TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dasari, Prasad
A1  - Koleci, Naile
A1  - Shopova, Iordana A.
A1  - Wartenberg, Dirk
A1  - Beyersdorf, Niklas
A1  - Dietrich, Stefanie
A1  - Sahagún-Ruiz, Alfredo
A1  - Figge, Marc Thilo
A1  - Skerka, Christine
A1  - Brakhage, Axel A.
A1  - Zipfel, Peter F.
T1  - Enolase from Aspergillus fumigatus is a moonlighting protein that binds the human plasma complement proteins factor H, FHL-1, C4BP, and plasminogen
JF  - Frontiers in Immunology
N2  - The opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus can cause severe infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. Upon infection, A. fumigatus faces the powerful and directly acting immune defense of the human host. The mechanisms on how A. fumigatus evades innate immune attack and complement are still poorly understood. Here, we identify A. fumigatus enolase, AfEno1, which was also characterized as fungal allergen, as a surface ligand for human plasma complement regulators. AfEno1 binds factor H, factor-H-like protein 1 (FHL-1), C4b binding protein (C4BP), and plasminogen. Factor H attaches to AfEno1 via two regions, via short conserved repeats (SCRs) 6–7 and 19–20, and FHL-1 contacts AfEno1 via SCRs 6–7. Both regulators when bound to AfEno1 retain cofactor activity and assist in C3b inactivation. Similarly, the classical pathway regulator C4BP binds to AfEno1 and bound to AfEno1; C4BP assists in C4b inactivation. Plasminogen which binds to AfEno1 via lysine residues is accessible for the tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA), and active plasmin cleaves the chromogenic substrate S2251, degrades fibrinogen, and inactivates C3 and C3b. Plasmin attached to swollen A. fumigatus conidia damages human A549 lung epithelial cells, reduces the cellular metabolic activity, and induces cell retraction, which results in exposure of the extracellular matrix. Thus, A. fumigatus AfEno1 is a moonlighting protein and virulence factor which recruits several human regulators. The attached human regulators allow the fungal pathogen to control complement at the level of C3 and to damage endothelial cell layers and tissue components.
KW  - complement factor H
KW  - moonlighting
KW  - immune evasion
KW  - plasminogen
KW  - blocking phagocytosis
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-195612
SN  - 1664-3224
VL  - 10
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Sadovnick, A. Dessa
A1  - Traboulsee, Anthony L.
A1  - Bernales, Cecily Q.
A1  - Ross, Jay P.
A1  - Forwell, Amanda L.
A1  - Yee, Irene M.
A1  - Guillot-Noel, Lena
A1  - Fontaine, Bertrand
A1  - Cournu-Rebeix, Isabelle
A1  - Alcina, Antonio
A1  - Fedetz, Maria
A1  - Izquierdo, Guillermo
A1  - Matesanz, Fuencisla
A1  - Hilven, Kelly
A1  - Dubois, Bénédicte
A1  - Goris, An
A1  - Astobiza, Ianire
A1  - Alloza, Iraide
A1  - Antigüedad, Alfredo
A1  - Vandenbroeck, Koen
A1  - Akkad, Denis A.
A1  - Aktas, Orhan
A1  - Blaschke, Paul
A1  - Buttmann, Mathias
A1  - Chan, Andrew
A1  - Epplen, Joerg T.
A1  - Gerdes, Lisa-Ann
A1  - Kroner, Antje
A1  - Kubisch, Christian
A1  - Kümpfel, Tania
A1  - Lohse, Peter
A1  - Rieckmann, Peter
A1  - Zettl, Uwe K.
A1  - Zipp, Frauke
A1  - Bertram, Lars
A1  - Lill, Christina M.
A1  - Fernandez, Oscar
A1  - Urbaneja, Patricia
A1  - Leyva, Laura
A1  - Alvarez-Cermeño, Jose Carlos
A1  - Arroyo, Rafael
A1  - Garagorri, Aroa M.
A1  - García-Martínez, Angel
A1  - Villar, Luisa M.
A1  - Urcelay, Elena
A1  - Malhotra, Sunny
A1  - Montalban, Xavier
A1  - Comabella, Manuel
A1  - Berger, Thomas
A1  - Fazekas, Franz
A1  - Reindl, Markus
A1  - Schmied, Mascha C.
A1  - Zimprich, Alexander
A1  - Vilariño-Güell, Carles
T1  - Analysis of Plasminogen Genetic Variants in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
JF  - G3: Genes Genomes Genetics
N2  - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent neurological disease of complex etiology. Here, we describe the characterization of a multi-incident MS family that nominated a rare missense variant (p.G420D) in plasminogen (PLG) as a putative genetic risk factor for MS. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D (rs139071351) in 2160 MS patients, and 886 controls from Canada, identified 10 additional probands, two sporadic patients and one control with the variant. Segregation in families harboring the rs139071351 variant, identified p.G420D in 26 out of 30 family members diagnosed with MS, 14 unaffected parents, and 12 out of 30 family members not diagnosed with disease. Despite considerably reduced penetrance, linkage analysis supports cosegregation of PLG p.G420D and disease. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D in 14446 patients, and 8797 controls from Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Austria failed to identify significant association with disease (P = 0.117), despite an overall higher prevalence in patients (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 0.93–1.87). To assess whether additional rare variants have an effect on MS risk, we sequenced PLG in 293 probands, and genotyped all rare variants in cases and controls. This analysis identified nine rare missense variants, and although three of them were exclusively observed in MS patients, segregation does not support pathogenicity. PLG is a plausible biological candidate for MS owing to its involvement in immune system response, blood-brain barrier permeability, and myelin degradation. Moreover, components of its activation cascade have been shown to present increased activity or expression in MS patients compared to controls; further studies are needed to clarify whether PLG is involved in MS susceptibility.
KW  - multiple sclerosis
KW  - genetics
KW  - linkage
KW  - association
KW  - plasminogen
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165405
VL  - 6
IS  - 7
ER  -