Precise signaling by the T cell receptor (TCR) is crucial for a proper immune response. To ensure that T cells respond appropriately to antigenic stimuli, TCR signaling pathways are subject to multiple levels of regulation. Sts-1 negatively regulates signaling pathways downstream of the TCR by an unknown mechanism(s). Here, we demonstrate that Sts-1 is a phosphatase that can target the tyrosine kinase Zap-70 among other proteins. The X-ray structure of the Sts-1 C terminus reveals that it has homology to members of the phosphoglycerate mutase/acid phosphatase (PGM/AcP) family of enzymes, with residues known to be important for PGM/AcP catalytic activity conserved in nature and position in Sts-1. Point mutations that impair Sts-1 phosphatase activity in vitro also impair the ability of Sts-1 to regulate TCR signaling in T cells. These observations reveal a PGM/AcP-like enzyme activity involved in the control of antigen receptor signaling.

Lefty/Ebaf polypeptides, novel members of the TGF-beta superfamily, are involved in endometrial differentiation and embryo implantation. Recently, we showed that, during undisturbed estrous cycle, lefty is present in mouse uterine horn primarily in a precursor form. Here, we show that decidual differentiation of endometrial stroma leads to increased lefty (approximately 3.1- to 3.6-fold in vivo and 5- to 8-fold in vitro) and processing of its precursor primarily to its long form. This event occurs on d 5 of pregnancy, and is paralleled by proprotein convertase (PC)5/6 up-regulation (approximately 6-fold increase for PC5A and 3-fold increase for PC5B) in decidualized uterine horn, independent of embryo implantation. Among the known convertases, only PC5/6A processes lefty to its long form. Taken together, the findings show that decidualized differentiation of stroma, which is a prerequisite for embryo implantation, leads to processing of lefty by PC5/6A.

Loneliness is associated with impaired mental and physical health. Studies of lonely individuals reported differential expression of inflammatory genes in peripheral leukocytes and diminished activation in brain reward regions such as nucleus accumbens, but could not address gene expression in the human brain. Here, we examined genome-wide RNA expression in postmortem nucleus accumbens from donors (N = 26) with known loneliness measures. Loneliness was associated with 1 710 differentially expressed transcripts from 1 599 genes (DEGs; FDR p < 0.05, fold-change ≥ |2|, controlling for confounds) previously associated with behavioral processes, neurological disease, psychological disorders, cancer, organismal injury, and skeletal and muscular disorders, as well as networks of upstream RNA regulators. Furthermore, a number of DEGs were associated with Alzheimer's disease genes (which was correlated with loneliness in this sample, although gene expression analyses controlled for AD diagnosis). These results identify novel targets for future mechanistic studies of gene networks in nucleus accumbens and gene regulatory mechanisms across a variety of diseases exacerbated by loneliness.Loneliness has been defined as a negative emotional state of unfulfilled intimate and social needs (1). It can also be considered as a behavioral trait, because it is stable over time (2, 3), difficult to alter with interventions (4), and heritable (5). Loneliness is a subjective perception of social isolation and therefore independent of objective measures such as social network size (1), making it a challenge to study in non-human animals.Users may view, print, copy, and download text and data-mine the content in such documents, for the purposes of academic research, subject always to the full Conditions of use: http://www.nature.com/authors/editorial_policies/license.html#terms Supplementary information is available at Molecular Psychiatry's website. Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no conflict of interest. HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptLoneliness has a profoundly negative impact on psychological/behavioral processes including mental health, particularly in aging populations. For example, loneliness is associated with depression and anxiety (6-8). Longitudinal studies of cognition reported that loneliness at baseline predicted cognitive decline in recall memory over a 4-year period (9), was associated with lower levels of perceptual processing and memory at baseline (10), overall cognitive decline (11) and incident dementia (12), as well as a decline in motor function (13). The underlying molecular-genetic mechanisms of these associations are currently unknown, in part because gene expression as a function of loneliness has not yet been examined in the human brain.Loneliness is also associated with increased risk for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) (10), as well as cancer (17,18), and organismal and muscular diseases and...

Synaptobrevin 2 (Sb2), syntaxin1 (Stx1), and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25) are the main components of the soluble N -ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex involved in fusion of synaptic vesicles with the presynaptic plasma membrane. We report the characterization of D53, a novel SNARE-binding protein preferentially expressed in neural and neuro-endocrine cells. Its two-dimensional organization, established by the hydrophobic cluster analysis, is reminiscent of SNARE proteins. D53 contains two putative helical regions, one of which includes a large coiled-coil domain involved in the interaction with Sb2 in vitro. Following subcellular fractionation, endogenous D53 was specifically detected in the membrane-containing fraction of PC12 cells, where it co-immunoprecipitated with Sb2. Analysis by confocal microscopy showed that, in these cells, endogenous D53 co-localized partially with the transferrin receptor in early endosomes. In vitro assays revealed that binding properties of D53 to Stx1 and Sb2 are comparable with those of SNAP-25. Furthermore, D53 forms Sb2/Stx1/D53 complexes in vitro in a manner similar to SNAP-25. We propose that D53 could be involved in the assembly or disassembly of endosomal SNARE complexes by regulating Sb2/Stx interaction.