Base excision repair (BER) is one of the most frequently used cellular DNA repair mechanisms and modulates many human pathophysiological conditions related to DNA damage. Through live cell and reconstitution experiments, we have discovered a major sub-pathway of conventional long-patch BER that involves formation of a 9-nucleotide gap 5' to the lesion. This new sub-pathway is mediated by RECQ1 DNA helicase and ERCC1-XPF endonuclease in cooperation with PARP1 poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and RPA The novel gap formation step is employed during repair of a variety of DNA lesions, including oxidative and alkylation damage. Moreover, RECQ1 regulates PARP1 auto-(ADP-ribosyl)ation and the choice between long-patch and single-nucleotide BER, thereby modulating cellular sensitivity to DNA damage. Based on these results, we propose a revised model of long-patch BER and a new key regulation point for pathway choice in BER.

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Background The Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type-1 (HTLV-1) is a blood-borne pathogen and etiological agent of Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma (ATLL) and HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP). HTLV-1 has currently infected up to 10 million globally with highly endemic areas in Japan, Africa, the Caribbean and South America. We have previously shown that Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) enhance HTLV-1 transmission by promoting cell–cell contact. Results Here, we separated EVs into subpopulations using differential ultracentrifugation (DUC) at speeds of 2 k (2000×g), 10 k (10,000×g), and 100 k (100,000×g) from infected cell supernatants. Proteomic analysis revealed that EVs contain the highest viral/host protein abundance in the 2 k subpopulation (2 k > 10 k > 100 k). The 2 k and 10 k populations contained viral proteins (i.e., p19 and Tax), and autophagy proteins (i.e., LC3 and p62) suggesting presence of autophagosomes as well as core histones. Interestingly, the use of 2 k EVs in an angiogenesis assay (mesenchymal stem cells + endothelial cells) caused deterioration of vascular-like-tubules. Cells commonly associated with the neurovascular unit (i.e., astrocytes, neurons, and macrophages) in the blood–brain barrier (BBB) showed that HTLV-1 EVs may induce expression of cytokines involved in migration (i.e., IL-8; 100 k > 2 k > 10 k) from astrocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages (i.e., IL-8; 2 k > 10 k). Finally, we found that EVs were able to promote cell–cell contact and viral transmission in monocytic cell-derived dendritic cell. The EVs from both 2 k and 10 k increased HTLV-1 spread in a humanized mouse model, as evidenced by an increase in proviral DNA and RNA in the Blood, Lymph Node, and Spleen. Conclusions Altogether, these data suggest that various EV subpopulations induce cytokine expression, tissue damage, and viral spread.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) is the causative agent of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), infecting nearly 37 million people worldwide. Currently, there is no definitive cure, mainly due to HIV-1′s ability to enact latency. Our previous work has shown that exosomes, a small extracellular vesicle, from uninfected cells can activate HIV-1 in latent cells, leading to increased mostly short and some long HIV-1 RNA transcripts. This is consistent with the notion that none of the FDA-approved antiretroviral drugs used today in the clinic are transcription inhibitors. Furthermore, these HIV-1 transcripts can be packaged into exosomes and released from the infected cell. Here, we examined the differences in protein and nucleic acid content between exosomes from uninfected and HIV-1-infected cells. We found increased cyclin-dependent kinases, among other kinases, in exosomes from infected T-cells while other kinases were present in exosomes from infected monocytes. Additionally, we found a series of short antisense HIV-1 RNA from the 3′ LTR that appears heavily mutated in exosomes from HIV-1-infected cells along with the presence of cellular noncoding RNAs and cellular miRNAs. Both physical and functional validations were performed on some of the key findings. Collectively, our data indicate distinct differences in protein and RNA content between exosomes from uninfected and HIV-1-infected cells, which can lead to different functional outcomes in recipient cells.

HIV-1 viral transcription persists in patients despite antiretroviral treatment, potentially due to intermittent HIV-1 LTR activation. While several mathematical models have been explored in the context of LTR-protein interactions, in this work for the first time HIV-1 LTR model featuring repressed, intermediate, and activated LTR states is integrated with generation of long (env) and short (TAR) RNAs and proteins (Tat, Pr55, and p24) in T-cells and macrophages using both cell lines and infected primary cells. This type of extended modeling framework allows us to compare and contrast behavior of these two cell types. We demonstrate that they exhibit unique LTR dynamics, which ultimately results in differences in the magnitude of viral products generated. One of the distinctive features of this work is that it relies on experimental data in reaction rate computations. Two RNA transcription rates from the activated promoter states are fit by comparison of experimental data to model predictions. Fitting to the data also provides estimates for the degradation/exit rates for long and short viral RNA. Our experimentally generated data is in reasonable agreement for the T-cell as well macrophage population and gives strong evidence in support of using the proposed integrated modeling paradigm. Sensitivity analysis performed using Latin hypercube sampling method confirms robustness of the model with respect to small parameter perturbations. Finally, incorporation of a transcription inhibitor (F07#13) into the governing equations demonstrates how the model can be used to assess drug efficacy. Collectively, our model indicates transcriptional differences between latently HIV-1 infected T-cells and macrophages and provides a novel platform to study various transcriptional dynamics leading to latency or activation in numerous cell types and physiological conditions.

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infects 5–10 million people worldwide and is the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) as well as other inflammatory diseases. A major concern is that the most majority of individuals with HTLV-1 are asymptomatic carriers and that there is limited global attention by health care officials, setting up potential conditions for increased viral spread. HTLV-1 transmission occurs primarily through sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, intravenous drug usage, and breast feeding. Currently, there is no cure for HTLV-1 infection and only limited treatment options exist, such as class I interferons (IFN) and Zidovudine (AZT), with poor prognosis. Recently, small membrane-bound structures, known as extracellular vesicles (EVs), have received increased attention due to their potential to carry viral cargo (RNA and proteins) in multiple pathogenic infections (i.e., human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1), Zika virus, and HTLV-1). In the case of HTLV-1, EVs isolated from the peripheral blood and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) of HAM/TSP patients contained the viral transactivator protein Tax. Additionally, EVs derived from HTLV-1-infected cells (HTLV-1 EVs) promote functional effects such as cell aggregation which enhance viral spread. In this review, we present current knowledge surrounding EVs and their potential role as immune-modulating agents in cancer and other infectious diseases such as HTLV-1 and HIV-1. We discuss various features of EVs that make them prime targets for possible vehicles of future diagnostics and therapies.

Graphical abstract The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly transmissible disease. SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to have infected over 153 million people and to have caused over 3.2 million global deaths since its emergence in December 2019. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans, and like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 infection is characterized by a variety of symptoms including general flu-like symptoms such as a fever, sore throat, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Severe cases often display signs of pneumonia, lymphopenia, acute kidney injury, cardiac injury, cytokine storms, lung damage, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiple organ failure, sepsis, and death. There is evidence that around 30% of COVID-19 cases have central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS) symptoms along with or in the absence of the previously mentioned symptoms. In cases of CNS/PNS impairments, patients display dizziness, ataxia, seizure, nerve pain, and loss of taste and/or smell. This review highlights the neurological implications of SARS-CoV-2 and provides a comprehensive summary of the research done on SARS-CoV-2 pathology, diagnosis, therapeutics, and vaccines up to May 5.

Of the 37.9 million individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), approximately 50% exhibit HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). We and others previously showed that HIV-1 viral RNAs, such as trans-activating response (TAR) RNA, are incorporated into extracellular vesicles (EVs) and elicit an inflammatory response in recipient naïve cells. Cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary cannabinoids present in cannabis, are effective in reducing inflammation. Studies show that cannabis use in people living with HIV-1 is associated with lower viral load, lower circulating CD16+ monocytes and high CD4+ T-cell counts, suggesting a potentially therapeutic application. Here, HIV-1 infected U1 monocytes and primary macrophages were used to assess the effects of CBD. Post-CBD treatment, EV concentrations were analyzed using nanoparticle tracking analysis. Changes in intracellular and EV-associated viral RNA were quantified using RT-qPCR, and changes in viral proteins, EV markers, and autophagy proteins were assessed by Western blot. Our data suggest that CBD significantly reduces the number of EVs released from infected cells and that this may be mediated by reducing viral transcription and autophagy activation. Therefore, CBD may exert a protective effect by alleviating the pathogenic effects of EVs in HIV-1 and CNS-related infections.