ABSTRACTPhenotypic tolerances to antibiotics of mature and youngPseudomonas aeruginosaPAO1 biofilms and released planktonic bacteria were compared for four antibiotics. Resistance levels were similar for gentamicin and ciprofloxacin but differed for ceftazidime and meropenem. β-Lactamase mapping showed that, after 5 h of ceftazidime exposure, mature biofilms produced more β-lactamase than young biofilms, facilitating the growth of released planktonic bacteria. This shows the importance of early treatment and choice of antibiotics forP. aeruginosabiofilm infections.

Direct blockade of AngII receptors effectively inhibits cell proliferation and restenosis post-angioplasty in vitro. ACE inhibition, exclusive of flow, does not attenuate proliferative restenosis. These data suggest that AngII contributes to neointimal proliferation and validates the concept that receptor antagonists could contribute to the therapeutic management of restenosis.

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Passive immunization with polyclonal hyper immunoglobulin (HIG) therapy represents a proven strategy by transferring immunoglobulins to patients to confer immediate protection against a range of pathogens including infectious agents and toxins. Distinct from active immunization, the protection is passive and the immunoglobulins will clear from the system; therefore, administration of an effective dose must be maintained for prophylaxis or treatment until a natural adaptive immune response is mounted or the pathogen/agent is cleared. The current review provides an overview of this technology, key considerations to address different pathogens, and suggested improvements. The review will reflect on key learnings from development of HIGs in the response to public health threats due to Zika, influenza, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection (CDI) is the main cause of nosocomial antibiotic-associated colitis and increased incidence of community-associated diarrhea in industrialized countries. At present, the primary treatment of CDI is antibiotic administration, which is effective but often associated with recurrence, especially in the elderly. Pathogenic strains produce enterotoxin, toxin A (TcdA), and cytotoxin, toxin B (TcdB), which are necessary for C. difficile induced diarrhea and gut pathological changes. Administration of anti-toxin antibodies provides an alternative approach to treat CDI, and has shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. In the current study, several humanized anti-TcdA and anti-TcdB monoclonal antibodies were generated and their protective potency was characterized in a hamster infection model. The humanized anti-TcdA (CANmAbA4) and anti-TcdB (CANmAbB4 and CANmAbB1) antibodies showed broad spectrum in vitro neutralization of toxins from clinical strains and neutralization in a mouse toxin challenge model. Moreover, co-administration of humanized antibodies (CANmAbA4 and CANmAbB4 cocktail) provided a high level of protection in a dose dependent manner (85% versus 57% survival at day 22 for 50 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg doses, respectively) in a hamster gastrointestinal infection (GI) model. This study describes the protective effects conferred by novel neutralizing anti-toxin monoclonal antibodies against C. difficile toxins and their potential as therapeutic agents in treating CDI.

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Abstract-HSP47 is a heat-shock protein that interacts with intracellular procollagen. It has been found in fibrous atherosclerotic plaque, but its involvement in acute vascular restructuring is unknown. We analyzed the expression of HSP47 and its regulation in the developing rat aorta and after balloon injury to the adult rat carotid artery. HSP47 was strongly expressed in each layer of the maturing fetal aorta (embryonic day 17 to birth). Expression declined during the first 4 postnatal days but persisted at low abundance into adulthood. HSP47 expression was substantially upregulated in the injured carotid artery, with intense immunostaining in neointimal smooth muscle cells (SMCs). HSP47 expression in SMCs was correlated with the emergence of a less mature phenotype and with expression of type I procollagen. Interestingly, a precipitous decline in HSP47 expression was evident during aortic development and after carotid artery injury, in association with the appearance of collagen fibrils in the local extracellular matrix. Furthermore, type I collagen fibrils, but not collagen monomers, inhibited expression of HSP47 by SMCs. These findings indicate that upregulation of HSP47 is a feature of vascular restructuring, including acute neointimal formation, and that the constituents of the extracellular matrix regulate the duration of expression. This feedback control may be important for self-termination of vascular development and lesion growth. (SMCs) is vital to the structural and functional integrity of the artery wall. Collagen provides mechanical strength to the artery wall, sufficient to withstand the large hemodynamic loads imposed on it, and also serves as an important ligand that regulates SMC proliferation and migration. [1][2][3] The major collagen species in both normal and diseased human arteries is type I collagen, a heterotrimeric, fibril-forming collagen that comprises 2 ␣1(I) collagen chains and 1 ␣2(I) collagen chain. The component ␣-chains are derived from precursors, namely pro␣1(I) collagen and pro␣2(I) collagen chains, that associate with each other in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This assembly process requires precise sorting and folding of the pro␣ collagen chains within the ER and must occur before procollagen can be transported out of the cell. Quality control for procollagen assembly is dependent on a number of ER-resident enzymes and molecular chaperones. For example, prolyl 4-hydroxylase hydroxylates proline residues, the presence of which are necessary for winding of the long triple helical domain. The molecular chaperones, protein disulfide isomerase and immunoglobulin heavy-chain binding protein, transiently bind to a target region of the propeptide and facilitate either physiological folding or degradation of misfolded protein. 4,5 HSP47 is a 47-kDa heat-shock-inducible glycoprotein that has also been found to associate with procollagen in the ER. 6,7 Although its exact role in procollagen processing is unclear, data suggest that it acts as a collagen-specific chape...

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