@misc{LiedtkeRoseHiemannetal., author = {Liedtke, Victoria and Rose, Laura and Hiemann, Rico and Nasser, Abdullah and R{\"o}diger, Stefan and Bonaventura, Alena and Winkler, Laura and Sowa, Mandy and St{\"o}ckle, Michael and Schierack, Peter and Junker, Kerstin and Roggenbuck, Dirk}, title = {Over-Expression of LEDGF/p75 in HEp-2 Cells Enhances Autoimmune IgG Response in Patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia—A Novel Diagnostic Approach with Therapeutic Consequence?}, series = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, volume = {24}, journal = {International Journal of Molecular Sciences}, number = {7}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms24076166}, abstract = {Lens epithelium-derived growth factor splice variant of 75 kDa (LEDGF/p75) is an autoantigen over-expressed in solid tumors and acts as a stress-related transcriptional co-activator. Participation of autoimmune responses in the pathophysiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (PBH) and a corresponding immunosuppressive therapy by TNFalpha antagonists has been recently suggested. Thus, autoAb testing could aid in the diagnosis of BPH patients profiting from such therapy. We generated CRISPR/Cas9 modified HEp-2 LEDGF knock-out (KO) and HEp-2 LEDGF/p75 over-expressing (OE) cells and examined IgG autoantibody reactivity to LEDGF/p75 in patients with prostate cancer (PCa, n = 89), bladder cancer (BCa, n = 116), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, n = 103), and blood donors (BD, n = 60) by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Surprisingly, we could not detect elevated binding of autoAbs against LEDGF/p75 in cancer patients, but autoAb reactivity to LEDGF/p75 OE cells in about 50\% of patients with BPH was unexpectedly significantly increased. Furthermore, a line immunoassay enabling the detection of 18 different autoAbs revealed a significantly increased occurrence of anti-dsDNA autoAbs in 34\% of BPH patients in contrast to tumor patients and BD. This finding was confirmed by anti-mitochondrial (mDNA) autoAb detection with the Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence test, which also showed a significantly higher prevalence (34\%) of anti-mDNA autoAbs in BPH. In summary, our study provided further evidence for the occurrence of autoimmune responses in BPH. Furthermore, LEDGF/p75 over-expression renders HEp-2 cells more autoantigenic and an ideal target for autoAb analysis in BPH with a potential therapy consequence.}, language = {en} } @misc{KuenzelHoffmannWeberetal., author = {K{\"u}nzel, Stephan R. and Hoffmann, Maximilian and Weber, Silvio and K{\"u}nzel, Karolina and K{\"a}mmerer, Susanne and G{\"u}nscht, Mario and Klapproth, Erik and Rausch, Johanna S. E. and Sadek, Mirna S. and Kolanowski, Tomasz and Meyer-Roxlau, Stefanie and Piorkowski, Christopher and Tugtekin, Sems M. and Rose-John, Stefan and Yin, Xiaoke and Mayr, Manuel and Kuhlmann, Jan Dominik and Wimberger, Pauline and Gr{\"u}tzmann, Konrad and Herzog, Natalie and K{\"u}pper, Jan-Heiner and O'Reilly, Molly and Kabir, S. Nashitha and Sommerfeld, Laura C. and Guan, Kaomei and Wielockx, Ben and Fabritz, Larissa and Nattel, Stanley and Ravens, Ursula and Dobrev, Dobromir and Wagner, Michael and El-Armouche, Ali}, title = {Diminished PLK2 Induces Cardiac Fibrosis and Promotes Atrial Fibrillation}, series = {Circulation Research}, volume = {129}, journal = {Circulation Research}, number = {8}, issn = {1524-4571}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.121.319425}, pages = {804 -- 820}, abstract = {Rationale: Fibrosis promotes the maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF), making it resistant to therapy. Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to atrial fibrosis will open new pathways toward effective antifibrotic therapies. Objective: This study aims to decipher the mechanistic interplay between PLK2 (polo-like kinase 2) and the profibrotic cytokine OPN (osteopontin) in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrosis and AF. Methods and Results: Atrial PLK2 mRNA expression was 10-fold higher in human fibroblasts than in cardiomyocytes. Compared with sinus rhythm, right atrial appendages and isolated right atrial fibroblasts from patients with AF showed downregulation of PLK2 mRNA and protein, along with increased PLK2 promotor methylation. Genetic deletion as well as pharmacological inhibition of PLK2 induced profibrotic phenotype conversion in cardiac fibroblasts and led to a striking de novo secretion of OPN. Accordingly, PLK2-deficient (PLK2 knockout) mice showed cardiac fibrosis and were prone to experimentally induced AF. In line with these findings, OPN plasma levels were significantly higher only in patients with AF with atrial low-voltage zones (surrogates of fibrosis) compared with sinus rhythm controls. Mechanistically, we identified ERK1/2 as the relevant downstream mediator of PLK2 leading to increased OPN expression. Finally, oral treatment with the clinically available drug mesalazine, known to inhibit ERK1/2, prevented cardiac OPN overexpression and reversed the pathological PLK2 knockout phenotype in PLK2 knockout mice. Conclusions: Abnormal PLK2/ERK1/2/OPN axis function critically contributes to AF-related atrial fibrosis, suggesting reinforcing PLK2 activity and/or OPN inhibition as innovative targets to prevent fibrosis progression in AF. Mesalazine derivatives may be used as lead compounds for the development of novel anti-AF agents targeting fibrosis.}, language = {en} } @misc{EmmeneggerKumarEmmeneggeretal., author = {Emmenegger, Marc and Kumar, Sreedhar Saseendran and Emmenegger, Vishalini and Malinauskas, Tomas and B{\"u}ttner, Thomas and Rose, Laura and Schierack, Peter and Sprinzl, Martin F. and Sommer, Clemens J. and Lackner, Karl J. and Aguzzi, Adriano and Roggenbuck, Dirk and Frauenknecht, Katrin B. M.}, title = {Anti-prothrombin autoantibodies enriched after infection with SARS-CoV-2 and influenced by strength of antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 proteins}, series = {PLoS pathogens}, volume = {17}, journal = {PLoS pathogens}, number = {12}, issn = {1553-7374}, doi = {10.1371/journal.ppat.1010118}, language = {en} }