The process by which clathrin-coated vesicles are produced involves interactions of multifunctional adaptor proteins with the plasma membrane, as well as with clathrin and several accessory proteins and phosphoinositides. Here we review recent findings highlighting new insights into mechanisms underlying clathrin-dependent endocytosis.

Since human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-

No abstract

Actin is implicated in membrane fusion, but the precise mechanisms remain unclear. We showed earlier that membrane organelles catalyze the de novo assembly of F-actin that then facilitates the fusion between latex bead phagosomes and a mixture of early and late endocytic organelles. Here, we correlated the polymerization and organization of F-actin with phagosome and endocytic organelle fusion processes in vitro by using biochemistry and light and electron microscopy. When membrane organelles and cytosol were incubated at 37°C with ATP, cytosolic actin polymerized rapidly and became organized into bundles and networks adjacent to membrane organelles. By 30-min incubation, a gel-like state was formed with little further polymerization of actin thereafter. Also during this time, the bulk of in vitro fusion events occurred between phagosomes/endocytic organelles. The fusion between latex bead phagosomes and late endocytic organelles, or between late endocytic organelles themselves was facilitated by actin, but we failed to detect any effect of perturbing F-actin polymerization on early endosome fusion. Consistent with this, late endosomes, like phagosomes, could nucleate F-actin, whereas early endosomes could not. We propose that actin assembled by phagosomes or late endocytic organelles can provide tracks for fusion-partner organelles to move vectorially toward them, via membranebound myosins, to facilitate fusion. INTRODUCTIONActin is essential for many cellular processes and dynamic polymerization/depolymerization of actin filaments is a critical property of all eukaryotic cells (Mitchison and Cramer, 1996;Carlier, 1998;Machesky and Insall, 1999;Small et al., 1999;Amann and Pollard, 2000). Much of the F-actin assembled in cells is intimately associated with membranes, especially the plasma membrane (Tilney, 1976;Hoglund et al., 1980;Lindberg et al., 1981;Carraway and Carraway, 1989;Dickinson and Purich, 2002). The first links between F-actin and membranes were reported by Tilney and Cardell (1970) who demonstrated the role of plasma membranes in actin nucleation, and Orci et al. (1972) who showed that cytochalasin can either stimulate or inhibit exocytic fusion, depending on the conditions. In addition to exocytosis (Bernstein et al., 1998;Lang et al., 2000;Bader et al., 2002), actin is now known to be involved in many other trafficking events, including phagocytosis (Swanson et al., 1999; Desjardin and Griffiths, 2003) and transcytosis (Durrbach et al., 2000). In the endocytic pathway, actin and myosins are essential for two different transport steps: clathrin-dependent internalization from the plasma membrane and transport to lysosomes (Durrbach et al., 1996;Riezman et al., 1996;Buss et al., 2001). More recently, actin has also been shown to be directly involved in homotypic fusion between yeast vacuoles (see DISCUSSION).Our interest in actin emerged from our analysis of an in vitro phagosome-endocytic organelle fusion assay that used latex bead phagosomes (LBP) and early endosomes (EE) and late endocytic org...

The mechanisms by which in vivo electroporation (EP) improves the potency of i.m. DNA vaccination were characterized by using the hepatitis C virus nonstructural (NS) 3/4A gene. Following a standard i.m. injection of DNA with or without in vivo EP, plasmid levels peaked immediately at the site of injection and decreased by 4 logs the first week. In vivo EP did not promote plasmid persistence and, depending on the dose, the plasmid was cleared or almost cleared after 60 days. In vivo imaging and immunohistochemistry revealed that protein expression was restricted to the injection site despite the detection of significant levels of plasmid in adjacent muscle groups. In vivo EP increased and prolonged NS3/4A protein expression levels as well as an increased infiltration of CD3+ T cells at the injection site. These factors most likely additively contributed to the enhanced and broadened priming of NS3/4A-specific Abs, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and γ-IFN production. The primed CD8+ responses were functional in vivo, resulting in elimination of hepatitis C virus NS3/4A-expressing liver cells in transiently transgenic mice. Collectively, the enhanced protein expression and inflammation at the injection site following in vivo EP contributed to the priming of in vivo functional immune responses. These localized effects most likely help to insure that the strength and duration of the responses are maintained when the vaccine is tested in larger animals, including rabbits and humans. Thus, the combined effects mediated by in vivo EP serves as a potent adjuvant for the NS3/4A-based DNA vaccine.

In vivo electroporation (EP) has been shown to augment the immunogenicity of plasmid DNA vaccines, but its mechanism of action has not been fully characterized. In this study, we show that in vivo EP augmented cellular and humoral immune responses to a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Env DNA vaccine in mice and allowed a 10-fold reduction in vaccine dose. This enhancement was durable for over 6 months, and re-exposure to antigen resulted in anamnestic effector and central memory CD8؉ T-lymphocyte responses. Interestingly, in vivo EP also recruited large mixed cellular inflammatory infiltrates to the site of inoculation. These infiltrates contained 45-fold-increased numbers of macrophages and 77-fold-increased numbers of dendritic cells as well as 2-to 6-fold-increased numbers of B and T lymphocytes compared to infiltrates following DNA vaccination alone. These data suggest that recruiting inflammatory cells, including antigen-presenting cells (APCs), to the site of antigen production substantially improves the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines. Combining in vivo EP with plasmid chemokine adjuvants that similarly recruited APCs to the injection site, however, did not result in synergy.Plasmid DNA vaccines have proven considerably less immunogenic in clinical studies than in preclinical studies (3,9,13,24,33), demonstrating the need to improve their potency. Various strategies are currently being pursued, including the use of plasmid cytokine and chemokine adjuvants (5,6,11,19,26,30), polymer adjuvants (29), novel transcriptional regulatory elements (7), and improved delivery techniques such as in vivo electroporation (EP) (2,23,25). In vivo EP involves the administration of electrical pulses to muscle tissue following intramuscular (i.m.) injection of DNA vaccines and has been shown to enhance the immunogenicity of DNA vaccines in a wide variety of small and large animal models (1,8,10,12,17,18,20,22,27,32). It has been suggested that in vivo EP functions in part by increasing myocyte permeability and thereby facilitating plasmid uptake and antigen expression by host cells (2, 14-16, 25, 28, 34).We have previously reported that there are very few professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in muscles after DNA vaccination (6), and we therefore hypothesized that DNA vaccines may be limited by insufficient APCs at the site of antigen production. Consistent with this hypothesis, we observed that plasmid chemokines and growth factors such as plasmid MIP-1␣ and Flt3L were able to recruit dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages to the site of inoculation and to enhance DNA vaccine-elicited immune responses (26, 30). Whether APCs are similarly recruited by in vivo EP, however, has not previously been investigated. In addition, the phenotype of cellular immune responses elicited by DNA vaccination with in vivo EP has not been assessed in detail. In the present study, we investigated the magnitude, phenotype, and durability of cellular immune responses elicited in mice by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Env DN...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–engineered T‐cell therapy is becoming one of the most promising approaches in the treatment of cancer. On June 28, 2018, the Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT) and the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Kymriah for pediatric and young adult patients up to 25 years of age with B‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that is refractory, in relapse after transplant, or in second or later relapse and for adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy. Kymriah became one of the first European Union–approved CAR T therapies. The active substance of Kymriah is tisagenlecleucel, an autologous, immunocellular cancer therapy that involves reprogramming the patient's own T cells to identify and eliminate CD19‐expressing cells. This is achieved by addition of a transgene encoding a CAR. The benefit of Kymriah was its ability to achieve remission with a significant duration in patients with ALL and an objective response with a significant duration in patients with DLBCL. The most common hematological toxicity was cytopenia in both patients with ALL and those with DLBCL. Nonhematological side effects in patients with ALL were cytokine release syndrome (CRS), infections, secondary hypogammaglobulinemia due to B‐cell aplasia, pyrexia, and decreased appetite. The most common nonhematological side effects in patients with DLBCL were CRS, infections, pyrexia, diarrhea, nausea, hypotension, and fatigue. Kymriah also received an orphan designation on April 29, 2014, following a positive recommendation by the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP). Maintenance of the orphan designation was recommended at the time of marketing authorization as the COMP considered the product was of significant benefit for patients with both conditions. Implications for Practice Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)–engineered T‐cell therapy is becoming the most promising approach in cancer treatment, involving reprogramming the patient's own T cells with a CAR‐encoding transgene to identify and eliminate cancer‐specific surface antigen–expressing cells. On June 28, 2018, Kymriah became one of the first EMA approved CAR T therapies. CAR T technology seems highly promising for diseases with single genetic/protein alterations; however, for more complex diseases there will be challenges to target clonal variability within the tumor type or clonal evolution during disease progression. Products with a lesser toxicity profile or more risk‐minimization tools are also anticipated.

Bafilomycin A(1) (BAF) and concanamycin A (ConcA) are selective inhibitors of the H(+)-ATPases of the vacuolar system. We have examined the effects of these inhibitors on different steps in endocytic pathways in rat hepatocytes, using [(125)I]tyramine-cellobiose-labeled asialoorosomucoid ([(125)I]TC-AOM) and [(125)I]tyramine-cellobiose-labeled bovine serum albumin ([(125)I]TC-BSA) as probes for respectively receptor-mediated endocytosis and pinocytosis (here defined as fluid phase endocytosis). The effects of BAF and ConcA were in principle identical, although ConcA was more effective than BAF. The main findings were as follows. (1) BAF/ConcA reduced the rate of uptake of both [(125)I]TC-AOM and [(125)I]TC-BSA. The reduced uptake of [(125)I]TC-AOM was partly due to a redistribution of the asialoglycoprotein receptors (ASGPR) such that the number of surface receptors was reduced approximately 40% without a change in the total number of receptors. (2) BAF/ConcA at the same time increased retroendocytosis (recycling) of both probes. The increased recycling of the ligand ([(125)I]TC-AOM) is partly a consequence of the enhanced pH in endosomes, which prevents dissociation of ligand. (3) It was furthermore found that the ligand remained bound to the receptor in presence of BAF/ConcA and that the total amount of ligand molecules internalized in BAF/ConcA-treated cells was only slightly in excess of the total number of receptors. These data indicate that reduced pH in endosomes is the prime cause of receptor inactivation and release of ligand in early endosomes. (4) Subcellular fractionation experiments showed that [(125)I]TC-AOM remained in early endosomes, well separated from lysosomes in sucrose gradients. The fluid phase marker, [(125)I]TC-BSA, on the other hand, seemed to reach a later endosome in the BAF/ConcA-treated cells. This organelle coincided with lysosomes in the gradient, but hypotonic medium was found to selectively release a lysosomal enzyme (beta-acetylglucosaminidase), indicating that even [(125)I]TC-BSA remained in a prelysosomal compartment in the BAF/ConcA-treated cells. (5) Electron microscopy using horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a fluid phase marker verified that BAF/ConcA inhibited transfer of material from late endosomes ('multivesicular bodies'). (6) BAF/ConcA led to accumulation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in autophagic vacuoles, but although the drugs partly inhibited fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes a number of autolysosomes was formed in the presence of BAF/ConcA. This observation explains the reduced buoyant density of lysosomes (revealed in sucrose density gradients). In conclusion, BAF/ConcA inhibit transfer of endocytosed material from late endosomes to lysosomes, but do not at the same time prevent fusion between autophagosomes and lysosomes.