Journal: International Journal of Nanomedicine

Article Title: Effects of PVA coated nanoparticles on human immune cells

doi: 10.2147/IJN.S75936

Figure Lengend Snippet: Comparison of the influence of a-PVA-SPION on whole blood cytokine secretion by immune cells of RA patients and healthy donors. Notes: Supernatants were collected from whole blood survival assays (blood samples obtained from patients with RA [n=9, left] or healthy donors [n=4, right]). One example for IL1β secretion is given in detail in ( A ), and a tabular overview for all measured cytokines is presented in ( B ). Red arrow: cytokines that were significantly increased at SPION concentration 100 μg/mL compared to untreated control; black arrow: cytokines significantly increased at any other SPION concentration than 100 μg/mL compared to untreated control; green arrow: cytokines that remained unchanged; nd: not detectable; data are given as box and whiskers; whiskers represent minimum to maximum; one-way ANOVA: *** P <0.001; ** P <0.01; * P <0.05. Abbreviations: RA, rheumatoid arthritis; ANOVA, analysis of variance; Ctrl, control; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; PHA, Phaseolus vulgaris ; HD, healthy donors; a-PVA-SPION, amino-polyvinyl alcohol coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

Article Snippet: Anti-human-IL1β-PE, anti-human-CD3-Pacific-blue, anti-human-CD14-APC-Cy7, anti-human-CD19-PE-Cy7, and Annexin V/7AAD apoptosis kit were from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA, USA) and anti-human-CD15-APC was from Miltenyi Biotech GmbH (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany).

Techniques: Concentration Assay

Journal: International Journal of Nanomedicine

Article Title: Effects of PVA coated nanoparticles on human immune cells

doi: 10.2147/IJN.S75936

Figure Lengend Snippet: Impact of a-PVA-SPION on the number and distribution of IL1β positive cells. Notes: Whole blood samples obtained from healthy donors (n=6) were incubated for 20 hours at varying a-PVA-SPION concentrations. Cellular transport was blocked by adding Brefeldin A and cells were stained for extracellular markers as well as for intracellular IL1β. Normalization according to cell count was performed and data were visualized with the help of a heat map. Data are given as number of IL1β positive cells. Abbreviations: Ctrl, control; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; PHA, Phaseolus vulgaris ; a-PVA-SPION, amino-polyvinyl alcohol coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

Article Snippet: Anti-human-IL1β-PE, anti-human-CD3-Pacific-blue, anti-human-CD14-APC-Cy7, anti-human-CD19-PE-Cy7, and Annexin V/7AAD apoptosis kit were from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA, USA) and anti-human-CD15-APC was from Miltenyi Biotech GmbH (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany).

Techniques: Incubation, Staining, Cell Counting

Journal: International Journal of Nanomedicine

Article Title: Effects of PVA coated nanoparticles on human immune cells

doi: 10.2147/IJN.S75936

Figure Lengend Snippet: Influence of a-PVA-SPION on the concentration of secreted cytokines in whole blood samples obtained from RA patients

Article Snippet: Anti-human-IL1β-PE, anti-human-CD3-Pacific-blue, anti-human-CD14-APC-Cy7, anti-human-CD19-PE-Cy7, and Annexin V/7AAD apoptosis kit were from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA, USA) and anti-human-CD15-APC was from Miltenyi Biotech GmbH (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany).

Techniques: Concentration Assay

Journal: International Journal of Nanomedicine

Article Title: Effects of PVA coated nanoparticles on human immune cells

doi: 10.2147/IJN.S75936

Figure Lengend Snippet: Influence of a-PVA-SPION on the concentration of secreted cytokines in whole blood samples obtained from HD

Article Snippet: Anti-human-IL1β-PE, anti-human-CD3-Pacific-blue, anti-human-CD14-APC-Cy7, anti-human-CD19-PE-Cy7, and Annexin V/7AAD apoptosis kit were from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA, USA) and anti-human-CD15-APC was from Miltenyi Biotech GmbH (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany).

Techniques: Concentration Assay

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: The proteasome maturation factor POMP moonlights as a stress-induced transcriptional regulator

doi: 10.1101/2025.04.25.650603

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Representative immunofluorescence images of HEK293 cells expressing either an empty vector control or a POMP plasmid for 72h treated with either DMSO or MG132 for 5h. The formation of POMP nuclear puncta is observed only in response to proteasome inhibition and is independent of POMP overexpression. Scale bars = 5 µm. (B) Analysis of the POMP expression levels in the HEK293 cells of the experiment shown in A. While proteasome inhibition leads to a modest but significant increase in POMP levels, POMP overexpression in combination with proteasome inhibition leads to significant and progressively large increase in cellular POMP levels. *p≤0.05, ****p≤0.0001, Welch’s ANOVA test and post-hoc Dunnett’s T3 multiple comparisons test, n=15 (Cntrl DMSO), 14 (Cntrl MG132), 30 (POMP DMSO) and 18 (POMP MG132), mean±SD, FC=fold change. (C) Analysis of the number of nuclear POMP puncta in the HEK293 cells of the experiment shown in A. The formation of POMP nuclear puncta is independent of POMP expression levels in cells and only proteasome inhibition leads to a significant increase in their number. ns=p>0.05, ****p≤0.0001, Welch’s ANOVA test and post-hoc Dunnett’s T3 multiple comparisons test, n=17 (Cntrl DMSO), 16 (Cntrl MG132), 30 (POMP DMSO) and 18 (POMP MG132), mean±SD. (D) Representative immunofluorescence images of HEK293 cells expressing either POMP-Scarlet or NLS-POMP-Scarlet (nuclear localised) overexpression plasmids for 72h treated with either DMSO or MG132 for 5h. Enforcing nuclear localisation of POMP was not sufficient to drive puncta formation, which requires proteasome inhibition.Scale bars = 5 µm. (E) Analysis of the nuclear POMP expression levels in the HEK293 cells of the experiment shown in D. Overexpression of POMP-Scarlet +/- MG132 and NLS-POMP-Scarlet +/- MG132 led to a significant and progressive rise in nuclear POMP levels. ns=p>0.05, *p≤0.05, ***p≤0.001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, n= 76 (POMP-Scarlet DMSO), 70 (POMP-Scarlet MG132), 56 (NLS-POMP-Scarlet DMSO), 76 (NLS-POMP-Scarlet MG132), mean±SD, FC=fold change. (F) Analysis of the number of nuclear POMP puncta in the HEK293 cells of the experiment shown in D. The formation of POMP nuclear puncta was independent of nuclear POMP levels in cells and only proteasome inhibition led to a significant increase in their number. ns=p>0.05, ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, n=50 (POMP-Scarlet DMSO), 55 (POMP-Scarlet MG132), 54 (NLS-POMP-Scarlet DMSO), 54 (NLS-POMP-Scarlet MG132), mean±SD. (G) Representative immunofluorescence images of hippocampal neurons treated with either DMSO, the proteasome inhibitors MG132, Carfilzomib or the ROS precursor H₂O₂, and stained for MAP2, the nucleolar marker Fibrillarin and the oxidative stress probe CellROX Green. Treatment with H₂O₂ and proteasome inhibition lead to an increase in cellular ROS levels, measured by the increase in CellROX Green fluorescence. Scale bars = 5 µm. (H) Analysis of the CellROX Green fluorescence intensity in the hippocampal neurons of panel G. Treatment with H₂O₂ and proteasome inhibitors led to a significant increase in CellROX Green fluorescence. *p≤0.05, ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test, n=24 (DMSO), 21 (MG132), 27 (Carfilzomib) and 18 (H₂O₂), Boxplots show the median (line), interquartile range (box), and Min-Max whiskers. FC=fold change. (I) Representative immunofluorescence images of hippocampal neurons treated with either DMSO, MG132 alone or MG132 in combination with the reducing agent DTT (1 mM), and immunostained for POMP, MAP2 and the nucleolar marker Fibrillarin. Preventing ROS production with DTT blocked POMP relocalisation to the nucleolus. Scale bar in the low and high-magnification images 10 and 5 µm, respectively. (J) Analysis of neuronal nucleolar POMP levels in the the experiment in I. While proteasome inhibition led to a significant increase in nucleolar POMP levels, blocking ROS production by DTT treatment prevented the nucleolar relocalisation of POMP. ns=p>0.05, ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test, n=54, Boxplots show the median (line), interquartile range (box), and Min-Max whiskers, FC=fold change. (K) Representative non-reducing SDS-PAGE Western blot analysis of cortical neurons treated with either DMSO, MG132 or MG132+1 mM DTT for 5h. Treatment with MG132 led to elevated POMP levels and the appearance of higher molecular species that were redox sensitive and reduced by co-incubation of MG132 with 1 mM DTT on cells. LaminB1 was used as loading control. (L) Analysis of the Western blot shown in K. DTT blocked the relocalization of POMP. The discrepancy in the size of the effects seen for POMP relocalisation I,J and POMP higher molecular weight species levels in K and L can be explained by the re-oxidation POMP during non-reducing SDS-PAGE in atmospheric oxygen. ns=p>0.05, *p≤0.05, RM one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparison test, n=4, mean±SD. (M) Analysis of the Western blots shown in of HEK293 treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, INFα, IL1β, GM-CSF) or water control for four days. Treatment with all four cytokines leads to a significant upregulation in P-HSF1 and its downstream targets Hsp70 and POMP. *p≤0.05, **p<0.01, ****p≤0.0001, RM one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparison test, n=4, mean±SD. FC=fold change. (N) Analysis of the CellROX Green fluorescence intensity in HEK293 treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines for four days. In all cases treatment leads to a significant increase in CellROX Green fluorescence. ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Kruskal-Wallis multiple comparisons test, n=57 (Cntrl), 60 (TNFα, IL1β, GM-CSF), 120 (INFα), Boxplots show the median (line), interquartile range (box), and Min-Max whiskers. FC=fold change. (O) Analysis of the nucleolar POMP levels in HEK293 treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines for four days. Treatment with all four cytokines leads to a significant increase in nucleolar POMP levels. *p≤0.05, ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparison test, n=712 (Cntrl), 795 (TNFα), 472 (IFNα), 291 (IL1β), 272 (GM-CSF), mean±SD. FC=fold change.

Article Snippet: The compounds and cytokines used for cell treatment along with vendor and catalog number, the solvent used for reconstitution, the concentration used and treatment duration (in those cases where only one was used) are hereby listed: Carfilzomib (Abcam, ab216469, DMSO, 2 µM), Epoxomicin (Millipore, 324800, DMSO, 2 µM), MG132 (Invitrogen, J63250.MCR, DMSO, 10 µM), Bortezomib (Invitrogen, J60378, DMSO, 1 µM), HSF1B (Axon Medchem, 2101, DMSO, 70 µM, 7 hr), KNK-437 (Sigma-Aldrich, SML0964, DMSO, 100 µM, 5hr in combination with proteasome inhibition), DTT (Millipore, 111474, 1 mM, H2O, 5hr in combination with proteasome inhibition), H2O2 (AlfaAesar, L13235, H2O, 1 mM, 1hr) TNFα (Peprotech, 300-01A-50UG, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), IFNα (Abcam, ab48750, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), IL1β (CST, 54059, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), GM-CSF (CST, 87015, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), chloroquine (Fisher Scientific, C230125G, H2O, 100 µM), (Tocris, 0130, DMSO, 10 µM), CNQX (Tocris, 1045, H2O, 20 µM), APV (Tocris, 0106, H2O, 50 µM).

Techniques: Immunofluorescence, Expressing, Plasmid Preparation, Control, Inhibition, Over Expression, Staining, Marker, Fluorescence, Blocking Assay, SDS Page, Western Blot, Incubation, Molecular Weight, Comparison

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: The proteasome maturation factor POMP moonlights as a stress-induced transcriptional regulator

doi: 10.1101/2025.04.25.650603

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Analysis of experiments like the one shown in . Quantification of nuclear POMP levels in HEK293 cells expressing either an empty vector control (EV) and treated with MG132 (5 hr) or expressing HA-POMP-Myc-Flag (POMP OE) and treated with DMSO (5 hr). POMP overexpression is not sufficient to elevate POMP in the nucleus to the same levels as endogenous POMP following MG132 treatment. *p≤0.05, unpaired two-tailed t-test, n=25 (EV MG132) and 31 (POMP OE DMSO), mean±SD, FC=fold change. (B) Representative images of HEK293 cells expressing HA-Scarlet (Scarlet) or NLS-HA-Scarlet (NLS-Scarlet) treated with DMSO or MG132 for 5 hr. Fusion of an NLS- to Scarlet leads to its strong nuclear accumulation but neither the expression levels or the staining pattern of the construct is affected by proteasome inhibition. Scale bars = 5 µm. (C) Analysis of the nuclear Scarlet levels in the HEK293 cells of experiments like the one shown in B. While NLS-fusion leads to a significant increase in the nuclear levels of Scarlet, MG132 treatment has no effect on the nuclear Scarlet levels for either construct. ns=p>0.05, ****p≤0.0001, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, n=64 (Scarlet DMSO), 60 (NLS-Scarlet DMSO), 63 (Scarlet/NLS-Scarlet MG132) cells, mean±SD, FC=fold change. (D) Analysis of the number of nuclear Scarlet puncta in the HEK293 cells of the experiment shown in B. In general Scarlet does not form nuclear puncta and those few that form due to overexpression are not significantly affected by proteasome inhibition. ns=p>0.05, unpaired two-tailed t-test, n=53 (Scarlet DMSO), 54 (NLS-Scarlet DMSO), 46 (Scarlet MG132), 52 (NLS-Scarlet MG132) cells, mean±SD, FC=fold change. (E) Representative CellROX Green fluorescent images of HEK293 treated with either DMSO, the proteasome inhibitors MG132, Carfilzomib, or 1 mM H₂O₂, as a positive control. Proteasome inhibition and H₂O₂ treatments lead to an increase in CellROX Green fluorescence. Scale bars = 10 µm. (F) Analysis of experiments like the one shown in E. Proteasome inhibition and H₂O₂ treatment lead to a significant increase in CellROX Green fluorescence. *p≤0.05, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test, n=16 (DMSO), 17 (Carfilzomib), 20 (MG132, H₂O₂), boxplots show the median (line), interquartile range (box), and Min-Max whiskers. FC=fold change. (G) Multiple sequence alignment of POMP orthologs across species, highlighting conserved cysteine residues. (H) Reducing and non-reducing SDS-PAGE Western blot analysis of primary rat cortical neurons treated with either DMSO, MG132 or Carfilzomib for 5 hr. Blots were probed for proteasome components (PSMA1-7, PSMB5), POMP, ACTB and total protein (loading controls) and transferrin (TF) as a positive control for reduction. Proteasome inhibition leads to the appearance of oligomeric POMP bands, whose intensity decreases following reduction. (I) Line plot of the POMP oligomers intensity profiles under non-reducing conditions. The x-axis reports the molecular weight of the POMP + bands and y-axis their intensity, the dashed line marks the maximal intensity of the peak at ∼25 kDa. Proteasome inhibition leads to the appearance of oligomeric bands. The lines and the areas represent mean and SEM, respectively. n=3 biological replicates. (J) Line plot of the POMP oligomers intensity profiles under reducing conditions. The x-axis reports the molecular weight of the POMP + bands and y-axis their intensity, the dashed line marks the maximal intensity of the peak at ∼25 kDa under non-reducing conditions. The intensity of the peak at ∼25 kDa is decreased by incubation of the extracts with a reducing agent. The lines and the areas represent mean and SEM, respectively. n=3 biological replicates. (K) Analysis of the levels of POMP oligomeric species from experiments shown in H-J. Treatment of the extracts with a reducing agent leads to a significant reduction in the levels of the oligomeric POMP species induced by proteasome inhibition. *p≤0.05, **p<0.01, unpaired two-tailed t-tests, n=3 biological replicates, FC= fold change. (L) Schematic of the POMP oligomerization assay. HA-tagged WT POMP-Scarlet or C36A POMP-Scarlet constructs were co-expressed with a Flag-tagged POMP construct in HEK293 cells that were treated with either DMSO or MG132 for 5 hr. Lysates were subjected to Flag co-IP and the eluates were analysed by non-reducing SDS-PAGE and Western blotting for the HA tag to assay for oligomerization via covalent and non-covalent interactions. (M) Western blot analysis of input and eluate samples from the experiment in L. While WT HA-POMP-Scarlet can interact with POMP-Flag both via non-covalent interactions and disulfide bonds formed via the Cys-residue, the C36A mutant can only interact with the bait via non-covalent interactions and the ability to form higher molecular weight oligomers is entirely lost. Blots of the eluates show that the different constructs express to the same levels and the differences seen after IP cannot be explained by the inputs. (N) Analysis of the POMP levels in the inputs used for the co-IP experiments like the one shown in M. Treatment with MG132 leads to a similar increase in the levels of all three POMP constructs. The C36A mutation does not have any adverse effect on POMP expression. ns=p>0.05, *p≤0.05, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Šidák’s multiple comparisons tests, n=3 biological replicates, mean±SD. (O) Analysis of HA-POMP-Scarlet levels in the eluates of experiments like the one shown in M. C36A mutation prevents formation of oligomers via disulfide bond formation and leads to a significant reduction in the levels of oligomers formed in response to MG132 treatment. However, MG132 treatment is able to induce a significant increase in the levels of C36A POMP in the eluates via increased non covalent interactions. ns=p>0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test, n=3 biological replicates, mean±SD. (P) Analysis of the POMP oligomers formed in response to MG132 treatment in the eluates of experiments like the one shown in M. C36A mutation prevents formation of POMP-Scarlet oligomers in the Flag co-IP eluates. **p<0.01, unpaired two-tailed t-test, n=3 biological replicates, mean±SD. (Q) Western blot analysis of HEK293 cells treated with pro-inflammatory cytokines TNFα, INFα, IL1β, GM-CSF for four days. Proteasome activity was probed by in-ge ABP fluorescence. Blots were probed for POMP, HSF1 and its activated form P-HSF1, Hsp70, proteasome subunits (PSMA1-7, PSMB1, PSMB2, PSMB4), immunoproteasome subunits (PSMB8, PSMB9, PSMB10) and GAPDH, as loading control. The numbers reported above the POMP, PSMB4 (pro-form), PSMB9 and PSMB10 represent the log 2 FC average relative to Cntrl for the different treatments. n=4 biological replicates. Quantifications are reported only where at least in one of the treatments log 2 FC average >0.4. For POMP, P-HSF1 and Hsp70 the quantifications are reported in .

Article Snippet: The compounds and cytokines used for cell treatment along with vendor and catalog number, the solvent used for reconstitution, the concentration used and treatment duration (in those cases where only one was used) are hereby listed: Carfilzomib (Abcam, ab216469, DMSO, 2 µM), Epoxomicin (Millipore, 324800, DMSO, 2 µM), MG132 (Invitrogen, J63250.MCR, DMSO, 10 µM), Bortezomib (Invitrogen, J60378, DMSO, 1 µM), HSF1B (Axon Medchem, 2101, DMSO, 70 µM, 7 hr), KNK-437 (Sigma-Aldrich, SML0964, DMSO, 100 µM, 5hr in combination with proteasome inhibition), DTT (Millipore, 111474, 1 mM, H2O, 5hr in combination with proteasome inhibition), H2O2 (AlfaAesar, L13235, H2O, 1 mM, 1hr) TNFα (Peprotech, 300-01A-50UG, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), IFNα (Abcam, ab48750, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), IL1β (CST, 54059, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), GM-CSF (CST, 87015, PBS+0.1%BSA, 0.2 µg/ml, 4 days), chloroquine (Fisher Scientific, C230125G, H2O, 100 µM), (Tocris, 0130, DMSO, 10 µM), CNQX (Tocris, 1045, H2O, 20 µM), APV (Tocris, 0106, H2O, 50 µM).

Techniques: Expressing, Plasmid Preparation, Control, Over Expression, Two Tailed Test, Staining, Construct, Inhibition, Positive Control, Fluorescence, Sequencing, SDS Page, Western Blot, Molecular Weight, Incubation, Co-Immunoprecipitation Assay, Residue, Mutagenesis, Activity Assay