Metabolic syndrome (MetS), characterized as obesity, insulin resistance, and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD), is associated with vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in epidemiological studies, while the underlying mechanism is poorly addressed. On the other hand, disorder of gut microbiota, namely dysbiosis, is known to cause MetS and NAFLD. It is also known that systemic inflammation blocks insulin signaling pathways, leading to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, which are the driving force for hepatic steatosis. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is highly expressed in the ileum of the small intestine, which prompted us to test a hypothesis that vitamin D signaling may determine the enterotype of gut microbiota through regulating the intestinal interface. Here, we demonstrate that high-fat-diet feeding (HFD) is necessary but not sufficient, while additional vitamin D deficiency (VDD) as a second hit is needed, to induce robust insulin resistance and fatty liver. Under the two hits (HFD+VDD), the Paneth cell-specific alpha-defensins including α-defensin 5 (DEFA5), MMP7 which activates the pro-defensins, as well as tight junction genes, and MUC2 are all suppressed in the ileum, resulting in mucosal collapse, increased gut permeability, dysbiosis, endotoxemia, systemic inflammation which underlie insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis. Moreover, under the vitamin D deficient high fat feeding (HFD+VDD), Helicobacter hepaticus, a known murine hepatic-pathogen, is substantially amplified in the ileum, while Akkermansia muciniphila, a beneficial symbiotic, is diminished. Likewise, the VD receptor (VDR) knockout mice exhibit similar phenotypes, showing down regulation of alpha-defensins and MMP7 in the ileum, increased Helicobacter hepaticus and suppressed Akkermansia muciniphila. Remarkably, oral administration of DEFA5 restored eubiosys, showing suppression of Helicobacter hepaticus and increase of Akkermansia muciniphila in association with resolving metabolic disorders and fatty liver in the HFD+VDD mice. An in vitro analysis showed that DEFA5 peptide could directly suppress Helicobacter hepaticus. Thus, the results of this study reveal critical roles of a vitamin D/VDR axis in optimal expression of defensins and tight junction genes in support of intestinal integrity and eubiosis to suppress NAFLD and metabolic disorders.

SARS-CoV-2 is the underlying cause for the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most enveloped RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 uses a homotrimeric surface antigen to gain entry into host cells. Here we describe S-Trimer, a native-like trimeric subunit vaccine candidate for COVID-19 based on Trimer-Tag technology. Immunization of S-Trimer with either AS03 (oil-in-water emulsion) or CpG 1018 (TLR9 agonist) plus alum adjuvants induced high-level of neutralizing antibodies and Th1-biased cellular immune responses in animal models. Moreover, rhesus macaques immunized with adjuvanted S-Trimer were protected from SARS-CoV-2 challenge compared to vehicle controls, based on clinical observations and reduction of viral loads in lungs. Trimer-Tag may be an important platform technology for scalable production and rapid development of safe and effective subunit vaccines against current and future emerging RNA viruses.

Background and Aims The genus Allium L., one of the largest monocotyledonous genera and one that includes many economically important crops with nutritional and medicinal value, has been the focus of classification or phylogeny studies for centuries. Recent studies suggested that the genus can be divided into 15 subgenera and 72 sections, which were further classified into three evolutionary lineages. However, the phylogenetic relationships reconstructed by one or two loci showed weaker support, especially for the third evolutionary lineage, which might not show the species relationships very clearly and could hinder further adaptive and evolutionary study. Methods In this study, a total of 39 complete chloroplast genomes of Allium (covering 12 Allium subgenera) were collected, and combining these with 125 species of plastomes from 19 other families of monocots, we reconstructed the phylogeny of the genus Allium, estimated the origin and divergence time of the three evolutionary lineages and investigated the adaptive evolution in this genus and related families. Results Our phylogenetic analysis confirmed the monophyly and three evolutionary lineages of Allium, while new species relationships were detected within the third evolutionary lineage. The divergence time of the three evolutionary lineages was estimated to be in the early Eocene to the middle Miocene, and numerous positive selected genes (PSGs) and PSGs with high average Ka/Ks values were found in Allium species. Conclusions Our results detected a well-supported phylogenetic relationship of Allium. The PSGs and PSGs with high Ka/Ks values, as well as diversified morphologies, complicated chromosome characteristics and unique reproductive modes may play important roles in the adaptation and evolution of Allium species. This is the first study that conducted phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses on the genus Allium combined with the plastome and morphological and cytological data. We hope that this study can contribute to further analysis of Allium for other researchers.

SARS-CoV-2 is the underlying cause for the COVID-19 pandemic. Like most enveloped RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2 uses a homotrimeric surface antigen to gain entry into host cells. Here we describe S-Trimer, a native-like trimeric subunit vaccine candidate for COVID-19 based on Trimer-Tag technology. Immunization of S-Trimer with either AS03 (oil-in-water emulsion) or CpG 1018 (TLR9 agonist) plus alum adjuvants induced high-levels of neutralizing antibodies and Th1-biased cellular immune responses in animal models. Moreover, rhesus macaques immunized with adjuvanted S-Trimer were protected from SARS-CoV-2 challenge compared to vehicle controls, based on clinical observations and reduction of viral loads in lungs. Trimer-Tag may be an important new platform technology for scalable production and rapid development of safe and effective subunit vaccines against current and future emerging RNA viruses.

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/Apo2L) has long been considered a tantalizing target for cancer therapy because it mediates activation of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway in a tumor-specific manner by binding to and trimerizing its functional receptors DR4 or DR5. Despite initial promise, both recombinant human TRAIL (native TRAIL) and dimeric DR4/DR5 agonist monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) failed in multiple human clinical trials. Here we show that in-frame fusion of human C-propeptide of α1(I) collagen (Trimer-Tag) to the C-terminus of mature human TRAIL leads to a disulfide bond-linked homotrimer which can be expressed at high levels as a secreted protein from CHO cells. The resulting TRAIL-Trimer not only retains similar bioactivity and receptor binding kinetics as native TRAIL in vitro which are 4–5 orders of magnitude superior to that of dimeric TRAIL-Fc, but also manifests more favorable pharmacokinetic and antitumor pharmacodynamic profiles in vivo than that of native TRAIL. Taken together, this work provides direct evidence for the in vivo antitumor efficacy of TRAIL being proportional to systemic drug exposure and suggests that the previous clinical failures may have been due to rapid systemic clearance of native TRAIL and poor apoptosis-inducing potency of dimeric agonist mAbs despite their long serum half-lives.

Beginning in late 2020, the emergence and spread of multiple variant SARS-CoV-2 strains harboring mutations which may enable immune escape necessitates the rapid evaluation of second generation COVID-19 vaccines, with the goal of inducing optimized immune responses that are broadly protective. Here we demonstrate in a mouse immunogenicity study that two doses of a modified B.1.351 spike (S)-Trimer vaccine (B.1.351 S-Trimer) candidate can induce strong humoral immune responses that can broadly neutralize both the original SARS-CoV-2 strain (Wuhan-Hu-1) and Variants of Concern (VOCs), including the UK variant (B.1.1.7), South African variant (B.1.351) and Brazil variant (P.1). Furthermore, while immunization with two doses (prime-boost) of Prototype S-Trimer vaccine (based on the original SARS-CoV-2 strain) induced lower levels of cross-reactive neutralization against the B.1.351 variant, a third dose (booster) administered with either Prototype S-Trimer or B.1.351 S-Trimer was able to increase neutralizing antibody titers against B.1.351 to levels comparable to neutralizing antibody titers against the original strain elicited by two doses of Prototype S-Trimer.

A pandemic of metabolic diseases, consisting of type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and obesity, has imposed critical challenges for societies worldwide, prompting investigation of underlying mechanisms and exploration of low-cost and effective treatment. In this report, we demonstrate that metabolic disorders in mice generated by feeding with a high-fat diet without dietary vitamin D can be prevented by oral administration of polycationic amine resin. Oral administration of cholestyramine, but not the control uncharged polystyrene, was able to sequester negatively charged bacterial endotoxin in the gut, leading to 1) reduced plasma endotoxin levels, 2) resolved systemic inflammation and hepatic steatohepatitis, and 3) improved insulin sensitivity. Gut dysbiosis, characterized as an increase of the phylum Firmicutes and a decrease of Bacteroidetes and Akkermansia muciniphila, was fully corrected by cholestyramine, indicating that the negatively charged components in the gut are critical for the dysbiosis. Furthermore, fecal bacteria transplant, derived from cholestyramine-treated animals, was sufficient to antagonize the metabolic disorders of the recipient mice. These results indicate that the negatively charged components produced by dysbiosis are critical for biogenesis of metabolic disorders and also show a potential application of cationic polystyrene to treat metabolic disorders through promoting gut eubiosis.

Within a year after its emergence, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 100 million people worldwide with a death toll over 2 million. Vaccination remains the best hope to ultimately put this pandemic to an end. Here, using Trimer-Tag technology, we produced both wild-type (WT) and furin site mutant (MT) S-Trimers for COVID-19 vaccine studies. Cryo-EM structures of the WT and MT S-Trimers, determined at 3.2 Å and 2.6 Å respectively, revealed that both antigens adopt a tightly closed conformation and their structures are essentially identical to that of the previously solved full-length WT S protein in detergent. The tightly closed conformation is stabilized by fatty acid and polysorbate 80 binding at the receptor binding domains (RBDs) and the N terminal domains (NTDs) respectively. Additionally, we identified an important pH switch in the WT S-Trimer that shows dramatic conformational change and accounts for its increased stability at lower pH. These results validate Trimer-Tag as a platform technology in production of metastable WT S-Trimer as a candidate for COVID-19 subunit vaccine. IMPORTANCE Effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is critical to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, using Trimer-Tag technology, we are able to produce stable and large quantities of WT S-Trimer, a subunit vaccine candidate for COVID-19 with high safety and efficacy from animal and Phase 1 clinical trial studies. Cryo-EM structures of the S-Trimer subunit vaccine candidate show that it predominately adopts tightly closed pre-fusion state, and resembles that of the native and full-length spike in detergent, confirming its structural integrity. WT S-Trimer is currently being evaluated in global Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Combining with published structures of the S protein, we also propose a model to dissect the conformation change of the spike protein before receptor binding.