TY  - JOUR
A1  - Eder, Sascha
A1  - Hollmann, Claudia
A1  - Mandasari, Putri
A1  - Wittmann, Pia
A1  - Schumacher, Fabian
A1  - Kleuser, Burkhard
A1  - Fink, Julian
A1  - Seibel, Jürgen
A1  - Schneider-Schaulies, Jürgen
A1  - Stigloher, Christian
A1  - Beyersdorf, Niklas
A1  - Dembski, Sofia
T1  - Synthesis and characterization of ceramide-containing liposomes as membrane models for different T cell subpopulations
JF  - Journal of Functional Biomaterials
N2  - A fine balance of regulatory (T\(_{reg}\)) and conventional CD4\(^+\) T cells (T\(_{conv}\)) is required to prevent harmful immune responses, while at the same time ensuring the development of protective immunity against pathogens. As for many cellular processes, sphingolipid metabolism also crucially modulates the T\(_{reg}\)/T\(_{conv}\) balance. However, our understanding of how sphingolipid metabolism is involved in T cell biology is still evolving and a better characterization of the tools at hand is required to advance the field. Therefore, we established a reductionist liposomal membrane model system to imitate the plasma membrane of mouse T\(_{reg}\) and T\(_{conv}\) with regards to their ceramide content. We found that the capacity of membranes to incorporate externally added azide-functionalized ceramide positively correlated with the ceramide content of the liposomes. Moreover, we studied the impact of the different liposomal preparations on primary mouse splenocytes in vitro. The addition of liposomes to resting, but not activated, splenocytes maintained viability with liposomes containing high amounts of C\(_{16}\)-ceramide being most efficient. Our data thus suggest that differences in ceramide post-incorporation into T\(_{reg}\) and T\(_{conv}\) reflect differences in the ceramide content of cellular membranes.
KW  - liposome
KW  - ceramide
KW  - cell membrane model
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-286130
SN  - 2079-4983
VL  - 13
IS  - 3
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Zimniak, Melissa
A1  - Kirschner, Luisa
A1  - Hilpert, Helen
A1  - Geiger, Nina
A1  - Danov, Olga
A1  - Oberwinkler, Heike
A1  - Steinke, Maria
A1  - Sewald, Katherina
A1  - Seibel, Jürgen
A1  - Bodem, Jochen
T1  - The serotonin reuptake inhibitor Fluoxetine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in human lung tissue
JF  - Scientific Reports
N2  - To circumvent time-consuming clinical trials, testing whether existing drugs are effective inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2, has led to the discovery of Remdesivir. We decided to follow this path and screened approved medications "off-label" against SARS-CoV-2. Fluoxetine inhibited SARS-CoV-2 at a concentration of 0.8 mu g/ml significantly in these screenings, and the EC50 was determined with 387 ng/ml. Furthermore, Fluoxetine reduced viral infectivity in precision-cut human lung slices showing its activity in relevant human tissue targeted in severe infections. Fluoxetine treatment resulted in a decrease in viral protein expression. Fluoxetine is a racemate consisting of both stereoisomers, while the S-form is the dominant serotonin reuptake inhibitor. We found that both isomers show similar activity on the virus, indicating that the R-form might specifically be used for SARS-CoV-2 treatment. Fluoxetine inhibited neither Rabies virus, human respiratory syncytial virus replication nor the Human Herpesvirus 8 or Herpes simplex virus type 1 gene expression, indicating that it acts virus-specific. Moreover, since it is known that Fluoxetine inhibits cytokine release, we see the role of Fluoxetine in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients of risk groups.
KW  - SARS-CoV-2
KW  - viral epidemiology
KW  - viral infection
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259820
VL  - 11
ER  -