. Reports on striatal neurogenesis have been a subject of debate; nevertheless, it should be considered as an endogenous attempt to repair the brain. ⋯ Besides this, we observed a selective proliferation of neuroblasts in the adjacent striatum of tgHD rats. There was no evidence for neuronal maturation and survival of these striatal neuroblasts. Therefore, the functional role of these invading neuroblasts still needs to be determined, but they might offer an endogenous alternative for stem or neuronal cell transplantation strategies.