The T domain of diphtheria toxin is known to participate in the pH-dependent translocation of the catalytic C domain of the toxin across the endosomal membrane, but how it does so, and whether cellular proteins are also required for this process, remain unknown. Here, we report results showing that the T domain alone is capable of translocating the entire C domain across model, planar phospholipid bilayers in the absence of other proteins. The T domain therefore contains the entire molecular machinery for mediating transfer of the catalytic domain of diphtheria toxin across membranes.Many toxic proteins of bacterial and plant origin are known to act by enzymically modifying substrates within the cytosol of mammalian cells, but the mechanism by which any of these toxins crosses a membrane to gain access to its substrates is not yet understood. These intracellularly acting toxins are generally bipartite proteins, containing the enzymic and receptorbinding functions on separate polypeptides, designated A and B, respectively (1). In some toxins, the B moiety also serves a second function, in mediating translocation of the A moiety across membranes.Diphtheria toxin (DT), the earliest example of an AB toxin, is a single, 535-residue polypeptide containing three folding domains: the amino-terminal C, or catalytic, domain (residues 1-185); the intermediate T, or transmembrane, domain (residues 202-378); and the carboxyl-terminal R, or receptorbinding, domain (residues 386-535) (Fig. 1). The catalytic domain is connected to the T domain by an arginine-rich loop and a readily reducible disulfide bridge (linking C186 to C201).After binding to its cell-surface receptor via the R domain, DT is proteolytically cleaved within the arginine-rich loop, yielding two disulfide-linked fragments: fragment A (corresponding to domain C) and fragment B (corresponding to domains T and R). The receptor-bound toxin is endocytosed and trafficked to an acidic vesicular compartment, where it undergoes a conformational change that allows the T domain to insert into the membrane and the catalytic domain to be translocated to the cytosol. The C186-C201 disulfide is reduced at some stage in this process, allowing the catalytic domain to be released into the cytosol. There, it catalyzes the ADP-ribosylation of elongation factor 2, causing inhibition of protein synthesis and cell death. (For a general review of diphtheria toxin, see ref. 2.)The crystallographic structure (3, 4) of native DT shows the T domain to consist of a bundle of 10 ␣-helices, which resembles the channel-forming domains of certain colicins (5-8) and ␣-helical domains found in certain mammalian proteins involved in regulation of apoptosis (9). Studies in planar lipid bilayers have shown that under low pH conditions (pH Յ 6) in the cis compartment (the compartment to which protein is added), the isolated T domain is able to form cation-selective channels in the membrane (10); similar channels are formed by whole DT and by a truncated mutant, DT(CϩT), lacking the R domain...

Purpose of review The proteome is the pool of proteins expressed at a given time and circumstance. The word “proteomics” summarizes several technologies for visualization, quantitation and identification of these proteins. Recent advances in these techniques are helping to elucidate platelet processes which are relevant to bleeding and clotting disorders, transfusion medicine and regulation of angiogenesis. Recent findings Over 1100 platelet proteins have been identified using proteomic techniques. Various subproteomes have been characterized, including platelet releasates (the “secretome”), alpha and dense granules, membrane and cytoskeletal proteins, platelet-derived microparticles, and the platelet “phosphoproteome”. Proteomic data about platelets have become increasingly available in integrated databases. Summary Proteomic experiments in resting and activated platelets have identified novel signaling pathways and secreted proteins which may represent therapeutic targets, as well as potential cancer biomarkers.

When diphtheria toxin encounters a low pH environment, the channel-forming T domain undergoes a poorly understood conformational change that allows for both its own membrane insertion and the translocation of the toxin's catalytic domain across the membrane. From the crystallographic structure of the water-soluble form of diphtheria toxin, a “double dagger” model was proposed in which two transmembrane helical hairpins, TH5-7 and TH8-9, anchor the T domain in the membrane. In this paper, we report the topography of the T domain in the open channel state. This topography was derived from experiments in which either a hexahistidine (H6) tag or biotin moiety was attached at residues that were mutated to cysteines. From the sign of the voltage gating induced by the H6 tag and the accessibility of the biotinylated residues to streptavidin added to the cis or trans side of the membrane, we determined which segments of the T domain are on the cis or trans side of the membrane and, consequently, which segments span the membrane. We find that there are three membrane-spanning segments. Two of them are in the channel-forming piece of the T domain, near its carboxy terminal end, and correspond to one of the proposed “daggers,” TH8-9. The other membrane-spanning segment roughly corresponds to only TH5 of the TH5-7 dagger, with the rest of that region lying on or near the cis surface. We also find that, in association with channel formation, the amino terminal third of the T domain, a hydrophilic stretch of ∼70 residues, is translocated across the membrane to the trans side.

The outlook for T-cell malignancies remain poor due to the lack of effective therapeutic options. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) immunotherapy has recently shown promise in clinical trials for B-cell malignancies, however, designing CARs for T-cell based disease remain a challenge due to the shared surface antigen pool between normal and malignant T-cells. Normal T-cells express CD5 but NK (natural killer) cells do not, positioning NK cells as attractive cytotoxicity cells for CD5CAR design. Additionally, CD5 is highly expressed in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs). Here, we report a robust anti-CD5 CAR (CD5CAR) transduced into a human NK cell line NK-92 that can undergo stable expansion ex vivo. We found that CD5CAR NK-92 cells possessed consistent, specific, and potent anti-tumor activity against a variety of T-cell leukemia and lymphoma cell lines as well as primary tumor cells. Furthermore, we were able to demonstrate significant inhibition and control of disease progression in xenograft mouse models of T-ALL. The data suggest that CAR redirected targeting for T-cell malignancies using NK cells may be a viable method for new and complementary therapeutic approaches that could improve the current outcome for patients.

HSCs are rare cells that have the unique ability to self-renew and differentiate into cells of all hematopoietic lineages. The lack of donors and current inability to rapidly and efficiently expand HSCs are roadblocks in the development of successful cell therapies. Thus, the challenge of ex vivo human HSC expansion remains a fertile and critically important area of investigation. Here, we show that either SALL4A-or SALL4B-transduced human HSCs obtained from the mobilized peripheral blood are capable of rapid and efficient expansion ex vivo by >10 000-fold for both CD34 ؉ /CD38 ؊ and CD34 ؉ / CD38 ؉ cells in the presence of appropriate cytokines. We found that these cells retained hematopoietic precursor cell immunophenotypes and morphology as well as normal in vitro or vivo potential for differentiation. The SALL4-mediated expansion was associated with enhanced stem cell engraftment and long-term repopulation capacity in vivo. Also, we demonstrated that constitutive expression of SALL4 inhibited granulocytic differentiation and permitted expansion of undifferentiated cells in 32D myeloid progenitors. Furthermore, a TAT-SALL4B fusion rapidly expanded CD34 ؉ cells, and it is thus feasible to translate this study into the clinical setting. Our findings provide a new avenue for investigating mechanisms of stem cell self-renewal and achieving clinically significant expansion of human HSCs. (Blood. 2011;118(3):576-585)

The T domain of diphtheria toxin, which extends from residue 202 to 378, causes the translocation of the catalytic A fragment (residues 1–201) across endosomal membranes and also forms ion-conducting channels in planar phospholipid bilayers. The carboxy terminal 57-amino acid segment (322–378) in the T domain is all that is required to form these channels, but its ability to do so is greatly augmented by the portion of the T domain upstream from this. In this work, we show that in association with channel formation by the T domain, its NH2 terminus, as well as some or all of the adjacent hydrophilic 63 amino acid segment, cross the lipid bilayer. The phenomenon that enabled us to demonstrate that the NH2-terminal region of the T domain was translocated across the membrane was the rapid closure of channels at cis negative voltages when the T domain contained a histidine tag at its NH2 terminus. The inhibition of this effect by trans nickel, and by trans streptavidin when the histidine tag sequence was biotinylated, clearly established that the histidine tag was present on the trans side of the membrane. Furthermore, the inhibition of rapid channel closure by trans trypsin, combined with mutagenesis to localize the trypsin site, indicated that some portion of the 63 amino acid NH2-terminal segment of the T domain was also translocated to the trans side of the membrane. If the NH2 terminus was forced to remain on the cis side, by streptavidin binding to the biotinylated histidine tag sequence, channel formation was severely disrupted. Thus, normal channel formation by the T domain requires that its NH2 terminus be translocated across the membrane from the cis to the trans side, even though the NH2 terminus is >100 residues removed from the channel-forming part of the molecule.

Current clinical outcomes using chimeric-antigen receptors (CARs) against multiple myeloma show promise in the eradication of bulk disease. However, these anti-BCMA (CD269) CARs observe relapse as a common phenomenon after treatment due to the reemergence of either antigen-positive or -negative cells. Hence, the development of improvements in CAR design to target antigen loss and increase effector cell persistency represents a critical need. Here, we report on the anti-tumor activity of a CAR T-cell possessing two complete and independent CAR receptors against the multiple myeloma antigens BCMA and CS1. We determined that the resulting compound CAR (cCAR) T-cell possesses consistent, potent and directed cytotoxicity against each target antigen population. Using multiple mouse models of myeloma and mixed cell populations, we are further able to show superior in vivo survival by directed cytotoxicity against multiple populations compared to a single-expressing CAR T-cell. These findings indicate that compound targeting of BCMA and CS1 on myeloma cells can potentially be an effective strategy for augmenting the response against myeloma bulk disease and for initiation of broader coverage CAR therapy.

Among clopidogrel-treated CABG patients, preoperative platelet function testing can identify those at increased risk for postoperative bleeding and transfusion.