BackgroundThe autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene influences thymic self-tolerance induction. In autoimmune polyendocrinopathy syndrome type 1 (APS1; OMIM 240300), recessive AIRE mutations lead to autoimmunity targetting endocrine and other epithelial tissues, although chronic candidiasis usually appears first. Autoimmunity and chronic candidiasis can associate with thymomas as well. Patients with these tumours frequently also have high titre immunoglobulin G autoantibodies neutralising type I interferon (IFN)–α and IFN-ω, which are secreted signalling proteins of the cytokine superfamily involved in both innate and adaptive immunity.Methods and FindingsWe tested for serum autoantibodies to type I IFNs and other immunoregulatory cytokines using specific binding and neutralisation assays. Unexpectedly, in 60/60 Finnish and 16/16 Norwegian APS1 patients with both AIRE alleles mutated, we found high titre neutralising immunoglobulin G autoantibodies to most IFN-α subtypes and especially IFN-ω (60% homologous to IFN-α)—mostly in the earliest samples. We found lower titres against IFN-β (30% homologous to IFN-α) in 23% of patients; two-thirds of these (from Finland only) also had low titres against the distantly related “type III IFN” (IFN-λ1; alias interleukin-29). However, autoantibodies to the unrelated type II IFN, IFN-γ, and other immunoregulatory cytokines, such as interleukin-10 and interleukin-12, were much rarer and did not neutralise.Neutralising titres against type I IFNs averaged even higher in patients with APS1 than in patients with thymomas. Anti–type I IFN autoantibodies preceded overt candidiasis (and several of the autoimmune disorders) in the informative patients, and persisted for decades thereafter. They were undetectable in unaffected heterozygous relatives of APS1 probands (except for low titres against IFN-λ1), in APS2 patients, and in isolated cases of the endocrine diseases most typical of APS1, so they appear to be APS1-specific.Looking for potentially autoimmunising cell types, we found numerous IFN-α+ antigen-presenting cells—plus strong evidence of local IFN secretion—in the normal thymic medulla (where AIRE expression is strongest), and also in normal germinal centres, where it could perpetuate these autoantibody responses once initiated. IFN-α2 and IFN-α8 transcripts were also more abundant in antigen-presenting cells cultured from an APS1 patient's blood than from age-matched healthy controls.ConclusionsThese apparently spontaneous autoantibody responses to IFNs, particularly IFN-α and IFN-ω, segregate like a recessive trait; their high “penetrance” is especially remarkable for such a variable condition. Their apparent restriction to APS1 patients implies practical value in the clinic, e.g., in diagnosing unusual or prodromal AIRE-mutant patients with only single components of APS1, and possibly in prognosis if they prove to predict its onset. These autoantibody responses also raise numerous questions, e.g., about the rarity of other infections in APS1. Moreover, there must also be clues ...

Autoimmune regulator (Aire) has been viewed as a central player in the induction of tolerance. This study examines, whether Aire can modulate the production of the thymic chemokines involved in cortico-medullary migration and thus play a role in intrathymic thymocyte migration and maturation. Aire deficiency resulted in reduced gene expression and protein levels of the CCR4 and CCR7 ligands in whole thymi of mice, as determined by quantitative PCR analysis and ELISA. The expression of the CCR4 ligands coincided with Aire expression in the CD80high medullary epithelial cells (mTECs), whereas the expression of the CCR7 ligands was detected in other cell populations. Also, the expression pattern of the CCR4 and CCR7 ligands follows that of Aire during postnatal but not during embryonic development. In vitro, overexpression of Aire resulted in an upregulation of selected CCR4 and CCR7 ligands, which induced selective migration of double-positive (DP) and single positive (SP) CD4+ cells. In vivo, Aire deficiency resulted in a diminished emigration of mature CD4+ T-cells from the thymi of 5-day-old mice In conclusion, Aire regulates the production of CCR4 and CCR7 ligands in mTECs and alters the coordinated maturation and migration of thymocytes. These results suggest a novel mechanism behind the Aire-dependent induction of central tolerance.

The quantitative model of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) function states that cyclins temporally order cell cycle events at different CDK activity levels, or thresholds. The model lacks a mechanistic explanation, as it is not understood how different thresholds are encoded into substrates. We show that a multisite phosphorylation code governs the phosphorylation of CDK targets and that phosphorylation clusters act as timing tags that trigger specific events at different CDK thresholds. Using phospho-degradable CDK threshold sensors with rationally encoded phosphorylation patterns, we were able to predictably program thresholds over the entire range of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle. We defined three levels of CDK multisite phosphorylation encoding: (i) Ser-Thr swapping in phosphorylation sites, (ii) patterning of phosphorylation sites, and (iii) cyclin-specific docking combined with modulation of CDK activity. Thus, CDK can signal via hundreds of differentially encoded targets at precise times to provide a temporally ordered phosphorylation pattern required for cell division.

Highlights d Mitotic cyclin Clb2 binds a specific linear motif, LxF, in targets or inhibitors d LxF interaction enhances mitotic CDK substrate phosphorylation d Phospho-adaptor Cks1 and the LxF docking mediate CDK inhibition by Cdc6 and Swe1 d Cyclin-specific targeting enables finetuning of CDK function

Harnessing of a branched structure is a novel approach in the design of cell-penetrating peptides and it has provided highly efficient transfection reagents for intracellular delivery of nucleic acids. The new stearylated TP10 analogs, NickFects, condense plasmid DNA, splice correcting oligonucleotides and short interfering RNAs into stable nanoparticles with a size of 62-160nm. Such nanoparticles have a negative surface charge (-11 to -18mV) in serum containing medium and enable highly efficient gene expression, splice correction and gene silencing. One of the novel peptides, NickFect51 is capable of transfecting plasmid DNA into a large variety of cell lines, including refractory suspension and primary cells and in several cases exceeds the transfection level of commercially available reagent Lipofectamine™ 2000 without any cytotoxic side effects. Additionally we demonstrate the advantages of NickFect51 in a protein production system, QMCF technology, for expression and production of recombinant proteins in hardly transfectable suspension cells.