Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Giuseppe Esposito, Chiara Corpetti, Marcella Pesce, Luisa Seguella, Giuseppe Annunziata, Alessandro Del Re, Martina Vincenzi, Roberta Lattanzi, Jie Lu, Walter Sanseverino, Giovanni Sarnelli
Summary: The newly designed PEA-producing probiotic showed therapeutic potential in inhibiting colonic inflammation and restoring tight junction protein expression in a mouse model of CDI.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Srijita Basak, Debashrito Deb, Utkarsh Narsaria, Tamalika Kar, Filippo Castiglione, Indraneel Sanyal, Pratap D. Bade, Anurag P. Srivastava
Summary: Clostridium difficile infection is a major health-associated infection with high incidence and mortality rates. A chimeric vaccine candidate was designed using immunoinformatics, which showed stability and reliability in silico and molecular dynamics simulations. Docking studies demonstrated stable interactions with immune receptors, and in silico modeling indicated competent expression in E. coli system for potential immune response.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jinglue Song, Xia Shen, Zhenyu Huang, Yun Liu, Long Cui, Xuewei Cui, Chen-Ying Liu
Summary: Toxins A and B of Clostridium difficile disrupt the Hippo pathway, leading to sequestration and inactivation of YAP and TAZ in colonic epithelial cells. Overexpression of YAP restores cell function and may serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for treating CDI.
JOURNAL OF BIOCHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR TOXICOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Miad Elahi, Haruyuki Nakayama-Imaohji, Masahito Hashimoto, Ayano Tada, Hisashi Yamasaki, Tamiko Nagao, Tomomi Kuwahara
Summary: The gut symbiont Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BT) suppresses Clostridium difficile (CD) toxin production by inhibiting polysaccharide metabolism pathways. Polysaccharide fractions derived from BT can suppress CD toxin production, with cell wall-associated glycans playing a key role in this inhibitory effect.
Article
Microbiology
Zohar Hamo, Maya Azrad, Boris Fichtman, Avi Peretz
Summary: Different strains of Clostridioides difficile produce varying levels of toxins that have different degrees of damage to host cells. However, no direct association was found between specific bacterial strains, toxin concentrations, and disease severity.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Peng An Khun, Thomas V. Riley
Summary: This review provides an overview of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in southeast Asia, including its prevalence, detection methods, antimicrobial susceptibility profiles, and the potential significance of a One Health approach. CDI is a common cause of hospital-acquired gastroenteritis worldwide, with higher rates observed in high-income countries. Lack of knowledge and awareness about CDI, along with antimicrobial abuse and inadequate education on appropriate usage, contribute to its evolution. Underreporting of CDI rates and misuse of antimicrobial agents pose a significant threat in regions like Indochina, while C. difficile RT 017 strain is endemic in southeast Asia.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND HYGIENE
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Kevin O. Childress, Caroline S. Cencer, Matthew J. Tyska, D. Borden Lacy
Summary: This study investigates the interactions between Clostridioides difficile and host cell receptors CSPG4 and Nectin-3. The localization of these receptors on colonic tissue and their role in disease promotion were explored using immunofluorescence microscopy. The findings suggest that Nectin-3 facilitates TcdB binding at the epithelial surface and shed soluble CSPG4-ECD derived from stromal cells contributes to TcdB intoxication of epithelial cells.
Article
Microbiology
Mahmoud Fayez, Waleed R. El-Ghareeb, Ahmed Elmoslemany, Saleem J. Alsunaini, Mohamed Alkafafy, Othman M. Alzahrani, Samy F. Mahmoud, Ibrahim Elsohaby
Summary: The study investigated the presence of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridioides difficile in camel minced meat samples collected from small butcher shops and supermarkets in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Saudi Arabia. It was found that most isolates exhibited resistance to at least one antimicrobial, with some showing multidrug resistance. This highlights the importance of enforcing food safety standards and conducting regular inspections in abattoirs, small butcher shops, and supermarkets.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Elisabeth Kallert, Malte Behrendt, Ariane Frey, Christian Kersten, Fabian Barthels
Summary: Microscale Thermophoresis (MST) is a powerful biophysical technique that investigates the interactions between biomolecules by measuring their mobility in response to temperature gradient. This study presents a novel methodology for studying RNA-containing samples using non-covalent nucleic acid-sensitive dyes in MST. The mix-and-measure protocol using non-covalent dyes has advantages over traditional covalent labelling approaches, and has been successfully applied to study ligand binding to RNA molecules and identify modifications in short RNA oligos.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Elisabeth Kallert, Malte Behrendt, Ariane Frey, Christian Kersten, Fabian Barthels
Summary: This study presents an innovative technique to study RNA using nucleic acid-sensitive dyes in MST. By using non-covalent dyes, this method allows for better investigation of ligand binding to RNA molecules and modifications in RNA oligos.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Julian A. C. Stein, Alan Ianeselli, Dieter Braun
Summary: MST is a versatile technique for measuring binding affinities, based on directional movement of molecules in a temperature gradient. We extended MST to measure binding kinetics by increasing thermal dissipation, allowing for simultaneous determination of kinetics and binding affinity. By measuring DNA hybridization rates, we observed linear dependence of on-rates on salt concentration and weak dependence on strand length and temperature.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Waleed A. Hassanain, Julia Spoors, Christopher L. Johnson, Karen Faulds, Neil Keegan, Duncan Graham
Summary: The study introduces a novel testing platform for the rapid and simultaneous detection of two specific biomarkers of Clostridium difficile infection, providing a rapid, selective, sensitive, and cost-effective clinical evaluation method for CDI.
Article
Virology
Damian T. Nydegger, Jonai Pujol-Gimenez, Palanivel Kandasamy, Bruno Vogt, Matthias A. Hediger
Summary: As new variants of SARS-CoV-2 continue to emerge during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is crucial to develop optimized tools for studying these variants and potential future coronaviruses. This report introduces microscale thermophoresis (MST) as a reliable and versatile tool for coronavirus research. The study demonstrates three applications of MST, including the binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain (RBD) to peptides, the binding of RBD to the viral receptor ACE2, and the binding of RBD to ACE2 in complex with the amino acid transporter SLC6A20/SIT1 or its allelic variant rs61731475 (p.Ile529Val). The results highlight MST as a highly precise approach for studying protein interactions and developing antiviral agents in coronavirus research, particularly its advantage in measuring interactions with membrane proteins in their near-native plasma membrane environment.
Article
Microbiology
Greg Hussack, Martin A. Rossotti, Henk van Faassen, Tomohiko Murase, Luiz Eugenio, Joseph D. Schrag, Kenneth K. -S. Ng, Jamshid Tanha
Summary: Crystal structures of camelid heavy-chain antibody variable domains (V(H)Hs) bound to fragments of the combined repetitive oligopeptides domain of Clostridiodes difficile toxin A (TcdA) revealed a spatial arrangement between VHH A20 and VHH A26. Based on this observation, a biparatopic fusion protein A20-A26 was generated, which showed improved binding affinity and neutralization potency compared to unfused A20 and A26 V(H)Hs. A20-A26 demonstrated higher potency than various control constructs. Size-exclusion chromatography-multiangle light scattering (SEC-MALS) analysis confirmed the 1:1 stoichiometry and simultaneous engagement of both A20 and A26 epitopes by A20-A26, in contrast to the varied and heterogeneous binding modes of control constructs. These results underscore the importance of molecular geometric constraints in generating highly potent antibody-based reagents.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biophysics
Blanca Lopez-Mendez, Stephan Uebel, Li Peng Lundgren, Arthur Sedivy
Summary: NanoTemper Monolith instruments are widely used in academia and industry for measuring molecular interactions. The technology has been extensively reviewed, and some assumptions and limitations have been revised in the last decade. This letter presents the experience gathered in scientific service facilities and highlights possible pitfalls for scientists to promote knowledge and good practice in the scientific community.
EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS
(2021)
