In: Current opinion in genetics & development, 2021, vol. 71, p. 39-47
DNA breaks may arise accidentally in vegetative cells or in a programmed manner in meiosis. The usage of a DNA template makes homologous recombination potentially error-free, however, recombination is not always accurate. Cells possess a remarkable capacity to tailor processing of recombination intermediates to fulfill a particular need. Vegetatively growing cells aim to maintain genome...
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In: Cell, 2016, vol. 166, no. 3, p. 596-608
Influenza virus remains a threat because of its ability to evade vaccine-induced immune responses due to antigenic drift. Here, we describe the isolation, evolution, and structure of a broad-spectrum human monoclonal antibody (mAb), MEDI8852, effectively reacting with all influenza A hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes. MEDI8852 uses the heavy-chain VH6-1 gene and has higher potency and breadth when...
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In: Annual Review of Immunology
P. falciparum remains a serious public health problem and a continuous challenge for the immune system due to the complexity and diversity of the pathogen. Recent advances from several laboratories in the characterization of the antibody response to the parasite have led to the identification of critical targets for protection and revealed a new mechanism of diversification based on the...
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In: Cell reports, 2020, vol. 32, no. 9, p. 12 p
Multidonor antibodies are of interest for vaccine design because they can in principle be elicited in the general population by a common set of immunogens. For influenza, multidonor antibodies have been observed against the hemagglutinin (HA) stem, but not the immunodominant HA head. Here, we identify and characterize a multidonor antibody class (LPAF-a class) targeting the HA head. This class...
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In: Current opinion in immunology, 2016, vol. 41, no. August, p. 62-67
In the last decade, progress in the analysis of the human immune response and in the isolation of human monoclonal antibodies have provided an innovative approach to the identification of protective antigens which are the basis for the design of vaccines capable of eliciting effective B-cell immunity. In this review we illustrate, with relevant examples, the power of this approach that can...
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In: Cells, 2020, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 11 p
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is site of synthesis and maturation of membrane and secretory proteins in eukaryotic cells. The ER contains more than 20 members of the Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDI) family. These enzymes regulate formation, isomerization and disassembly of covalent bonds between cysteine residues. As such, PDIs ensure protein folding, which is required to attain functional...
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In: DNA repair, 2020, vol. 91–92, no. July–August, p. 13 p
When DNA breaks, the ends need to be stabilized and processed to facilitate subsequent repair, which can occur by either direct but error-prone end-joining with another broken DNA molecule or a more accurate homology-directed repair by the recombination machinery. At the same time, the presence of broken DNA triggers a signaling cascade that regulates the repair events and cellular progression...
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In: Viruses, 2020, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 17 p
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infects more than 70% of the human population worldwide. HCMV is responsible for high morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients and remains the leading viral cause of congenital birth defects. Despite considerable efforts in vaccine and therapeutic development, HCMV infection still represents an unmet clinical need and a life-threatening disease in...
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In: Trends in biochemical sciences, 2019, vol. 44, no. 7, p. 589-598
Upon recognition of an antigen, the differentiation of antigen-inexperienced naïve T lymphocytes into subsets able to effectively coordinate host defense is controlled by a network of transcription factors and regulatory molecules. In the cell nucleus, these factors act in the context of epigenetic modifications that influence DNA accessibility and ultimately gene expression. This review...
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In: Critical reviews in biochemistry and molecular biology, 2019, vol. 54, no. 2, p. 153-163
About 40% of the eukaryotic cell’s proteins are inserted co- or post-translationally in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), where they attain the native structure under the assistance of resident molecular chaperones and folding enzymes. Subsequently, these proteins are secreted from cells or are transported to their sites of function at the plasma membrane or in organelles of the secretory and ...
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