Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

DOI： 10.1111/dgd.12735

Authorship：Lead author,　Corresponding author  

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

Piwi and piRNA form the piRNA-induced silencing complex (piRISC) to repress transposons. In the current model, Armitage (Armi) brings the Piwi-piRISC precursor (pre-piRISC) to mitochondria, where Zucchini-dependent piRISC maturation occurs. Here, we show that Armi is necessary for Piwi-pre-piRISC formation at Yb bodies and that Armi triggers the exit of Piwi-pre-piRISC from Yb bodies and the translocation to mitochondria. Piwi-pre-piRISC resist leaving Yb bodies until Armi binds Piwi-pre-piRISC through the piRNA precursors. The lack of the Armi N-terminus also blocks the Piwi-pre-piRISC exit from Yb bodies. Thus, Armi determines Piwi-piRISC processing, in a multilayered manner, from precursor formation and quality control to inter-organelle translocation for maturation.

DOI： 10.15252/embr.201948769

PubMed

Language：English  

BACKGROUND: Patients with haematological malignancies are often vitamin C deficient, and vitamin C is essential for the TET-induced conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), the first step in active DNA demethylation. Here, we investigate whether oral vitamin C supplementation can correct vitamin C deficiency and affect the 5hmC/5mC ratio in patients with myeloid cancers treated with DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTis). RESULTS: We conducted a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled pilot trial (NCT02877277) in Danish patients with myeloid cancers performed during 3 cycles of DNMTi-treatment (5-azacytidine, 100 mg/m2/d for 5 days in 28-day cycles) supplemented by oral dose of 500 mg vitamin C (n = 10) or placebo (n = 10) daily during the last 2 cycles. Fourteen patients (70%) were deficient in plasma vitamin C (< 23 μM) and four of the remaining six patients were taking vitamin supplements at inclusion. Global DNA methylation was significantly higher in patients with severe vitamin C deficiency (< 11.4 μM; 4.997 vs 4.656% 5mC relative to deoxyguanosine, 95% CI [0.126, 0.556], P = 0.004). Oral supplementation restored plasma vitamin C levels to the normal range in all patients in the vitamin C arm (mean increase 34.85 ± 7.94 μM, P = 0.0004). We show for the first time that global 5hmC/5mC levels were significantly increased in mononuclear myeloid cells from patients receiving oral vitamin C compared to placebo (0.037% vs - 0.029%, 95% CI [- 0.129, - 0.003], P = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS: Normalization of plasma vitamin C by oral supplementation leads to an increase in the 5hmC/5mC ratio compared to placebo-treated patients and may enhance the biological effects of DNMTis. The clinical efficacy of oral vitamin C supplementation to DNMTis should be investigated in a large randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02877277 . Registered on 9 August 2016, retrospectively registered.

DOI： 10.1186/s13148-019-0739-5

PubMed

DOI： 10.1038/s41568-019-0109-9

PubMed

DOI： 10.1002/hep.30091

PubMed

DOI： 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-3953

PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP  

Human APOBEC3H (A3H) is a member of APOBEC cytidine deaminase family intensively constraining the HIV-1 replication. A3H is known to be polymorphic with different protein stability and anti-HIV-1 activity in vitro. We recently reported that A3H haplotypes composed of two functional polymorphisms, rs139292 (N15del) and rs139297 (G105R), were associated with the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in Japanese. To confirm the association of A3H and HIV-1 infection in another ethnic group, a total of 241 HIV-1-infected Indian individuals and ethnic-matched 286 healthy controls were analyzed for the A3H polymorphisms. The frequency of 15del allele was high in the HIV-1-infected subjects as compared with the controls (0.477 vs 0.402, odds ratio (OR)=1.36, P=0.014). Haplotype analysis showed that the frequencies of 15del-105R was high (0.475 vs 0.400, OR=1.36, permutation P=0.037) in the HIV-1-infected subjects, confirming the association of A3H polymorphisms with the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection.

DOI： 10.1038/jhg.2015.136

Web of Science

PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

Human APOBEC3H (A3H) is a member of APOBEC3 cytidine deaminase family that potently restricts HIV-1 replication. Because A3H is genetically divergent with different intracellular stability and anti-HIV-1 activity in vitro, we investigated a possible association of A3H with susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and disease progression in Japanese populations. A total of 191 HIV-1-infected individuals (HIV group), 93 long-term non-progressors to AIDS (LTNP group) and 421 healthy controls were genotyped for two functional APOBEC3H polymorphisms, rs139292 and rs139297. As compared with the controls, minor allele frequency (MAF) for rs139292 was high in the HIV group (MAF in cases vs. controls; 0.322 vs. 0.263, odds ratio (OR) = 1.33, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) = 1.02-1.74, p = 0.035) and low in the LTNP group (0.161 vs. 0.263, OR = 0.54, 95 % CI = 0.36-0.82, p = 0.004, pc = 0.007), whereas the MAF for rs139297 was high in the HIV group (0.367 vs. 0.298, OR = 1.36, 95 % CI = 1.07-1.76, p = 0.017, pc = 0.035). In addition, haplotype analyses revealed that the frequencies of A3H-hapC and -hapA were high (0.322 vs. 0.262, OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.02-1.74, p = 0.003) and low (0.634 vs. 0.697, OR = 0.75, 95 % CI = 0.58-0.97, p = 0.002), respectively, in the HIV group, whereas the frequencies of A3H-hapC and -hapB were low (0.161 vs. 0.262, OR = 0.54, 95 % CI = 0.36-0.82, p = 0.00003) and high (0.097 vs. 0.040, OR = 2.55, 95 % CI = 1.40-4.62, p = 0.000008), respectively, in the LTNP group, as compared with those in the controls. These observations suggest that the A3H with low anti-HIV-1 activity, A3H-hapC, is associated with the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection, whereas the A3H producing a stable protein, A3H-hapB, may confer a low risk of disease progression to AIDS.

DOI： 10.1007/s00251-015-0829-2

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC  

The TIM (T cell/transmembrane, immunoglobulin and mucin) proteins are crucial regulators of Th1/Th2 immune responses and have been implicated in several diseases including HIV-1/AIDS. The TIM1 exon 4 that codes for mucin domain is highly diverse, with sequence variants associated with varying phenotypes. In this study, TIM1 exon 4 was sequenced among 227 HIV-1 seroprevalent and 288 healthy non infected individuals from North Indian population and haplotypes established. A novel but rare haplotype D1* was identified among the healthy and differed from D1 by a synonymous substitution G&gt;T at Thr208Thr. The TIM1 haplotype diversity showed no association with susceptibility to HIV-1 infection. The seroprevalent individuals carrying D3A had relatively higher median CD4+T cell counts (368/mu l) than those without (313/mu l; p = 0.02). A comparison of CD4+T counts between D3-A individuals on ART or ART naive did not show any significant difference plausibly due to confounding nature of ART and other factors. (c) 2012 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DOI： 10.1016/j.humimm.2012.11.013

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain containing protein 1 (TIM1), also known as a cellular receptor for hepatitis A virus (HAVCR1) or a molecule induced by ischemic injury in the kidney (KIM1), is involved in the regulation of immune responses. We investigated a natural selection history of TIM1 by comparative sequencing analysis in 24 different primates. It was found that TIM1 had become a pseudogene in multiple lineages of the New World monkey. We also investigated T cell lines originated from four different New World monkey species and confirmed that TIM1 was not expressed at the mRNA level. On the other hand, there were ten amino acid sites in the Ig domain of TIM1 in the other primates, which were suggested to be under positive natural selection. In addition, mucin domain of TIM1 was highly polymorphic in the Old World monkeys, which might be under balanced selection. These data suggested that TIM1 underwent a lineage-specific evolutionary pathway in the primates.

DOI： 10.1007/s00251-012-0628-y

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

Genes of the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) have a wide variety of cellular activities. In this study, we investigated molecular evolution of IgSF genes in primates by comparing orthologous sequences of 249 IgSF genes among human, chimpanzee, orangutan, rhesus macaque, and common marmoset. To evaluate the non-synonymous/synonymous substitution ratio (omega), we applied Bn-Bs program and PAML program. IgSF genes were classified into 11 functional categories based on the Gene Ontology (GO) database. Among them, IgSF genes in three functional categories, immune system process (GO: 0002376), defense response (GO: 0006952), and multi-organism process (GO: 0051704), which are tightly linked to the regulation of immune system had much higher values of. than genes in the other GO categories. In addition, we estimated the average values of. for each primate lineage. Although each primate lineage had comparable average values of., the human lineage showed the lowest. value for the immune-related genes. Furthermore, 11 IgSF genes, SIGLEC5, SLAMF6, CD33, CD3E, CEACAM8, CD3G, FCER1A, CD48, CD4, TIM4, and FCGR2A, were implied to have been under positive selective pressure during the course of primate evolution. Further sequence analyses of CD3E and CD3G from 23 primate species suggested that the Ig domains of CD3E and CD3G underwent the positive Darwinian selection.

DOI： 10.1007/s00251-011-0519-7

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PubMed

Language：English   Publisher：OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC  

DOI： 10.1086/655227

Web of Science

PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS  

Objective: To investigate association of TIM1 sequence variations with HIV/AIDS progression.
Introduction: HIV-1 infected individuals have wide variations in disease progression including AIDS. T cell immunoglobulin and mucin 1 (TIM1) is a cell surface protein involved in the regulation of Th1/Th2 immune response.
Materials and methods: We sequenced the highly polymorphic exon 4 of TIM1 from 246 individuals of HIV-1 infected Thai female cohort to determine their TIM1 haplo-types. Associations of TIM1 haplotypes with baseline clinical data (sero-status, plasma viral load, CD4 cell count, and symptomatic AIDS) and survival status during 3 years of follow-up were evaluated.
Results: Seven TIM1 haplotypes, D3-A, D4, D3-C, D1, W-A, W-C, and D3-C*, were found in the cohort. Patients possessing the D3-A haplotype showed trends towards higher CD4(+) cell count (P=0.06) and lower proportion of AIDS-related symptoms (P=0.022) than the other patients at the baseline. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients carrying the D3-A haplotype had a better survival rates (P=0.019) than the others. D3-A haplotypes was tightly linked to the lower expression levels of TIM1.
Conclusion: TIM1 D3-A haplotype is associated with the delay of disease progression to AIDS in the HIV-1 infected Thai females. (C) 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

DOI： 10.1097/QAD.0b013e32833a8c6d

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP  

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is caused by a thrombotic occlusion or spasm of the coronary artery. Association of genetic variants with susceptibility to CAD has been reported in various populations, but the association should be replicated in other populations to establish the role of genetic variants in CAD. We conducted a case-control study with a total of 1480 CAD cases and 2115 controls from two East Asian populations, Japanese and Korean, to validate the associations of CAD with eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight loci, which were identified from large-scale whole-genome association studies in Europeans or East Asians. Among the tested SNPs, one SNP in BRAP (rs11066001) showed a significant association in allele frequency distribution with CAD in both the Japanese (Odds ratio (OR)=1.63, 95% confidence interval (CI); 1.41-1.89, P=5.0 x 10(-11), corrected P (Pc)=4.0 x 10(-10)) and Korean populations (OR=1.68, 95% CI; 1.41-2.00, P=6.5 x 10(-9), Pc=5.2 x 10(-9)), and a meta-analysis showed a significant association in the East Asian populations (OR=1.65, 95% CI; 1.48-1.85, P=1.8 x 10(-18), Pc=1.4 x 10(-17)), whereas no evidence of association was found for the other SNPs. In addition, a combined analysis of BRAP and another CAD locus on 9p21 suggested that these loci had a synergistic role in the susceptibility. Failure to replicate the association with the other SNPs, which were reported in the European populations, suggested that their contributions to CAD were not large enough to be readily captured in the East Asian populations. Journal of Human Genetics (2009) 54, 642-646; doi:10.1038/jhg.2009.87; published online 28 August 2009

DOI： 10.1038/jhg.2009.87

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS  

Objective: TRIM5 alpha is one of the factors contributing to intracellular defense mechanisms against HIV-1 infection. We investigated the association of TRIM5 alpha sequence variations with the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in Japanese and Indian.
Design: Sequence variations in TRIM5 alpha were investigated in HIV-1-infected patients and ethnic-matched controls. Functional alterations caused by rare variants were analyzed.
Methods: We sequenced TRIM5 alpha-exon 2 in both Japanese (94 HIV-1-infected patients and 487 controls) and Indian (101 HIV-1-infected patients and 99 controls). Frequency of variants and haplotypes were compared between the HIV-1-infected patients and controls. Functional analyses were performed for two rare variants, Gly110Arg and G176del.
Results: The frequency of 43Tyr-allele in the Indian HIV-1-infected patients was significantly lower than that in the ethnic-matched controls (odds ratio=0.52, 95% confidence interval = 0.31-0.89, P=0.015). A similar tendency was observed in Japanese sample, although it was not statistically significant (odds ratio = 0.67, 95% confidence interval = 0.43-1.05, P=0.095). On the other hand, haplotype analyses revealed that the haplotype carrying the 43Tyr-allele was significantly associated with the reduced susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in both ethnic groups. Functional analysis revealed that Gly110Arg variant weakened the anti-HIV-1 and anti-HIV-2 activities of human TRIM5a, whereas the truncated G176del-TRIM5 enhanced the antiviral activity of coexpressed TRIM5a. Epidemiological data were consistent in that Gly110Arg and G176del were associated with the susceptibility to and protection from HIV-1 infection, respectively.
Conclusion: Both common and rare variants of TRIM5a are associated with the susceptibility to HIV-1 infection. (C) 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

DOI： 10.1097/QAD.0b013e328331567a

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

The innate immune system constitutes the front line of host defense against pathogens. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize molecules derived from pathogens and play crucial roles in the innate immune system. Here, we provide evidence that the TLR-related genes have come under natural selection pressure in the course of primate evolution. We compared the nucleotide sequences of 16 TLR-related genes, including TLRs (TLR1-10), MYD88, TILAP, TICAM1, TICAM2, MD2, and CD14, among seven primate species. Analysis of the non-synonymous/synonymous substitution ratio revealed the presence of both strictly conserved and rapidly evolving regions in the TLR-related genes. The genomic segments encoding the intracellular Toll/interleukin 1 receptor domains, which exhibited lower rates of non-synonymous substitution, have undergone purifying selection. In contrast, TLR4, which carried a high proportion of non-synonymous substitutions in the part of extracellular domain spanning 200 amino acids, was found to have been the suggestive target of positive Darwinian selection in primate evolution. However, sequence analyses from 25 primate species, including eight hominoids, six Old World monkeys, eight New World monkeys, and three prosimians, showed no evidence that the pressure of positive Darwinian selection has shaped the pattern of sequence variations in TLR4 among New World monkeys and prosimians.

DOI： 10.1007/s00251-008-0332-0

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PubMed

Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：SPRINGER  

We set up a cohort of HIV-infected, asymptomatic Japanese patients with hemophilia for follow-up study in 1995. All subjects who had been infected with HIV-1 for more than 10 years met the criteria for long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) at the time of entry; however, some of them later developed lymphopenia and required antiretroviral treatment during five more years of observation. In this study, we investigated the impacts of the CCL3L1 dose on the long-term prognosis in the subjects with chronic HIV-1 infection. We collected genomic DNA from 95 long-term survivors including 48 nonprogressors and 47 subjects receiving antiretroviral treatment. The distributions of CCL3L1 copy number significantly differed between the 95 HIV-1-infected subjects with hemophilia and 205 controls. Average copy number of CCL3L1 in the HIV-1-infected subjects was significantly lower than in control (5.00 +/- 0.22 vs 3.35 +/- 0.24, p &lt; 0.001). Moreover, the subjects possessing two or less copies of CCL3L1 had significantly higher risk of acquiring HIV-1. However, CCL3L1 copy number variations had no significant effect on the disease progression among the LTNP subjects who had been afflicted with chronic HIV-1 infection for more than 15 years, when compared between nonprogressors and patients under treatment (3.68 +/- 0.37 vs 3.02 +/- 0.29, ns). Furthermore, variations in the CCL3L1 copy number had little effect on the levels of HIV-1 load among them. We conclude that variation in the CCL3L1 copy number is apparently not a factor that determines the prognosis of chronic HIV-1 infection, even though it is linked to HIV-1 susceptibility.

DOI： 10.1007/s00251-007-0252-4

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PubMed

Language：English   Presentation type：Oral presentation (general)  

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (invited, special)  

Language：Japanese   Presentation type：Oral presentation (invited, special)