Podcasts about hek293

This episode I delve deep into the darkness and the current state of this world. I share info on HEK293, DJT the character and JFK/Kahlooni Jr. Note: The internet cut out at the end. Odd it happened based on what I was discussing. My apologies for the abrupt ending.

In this episode we tackle the topic of HEK-293 cells and how "THEY" are force feeding us aborted fetus derivatives!

On today's show, Christian Hacking discusses abortion and the use of HEK293 fetal cells from aborted babies. GUEST OVERVIEW: Christian Hacking is the Public Engagement Officer for CBR UK. You can find more information at https://www.cbruk.org.

Good morning from Pharma and Biotech daily: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in Pharma and Biotech world. Today we have a packed episode with news from the healthcare industry. Let's dive in.Integra is set to acquire J&J's Acclarent for $275 million, making them a market leader in ENT procedures. Illumina is divesting its acquisition, Grail, following orders from regulators. Zimvie has received clearance for its spinal fixation system through a collaboration with Brainlab. Crispr Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals have developed a sickle cell disease therapy using Crispr technology. Heart device makers are investing in left atrial appendage closure as a potential $6 billion market by 2030. Activist investor Engaged Capital has taken a stake in Nevro.Pfizer is planning to deepen its cost cuts after sales forecasts missed expectations. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is building a case for a non-opioid pain drug. Doctors at the ASH meeting have praised new sickle cell gene therapies. Biotech mergers and acquisitions are picking back up, with Astrazeneca's acquisition of Icosavax being the first large buyout of a vaccine developer since GSK's purchase of Affinivax. Tome Biosciences has debuted with $213 million in funding.Centene attempted to ease concerns about the potential overhaul of the ACA. KKR is reportedly in talks to buy a stake in Cotiviti. Google has revealed new generative AI models for healthcare called MedLM. Cerner is expected to be a growth story for Oracle after this fiscal year. There have been reports of hackers having access to patient information in a cyberattack on a New York hospital.Pfizer's stock price dropped after providing its full-year 2024 guidance. Johnson & Johnson and Genmab released data from a phase III study of their darzalex faspro-based quadruplet therapy. The FDA has created the Genetic Metabolic Diseases Advisory Committee. Biopharma companies are shifting their advertising budgets away from Xplus. South Africa is moving towards greater local biopharmaceutical production.AstraZeneca is set to acquire vaccine maker Icosavax. The FTC has led Sanofi to terminate a drug research deal with Maze Therapeutics. Editas presented its gene therapy for sickle cell disease at the ASH23 conference. Tome Biosciences has debuted with $213 million in funding. Bristol Myers Squibb has paid SystImmune $800 million in a deal involving ADCs. AbbVie's Humira leads ICER's list of "unsupported" price hikes. Pfizer presented new data at the ASH conference.Bristol Myers Squibb has acquired the rights to develop SystImmune's bi-specific ADC. Pfizer's acquisition of Seagen has cleared regulatory hurdles. Sanofi has dropped its acquisition of Maze Therapeutics' Pompe disease drug. AstraZeneca has entered the RSV vaccine market with its purchase of Icosavax. Sino Biological has developed three HEK293 expression-based platforms.The Daily Dive newsletter from Marketing Dive highlights several key stories. Oscar Mayer and Mint Mobile are teaming up for a national campaign called "A Side of Bacon." Frito-Lay is reaffirming its commitment to diverse creators with a new campaign called "My Joy." IPG Mediabrands has struck a deal with Amazon for ad-supported streaming. The newsletter also includes an opinion piece on retail media networks and an upcoming virtual event on generative AI in marketing.The pharmaceutical industry is preparing for upcoming changes and challenges. The cost of medicine is expected to be a major debate point in the 2024 presidential election. Bristol Myers Squibb's Chief Commercial Officer discusses the industry's shifting approach. The article includes sponsored content from AstraZeneca, highlighting their expansion in blood cancer care. The text concludes with links to other resources and press releases.And that's all for today's episode. Stay tuned for more important news from the Pharma and Biotech world. Goodbye!

How efficacious is prayer online? Why doesn't our Lord make as many appearances as Mary does? Were we created first in heaven and then sent to earth? If a soul is in mortal sin is there no life in it or is it just sick? Dana - What authority do I have over my adult daughters if their father is not in their life? How efficacious is prayer online? Margaret - Why doesn't our Lord make as many appearances as Mary does? Angel - I'm trying to get my car fixed but a lot of the workers have Santa Muerte in their shops. Can I take the car to those shops still? Man sets himself on fire after trying to burn down a Church Melissa - Some people say in the rosary 'lead all souls back to heaven.' Is that accurate? Were we created in heaven and sent to earth? Mary - Can other Christians pray for Catholics and vice versa? Rene - If a soul is in mortal sin is there no life in it or is it just sick? Martin - My dad was a Free Mason but he was also a die-hard Catholic. I think you can be both. Mike - Do you have a book recommendation on the connection between revelation and reason and the development of western thought? Bella - Are there any Catholic Doctors I can see for me going through menopause? The ones I am currently seeing are suggesting non-Catholic remedies Larry – I heard that the HEK293 human embryonic fetus cell from aborted babies is used in food product and beverages. Is it true and what are your thoughts are on it?

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.04.547688v1?rss=1 Authors: Schultz, S., Liu, L., Schultz, A., Fitzpatrick, C., Levin, R., Bellier, J.-P., Shirzadi, Z., Mathurin, N., Chen, C., Benzinger, T., Day, G., Farlow, M., Gordon, B., Hassenstab, J., Jack, C., Jucker, M., Karch, C., Lee, J., Levin, J., Perrin, R., Schofield, P., Xiong, C., Johnson, K., McDade, E., Bateman, R., Sperling, R., Selkoe, D., Chhatwal, J., the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network Investigators Abstract: Background: The balance between production, clearance, and toxicity of A{beta} peptides is central to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathobiology. Though highly variable in terms of age at symptom onset (AAO), hundreds of variants in PSEN1 cause autosomal dominant forms of AD (ADAD) with nearly complete penetrance. PSEN1 forms the catalytic core of the {gamma}-secretase complex and thereby directly mediates the production of longer, aggregation-prone A{beta} peptides relative to shorter, non-aggregating peptides. We hypothesized that the broad AAO and biomarker heterogeneity seen across ADAD would be predictable based on mutation-specific differences in the production of A{beta} species. Methods: A{beta}-37, 38, 40, 42, and 43 production was quantified from 162 unique PSEN1 variants expressed in HEK293 cells. Prediction of AAO was carried out in 107 variants with available AAO and then replicated in 55 variants represented across 190 PSEN1 mutation carriers who have detailed cognitive and biomarker data from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN). Results: Variations in A{beta} production across the 162 mutations examined in cell-based models were highly predictive of AAO. In those with corresponding in vivo data from the DIAN study, our cell-based {gamma}-secretase composite was strongly associated with biomarker and cognitive trajectories. Conclusions: These findings elucidate the critical link between {gamma}-secretase function, A{beta} production, and AD progression and offer mechanistic support for the amyloid hypothesis. The approach used here represents a powerful tool to account for heterogeneity in disease progression in ADAD clinical trials and to assess the pathogenicity of variants of unknown significance or with limited family history. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.06.28.546942v1?rss=1 Authors: Husser, M. C., Pham, N. P., Law, C., Araujo, F. R. B., Martin, V. J. J., Piekny, A. Abstract: Endogenous tags have become invaluable tools to visualize and study native proteins in live cells. However, generating human cell lines carrying endogenous tags is difficult due to the low efficiency of homology-directed repair. Recently, an engineered split mNeonGreen protein was used to generate a large-scale endogenous tag library in HEK293 cells. Using split mNeonGreen for large-scale endogenous tagging in human iPSCs would open the door to studying protein function in healthy cells and across differentiated cell types. We engineered an iPS cell line to express the large fragment of the split mNeonGreen protein (mNG21-10) and showed that it enables fast and efficient endogenous tagging of proteins with the short fragment (mNG211). We also demonstrate that neural network-based image restoration enables live imaging studies of highly dynamic cellular processes such as cytokinesis in iPSCs. This work represents the first step towards a genome-wide endogenous tag library in human stem cells. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.05.04.537313v1?rss=1 Authors: Hellweg, L., Pfeifer, M., Chang, L., Tarnawski, M., Bergner, A., Kress, J., Hiblot, J., Reinhardt, J., Johnsson, K., Leippe, P. Abstract: Aspartate is a limiting metabolite in proliferating cells with its production closely linked to glutamine and mitochondrial metabolism. To date, measuring aspartate concentrations in live cells was deemed impossible. We present iAspSnFR, a genetically-encoded biosensor for intracellular aspartate, engineered by displaying and screening biosensor libraries in HEK293 cells. In live cells, iAspSnFR exhibits a dynamic range of 130% fluorescence change and detects reduced aspartate levels upon glutamine deprivation or glutaminase inhibition. Furthermore, iAspSnFR tracks aspartate uptake by excitatory amino acid transporters, or of asparagine after co-expression of an asparaginase. Importantly, iAspSnFR reports aspartate depletions upon electron transport chain inhibition, and therefore it can serve as a proxy for mitochondrial respiration. Consequently, iAspSnFR can dissect the major cellular pathways of aspartate production, offering immediate applications, particularly in cancer biology, such as screening small molecules targeting aspartate and glutamine metabolism. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.04.23.537965v1?rss=1 Authors: Ramezani, M., Wagenknecht-Wiesner, A., Wang, T., Holowka, D. A., Eliezer, D., Baird, B. Abstract: Alpha synuclein (a-syn) is an intrinsically disordered protein prevalent in neurons, and aggregated forms are associated with synucleinopathies including Parkinson' disease (PD). Despite the biomedical importance and extensive studies, the physiological role of a-syn and its participation in etiology of PD remain uncertain. We showed previously in model RBL cells that a-syn colocalizes with mitochondrial membranes, depending on formation of N-terminal helices and increasing with mitochondrial stress. We have now characterized this colocalization and functional correlates in RBL, HEK293, and N2a cells. We find that expression of a-syn enhances stimulated mitochondrial uptake of Ca2+ from the ER, depending on formation of its N-terminal helices but not on its disordered C-terminal tail. Our results are consistent with a-syn acting as a tether between mitochondria and ER, and we show increased contacts between these two organelles using structured illumination microscopy. We tested mitochondrial stress caused by toxins related to PD, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP/MPP+) and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP), and found that a-syn prevents recovery of stimulated mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. The C-terminal tail, and not N-terminal helices, is involved in this inhibitory activity, which is abrogated when phosphorylation site serine-129 is mutated (S129A). Correspondingly, we find that MPTP/MPP+ and CCCP stress is accompanied by both phosphorylation (pS129) and aggregation of a-syn. Overall, our results indicate that a-syn can participate as a tethering protein to modulate Ca2+ flux between ER and mitochondria, with potential physiological significance. A-syn can also prevent cellular recovery from toxin-induced mitochondrial dysfunction, which may represent a pathological role of a-syn in the etiology of PD. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.04.18.537407v1?rss=1 Authors: zhou, l. x., Zhao, J. Abstract: The voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7 plays a crucial role in the initiation and propagation of pain signals. Our previous study has successfully identified the interacting proteins of mouse Nav1.7 (mNav1.7). In this study, we aimed to further elucidate the protein-protein interactions associated with human Nav1.7 (hNav1.7). Stable epitope (TAP)-tagged HEK293 cells expressing hNaV1.7 were utilized for the identification of hNav1.7-interacting proteins. The hNaV1.7-associated complexes were isolated through tandem affinity purification and further characterized by mass spectrometry. Bioinformatics analysis was carried out using the PANTHER classification system. Electrophysiological recording was performed to assess Nav1.7 current. Tap-tagged hNav1.7 was expressed effectively in HEK293 cells, exhibiting normal functional Nav1.7 currents. A total of 261 proteins were identified as interactors of hNav1.7, mainly located across the cell membrane and cytoplasm, and primarily involved in biological processes related to protein translation and expression. Comparison between human and mouse Nav1.7-interacting proteins revealed shared proteins (such as Eef1a1, Eef2, Tcp1, Cct2, Cct3, Cct5, Cct6a, and Cct7) as well as protein families (such as kinesin and Rab GTPases family). Knockdown of two of the shared interacting proteins, CCT5 and TMED10, resulted in reduced Nav1.7 current density. In conclusion, the protein interactions of hNaV1.7 were successfully mapped in the current work. These novel findings offer essential insights into the regulatory mechanisms that govern Nav1.7 function. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.03.27.534397v1?rss=1 Authors: Smolen, K. A., Papke, C. M., Swingle, M. R., Musiyenko, A., Li, C., Camp, A. D., Honkanen, R. E., Kettenbach, A. N. Abstract: Variants in the phosphoprotein phosphatase-2 regulatory protein-5D gene (PPP2R5D) cause the clinical phenotype of Jordan's Syndrome (PPP2R5D-related disorder), which includes intellectual disability, hypotonia, seizures, macrocephaly, autism spectrum disorder and delayed motor skill development. The disorder originates from de novo single nucleotide mutations, generating missense variants that act in a dominant manner. Pathogenic mutations altering 13 different amino acids have been identified, with the E198K variant accounting for ~40% of reported cases. Here, we use CRISPR-PRIME genomic editing to introduce a transition (c.592G greater than A) in the PPP2R5D allele in a heterozygous manner in HEK293 cells, generating E198K-heterozygous lines to complement existing E420K variant lines. We generate global protein and phosphorylation profiles of wild-type, E198K, and E420K cell lines and find unique and shared changes between variants and wild-type cells in kinase- and phosphatase-controlled signaling cascades. As shared signaling alterations, we observed ribosomal protein S6 (RPS6) hyperphosphorylation, indicative of increased ribosomal protein S6-kinase activity. Rapamycin treatment suppressed RPS6 phosphorylation in both, suggesting activation of mTORC1. Intriguingly, our data suggest AKT-dependent (E420K) and -independent (E198K) activation of mTORC1. Thus, although upstream activation of mTORC1 differs between PPP2R5D-related disorder genotypes, treatment with rapamycin or a p70S6K inhibitor warrants further investigation as potential therapeutic strategies for patients. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.02.23.529257v1?rss=1 Authors: Bebelman, M. P., Crudden, C., Snieder, B., Thanou, E., Langedijk, C. J. M., Viola, M., Eleonora, S., Baginska, U., Cotugno, O., Bebelman, J. P. M., van Eijndhoven, M. A. J., Bosch, L., Li, K. W., Smit, M. J., van Niel, G., Smit, A. B., Verweij, F. J., Pegtel, D. M. Abstract: Dysregulated extracellular vesicle (EV) release has been implicated in various pathologies, including cancer, neurodegenerative disease and osteoarthritis. Despite clear therapeutic potential, drug screening for EV release modulators has yielded limited success due to the lack of a sensitive and scalable EV read-out system. Here, we employed CRISPR-Cas9 to engineer HEK293 cells expressing HA-NanoLuciferase-(NL)-tagged endogenous CD63. We found that under basal culture conditions, CD63-containing EVs are released via a mechanism that is independent of the exocytic SNARE protein SNAP23, presumably by direct budding from the plasma membrane. Endo-lysosome inhibition by chemical or genetic perturbation of vATPase strongly increased SNAP23 and nSmase2-dependent exosome secretion from intracellular compartments. Proteomic analysis revealed these exosomes are enriched for early- and late endosomal markers, but also for autophagosomal proteins. This suggests that a proportion of these exosomes originate from amphisomes, although chemical inhibition of canonical autophagy did not affect exosome secretion upon lysosome inhibition. Using a broad-spectrum kinase inhibitor screen, we identified and subsequently validated the lipid kinase PI4KIII{beta} as a critical mediator of exosome secretion and amphisome-mediated secretory autophagy, upon lysosome inhibition. We conclude that tagging of endogenous CD63 with NanoLuciferase represents a sensitive, scalable reporter strategy that enables identification of (druggable) modulators of EV biogenesis and release under physiological and pathological conditions. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.01.12.523776v1?rss=1 Authors: Semesta, K. M., Garces, A., Tsvetanova, N. G. Abstract: RBM12 is a high-penetrance risk factor for familial schizophrenia and psychosis, yet its precise cellular functions and the pathways to which it belongs are not known. We utilize two complementary models, HEK293 cells and human iPSC-derived neurons, and delineate RBM12 as a novel repressor of the G protein-coupled receptor/cyclic AMP/protein kinase A (GPCR/cAMP/PKA) signaling axis. We establish that loss of RBM12 leads to hyperactive cAMP production and increased PKA activity as well as altered neuronal transcriptional responses to GPCR stimulation. Notably, the cAMP and transcriptional signaling steps are subject to discrete RBM12-dependent regulation. We further demonstrate that the two RBM12 truncating variants linked to familial psychosis impact this interplay, as the mutants fail to rescue GPCR/cAMP signaling hyperactivity in cells depleted of RBM12. Lastly, we present a mechanism underlying the impaired signaling phenotypes. In agreement with its activity as an RNA-binding protein, loss of RBM12 leads to altered gene expression, including that of multiple effectors of established significance within the receptor pathway. Specifically, the abundance of adenylyl cyclases, phosphodiesterase isoforms, and PKA regulatory and catalytic subunits is impacted by RBM12 depletion. We note that these expression changes are fully consistent with the entire gamut of hyperactive signaling outputs. In summary, the current study identifies a previously unappreciated role for RBM12 in the context of the GPCR/cAMP pathway that could be explored further as a tentative molecular mechanism underlying the functions of this factor in neuronal physiology and pathophysiology. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.11.01.514750v1?rss=1 Authors: Yap, C. C., Digilio, L., Winckler, B. Abstract: RILP is one of many effectors of RAB7 which bind to RAB7 in its activated GTP-bound state. The exact mechanism by which RAB7 effectors interact with RAB7 in time and space is not well understood. One of the known functions of RILP is to recruit dynein to RAB7-positive late endosomes. Dynein has been shown to be responsible for retrograde transport of RAB7-positive late endosomes in neuronal dendrites. We thus became interested in studying RILP in cultured neurons. We herein validate two commonly used anti-RILP antibodies which are commercially available. We find that both recognize only human RILP, but not mouse or rat RILP. These antibodies are thus not suitable for experiments carried out in mouse or rat cells. Furthermore, we find an unexpected difference between neurons and HEK293 cells in their ability to recruit overexpressed RILP to endosomes and cluster them in the cell center. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.10.21.513252v1?rss=1 Authors: Yang, Q., Perfitt, T. L., Quay, J., Hu, L., Colbran, R. J. Abstract: Clustering of neuronal L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (LTCC) in the plasma membrane is increasingly implicated in creating highly localized Ca2+ signaling nanodomains. For example, LTCC activation can increase phosphorylation of the nuclear CREB transcription factor by increasing Ca2+ concentrations within a nanodomain close to the channel, without requiring bulk Ca2+ increases in the cytosol or nucleus. However, the molecular basis for LTCC clustering is poorly understood. The postsynaptic scaffolding protein Shank3 specifically associates with one of the major neuronal LTCCs, the CaV1.3 calcium channel, and is required for optimal LTCC-dependent excitation-transcription coupling. Here, we co-expressed CaV1.3 1 subunits with two distinct epitope-tags with or without Shank3 in HEK cells. Co-immunoprecipitation studies using the cell lysates revealed that Shank3 can assemble multiple CaV1.3 1 subunits in a complex under basal conditions. Moreover, CaV1.3 LTCC complex formation was facilitated by CaV{beta} subunits ({beta}3 and {beta}2a), which also interact with Shank3. Shank3 interactions with CaV1.3 LTCCs and multimeric CaV1.3 LTCC complex assembly were disrupted following addition of Ca2+ and calmodulin (Ca2+/CaM) to cell lysates, perhaps simulating conditions within an activated CaV1.3 LTCC nanodomain. In intact HEK293T cells, co-expression of Shank3 enhanced the intensity of membrane-localized CaV1.3 LTCC clusters under basal conditions, but not after Ca2+ channel activation. Live cell imaging studies also revealed that Ca2+ influx through LTCCs disassociated Shank3 from CaV1.3 LTCCs clusters and reduced the CaV1.3 cluster intensity. Deletion of the PDZ domain from Shank3 prevented both binding to CaV1.3 and the changes in multimeric CaV1.3 LTCC complex assembly in vitro and in HEK293 cells. Finally, we found that shRNA knock-down of Shank3 expression in cultured rat primary hippocampal neurons reduced the intensity of surface-localized CaV1.3 LTCC clusters in dendrites. Taken together, our findings reveal a novel molecular mechanism contributing to neuronal LTCC clustering under basal conditions. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC

WARNING: this episode contains disturbing content. NSFWWe get the spooky Halloween season into high-gear with an episode about two different, yet complimentary topics guaranteed to get you fired from work and maybe even give you the heebeegeebees. We explore first, the historical connection between ritual human sacrifice and highly stratified societies with an elite class across a rainbow of different cultures and secondly, with open-minded curiosity the connection between advanced civilizations and abortion - even exploring its place in the Old Testament.  In the extended show we discuss the largest child human sacrifice in the archaeological record, medicines derived from aborted fetal tissue, the occult secrets of the human placenta and which celebrity we think probably tastes the best.Discussion topics this week:-The Lolita Express-Phoenician Carthage-Ritual Child Sacrifice to Baal-Hammon-Abortion in Ancient Egypt-The Code of Assura-Abortion in The Roman Catholic Church!-Abortion in… THE BIBLE? w/ Lady Gaga-”Its Wrong To Eat Your Children”-Cannibal Curses of The BibleIn the extended episode available at www.patreon.com/TheWholeRabbit we go a little too far and discuss:-The Holodomor of Ukraine-The Biggest Sacrifice In Historical Record (its gruesome)-Placentophagy-HEK 293 cells-The Cremation of CareWhere to find The Whole Rabbit:YouTube: https://youtu.be/z4DL6BFdzfMMerch: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/thewholerabbit/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AnJZhmPzaby04afmEWOAVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_whole_rabbitMusic By:Spirit Travel Plazahttps://open.spotify.com/artist/30dW3WB1sYofnow7y3V0YoSources:Carthage:https://discover.hubpages.com/education/Ancient-Carthage-the-Carthaginians-did-More-than-We-were-Toldhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZsSB9riza8https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-23-ancient-carthaginians-really-did-sacrifice-their-childrenParents Eating Their Children in the Bible:https://www.thetorah.com/article/parents-eating-their-children-the-torahs-curse-and-its-undertones-in-medieval-interpretationBioethics of Stem Cell use:https://www.pdcnet.org/ncbq/content/ncbq_2006_0006_0003_0473_0495Chimu Culture:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mass-child-human-animal-sacrifice-peru-chimu-scienceHolodomor:https://veniceoarsman.com/11703/uncategorized/remember-its-wrong-to-eat-your-children-chronicles-of-the-ukrainian-genocide/Support the show

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2022.09.07.506981v1?rss=1 Authors: Parks, S. Z., Rutter, G. A., Leclerc, I. Abstract: Background: Soluble Resistance Related Calcium Binding Protein (sorcin) is a calcium (Ca2+) binding protein which has been shown to play a role in maintaining intracellular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ stores and lowering ER stress. Recently, our lab has demonstrated that sorcin expression was downregulated in the islets of Langerhans of mice fed a high-fat diet or in human islets incubated with the saturated fatty acid palmitate. We also showed that overexpression of sorcin under control of the rat insulin promoter (RIP7) in C57BL/6J mice, or whole body sorcin deletion in 129S1/SvImJ mice, improves or impairs insulin secretion and pancreatic {beta}-cell function respectively. The mechanisms behind this beneficial role of sorcin in the pancreatic {beta}-cell might depend on protection against lipotoxic endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress through improved ER Ca2+ dynamics and activation of the Activating Transcription Factor 6 (ATF6) branch of the unfolded protein response (UPR). Whether sorcin is also implicated in hypothalamic ER stress during the progression of obesity is unknown. This could potentially contribute to the diminished satiety typically observed in overweight individuals. Aim: To investigate a potential role of sorcin in hypothalamic ER stress, leptin resistance, hyperphagia and obesity. Methods: Whole-body sorcin null mice, backcrossed onto the C57BL/6J genetic background, were used. Body weight, food intake and EchoMRI body composition were measured in vivo whereas qRT-PCR analysis of sorcin and ER stress markers expression were performed on the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. Leptin signalling through STAT3 phosphorylation was measured by Western blots on sorcin-null HEK293 cells, engineered by CRISPR/Cas9, and transfected with leptin receptor (LepRb). Results: Sorcin expression was not influenced in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus by diet-induced obesity. Whole-body sorcin ablation did not cause ARC ER stress nor changes in body weight, body composition or food intake in C57BL/6 male mice exposed to a high-fat, high-sugar diet. STAT3 phosphorylation (Y705) in response to leptin was not impaired in sorcin-null HEK293 cells. Conclusion: In our model, whole body sorcin ablation did not increase hypothalamic ER stress nor influenced food intake or body weight. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by PaperPlayer

Transient transfection of plasmids into suspension HEK293 cells is still the most commonly used method for the production of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) gene therapies – in this episode, Diane Golebiowski and Marissa Stanvick discuss ways to optimize that process. 

#9 — One of the most commonly used cell lines in molecular biology labs is the Human Embryonic Kidney HEK293 cell line. Listen to this episode to find out all about the history of HEK293 cells and how to work with them. Read the full article for more details about working with HEK293 cells. [1] Resources: 1. https://bitesizebio.com/45489/guide-to-hek293-cells/

So Novak Djokovic, by all accounts, is healthy enough to play world-class tennis. He's not positive for Covid. Doesn't matter, apparently. The Prime Minister of Australia just used a special order to kick him out of the country, and ban him from returning for three years, because he's refused to be vaccinated. So, anyway, the Australian Open is now actually happening. And go figure: One of the ball girls just collapsed in the middle of the court during an early-round match. How about that? Deanna Lorraine joins us to discuss. One reason that a lot of people have felt safe avoiding the vaccines is that over the past years a lot of other treatments have emerged for dealing with Covid-19. There's ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, plus there's better protocols for taking care of people who are moderately ill. But one of the biggest treatments to emerge in the last few months is giving patients infusions of monoclonal antibodies. Dr. Carrie Madej recently produced a video warning that these monoclonal antibodies include ingredients derived from HEK293 human embryonic kidney tissue. Dr. Carrie Madej joins us. Back in October, we had Teddy Daniels on this show as a guest. At the time, Teddy was making a run for Pennsylvania's 8th House district. But now, Teddy has decided to run for a different office, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. The state could certainly use his help. Thanks to pro-crime Soros DA Larry Krasner, crime has exploded in Philadelphia and it's spilling over into the entire state. Teddy joins us to discuss. Robert Beadles has spent years building tech platforms for America-first patriots. He's a part owner of Gab. He's built electronic canvassing systems. On the website Pilled.net, he built a platform for executing the precinct strategy; that's the plan to slowly take over the Republican Party at the grassroots level in order to fight election fraud and promote America First principles. Robert Beadles joins us. Get Dr. Zelenko's Anti-Shedding Treatment, NOW AVAILABLE FOR KIDS: http://zStackProtocol.com Go Ad-Free, Get Exclusive Content, Become a Premium user: https://redvoicemedia.com/premium Follow Stew on social media: https://linktr.ee/StewPeters See all of Stew's content at https://StewPeters.TV Watch full episodes here: https://redvoicemedia.net/stew-full-shows Check out Stew's store: http://StewPeters.shop Support our efforts to keep truth alive: https://www.redvoicemedia.com/support-red-voice-media/

Kansans for Health Freedom website: https://www.kshf.org/ Subscribe to the Truth to Freedom Podcast today: https://anchor.fm/truthtofreedompodcast Links covered in the show: Support Melissa McAtee: https://givesendgo.com/pfizerwhistleblower Follow Melissa McAtee on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073560795402 Instagram: @melissamcatee92 COVID Vaccines using aborted fetal cells: https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/CovidCompareMoralImmoral.pdf J&J Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers that shows residual amounts of host cell proteins and/o or host cell DNA in each dose. (See top of pg. 21) https://www.janssenlabels.com/emergency-use-authorization/Janssen%20COVID-19%20Vaccine-HCP-fact-sheet.pdf HEK293 fetal cell line used in testing of Pfizer covid vaccine: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.08.280818v1.full.pdf Aborted Fetal Cells and Vaccines https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/2/frontlinenews/aborted-fetal-cells-and-vaccines-a-scandal-much-bigger-than-pfizers-whistleblower-ever-imagined/ Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not to be used as medical advice, but rather a launching point of information to help you be informed and make informed decisions. Every person is different and has unique needs and should consult with their healthcare provider for medical advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Kansans for Health Freedom.

Kansans for Health Freedom website: https://www.kshf.org/ Subscribe to the Truth to Freedom Podcast today: https://anchor.fm/truthtofreedompodcast Links covered in the show: Support Melissa McAtee: https://givesendgo.com/pfizerwhistleblower Follow Melissa McAtee on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073560795402 Instagram: @melissamcatee92 COVID Vaccines using aborted fetal cells: https://cogforlife.org/wp-content/uploads/CovidCompareMoralImmoral.pdf J&J Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers that shows residual amounts of host cell proteins and/o or host cell DNA in each dose. (See top of pg. 21) https://www.janssenlabels.com/emergency-use-authorization/Janssen%20COVID-19%20Vaccine-HCP-fact-sheet.pdf HEK293 fetal cell line used in testing of Pfizer covid vaccine: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.08.280818v1.full.pdf Aborted Fetal Cells and Vaccines https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/2/frontlinenews/aborted-fetal-cells-and-vaccines-a-scandal-much-bigger-than-pfizers-whistleblower-ever-imagined/ Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not to be used as medical advice, but rather a launching point of information to help you be informed and make informed decisions. Every person is different and has unique needs and should consult with their healthcare provider for medical advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Kansans for Health Freedom.

What does cannibalism and coronavirus have in common? Absolutely nothing. This week we discuss what HEK293 is which leads into how vaccines work and what they are. Knock out two subjects with one podcast and arm yourself with knowledge- it's not only power, it's also life-saving. Check us out at these places: Facebook: The Free Rotation Podcast Twitter: @thefreerotation Instagram: @thefreerotationpodcast YouTube: The Free Rotation Twitch: TheFreeRotation We also have a new Discord! Check it out over at our Twitch channel. The Free Rotation Podcast is an affiliate of the We Be Geeks Podcast Network. Check out other great podcasts over at webegeekspc.com. Have Amazon Prime and use Twitch? Make sure to link your Amazon Prime account to get one free Twitch subscription a month and feel free to use it on us! #sellout. ©2021 Running Joke Media

In this week's episode of Into the Pray with Dave Brennan of CBRUK, we discuss the foundation and epicentre of what it means to be actively opposed to abortion: the gift of the Holy Spirit of prophecy. We are all commanded to eagerly desire this gift of the Holy Spirit and our ongoing question on this podcast is: "If, as the Body of Christ, we are commanded by God to not only desire this gift but to desire it eagerly, what is the net result for us all if we disobey?"What happens when the gift of prophecy is either neglected or abused or both? In this context, we believe that part of the multifaceted answer to this question is that the Church will say (relatively) nothing about the horror of abortion and that, for instance, 'popular' church leaders will clamour to support the UK Government's agenda for us all to have the COVID-19 vaccine that is derived from aborted foetus cell lines (HEK293). The answer for the Church to this urgent dilemma - as with the general landscape as a whole - is to be willing to repent and face the corporate chaos we're in and, then, to ask the Holy Spirit to give us His heart and His mind so as to live on this earth as we are meant to (prophecy). Have you asked the Holy Spirit for the gift of prophecy? Did you know that you are commanded to? (See 1 Corinthians 14:1) You can watch the YouTube version of this podcast here. Please see "A Call for the UK to Repent" here. If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here. You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.Come, Lord Jesus!Love N&M x

Episode 282: It’s 2021, and we start by breaking down the AR Space Needle, an election update with sudden deaths, Trump tapes, LLin Wood, and Oberman scum; Flippy farming; UPDATES with 2x 33, UFO countdown stimulus, UFO over Oahu, Japanese wood satellites, Bidet’s man, UN diplomats found dead, “Amen, Awomen,” Greta trolling, PANDEMIC SPECIAL; Epstein cellmate, pandemic passport 1 and 2, WHO warns worse, flu is gone, WACCINE; mRNA reverse engineering biohack (proof), allergic nanoparticles, 50% LA says no, Swiss nurse dead, 100’s of Israeli’s, Mexican doc hospitalized, Wisconsin man fired, anti-mask people are authoritarian, mixing waccines, HEK293 report and abortion creeps! #UFOs #SpaceNeedle #Pandemic  GET THE CANARY CRY 2021 CALENDARS HERE: https://www.canarycrymerchperch.com/product-page/2021-canary-cry-calendar  SHOW NOTES: https://bit.ly/3p77uBU  COMMUNITY: https://bit.ly/2I9nTVC   Paypal: https://bit.ly/2JKbBE0  Patreon 1: https://bit.ly/3k5P9ll  Patreon 2: https://bit.ly/3k4uxcY  Crypto: https://bit.ly/2I9i3n9  Twitch: https://bit.ly/2GyucS6 YouTube 1: https://bit.ly/2I8KYb9  YouTube 2: https://bit.ly/2U0FqlB  DLive: https://bit.ly/354MbJp  RSS: https://bit.ly/2IfpvgR  Spotify: https://spoti.fi/30ZmGpu  Apple: https://apple.co/3gl7yt9  Google: https://bit.ly/32fZSU7  Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IbI45I  Podbay: https://bit.ly/2U1a12q

Episode 282: It’s 2021, and we start by breaking down the AR Space Needle, an election update with sudden deaths, Trump tapes, LLin Wood, and Oberman scum; Flippy farming; UPDATES with 2x 33, UFO countdown stimulus, UFO over Oahu, Japanese wood satellites, Bidet’s man, UN diplomats found dead, “Amen, Awomen,” Greta trolling, PANDEMIC SPECIAL; Epstein cellmate, pandemic passport 1 and 2, WHO warns worse, flu is gone, WACCINE; mRNA reverse engineering biohack (proof), allergic nanoparticles, 50% LA says no, Swiss nurse dead, 100’s of Israeli’s, Mexican doc hospitalized, Wisconsin man fired, anti-mask people are authoritarian, mixing waccines, HEK293 report and abortion creeps! #UFOs #SpaceNeedle #Pandemic  GET THE CANARY CRY 2021 CALENDARS HERE: https://www.canarycrymerchperch.com/product-page/2021-canary-cry-calendar  SHOW NOTES: https://bit.ly/3p77uBU  COMMUNITY: https://bit.ly/2I9nTVC   Paypal: https://bit.ly/2JKbBE0  Patreon 1: https://bit.ly/3k5P9ll  Patreon 2: https://bit.ly/3k4uxcY  Crypto: https://bit.ly/2I9i3n9  Twitch: https://bit.ly/2GyucS6 YouTube 1: https://bit.ly/2I8KYb9  YouTube 2: https://bit.ly/2U0FqlB  DLive: https://bit.ly/354MbJp  RSS: https://bit.ly/2IfpvgR  Spotify: https://spoti.fi/30ZmGpu  Apple: https://apple.co/3gl7yt9  Google: https://bit.ly/32fZSU7  Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IbI45I  Podbay: https://bit.ly/2U1a12q

TESTO DELL'ARTICOLO ➜http://www.bastabugie.it/it/articoli.php?id=6426TRE PROBLEMI PER IL VACCINO ANTI-COVIDIl problema per la salute, il problema etico, il problema per la libertàdi Francesca Romana PoleggiL'argomento "vaccini sì - vaccini no" è divenuto un terreno di scontro ideologico. Lo dimostra la vicenda del dottor Grisanti finito dalle stelle alle stalle per aver pubblicamente espresso serie riserve sui vaccini anti coronavirus che sembra siano di imminente commercializzazione (anche se un giorno sì e uno no, si succedono smentite e contro-smentite; e, intanto, la mia vecchia madre - che vive a Roma, in zona centrale - ancora non riesce a fare il normale vaccino antinfluenzale, tanto raccomandato da tutti, perché "non è arrivato"). Lungi da noi il voler assumere una posizione ideologica in materia (ci sembrano irragionevoli sia i "no vax" senza se e senza ma, sia quelli che vorrebbero obbligare tutti a fare tutti i vaccini che sono in circolazione), riteniamo necessario:- in primis, conoscere le argomentazioni di chi non ritiene che i vaccini - e in particolare il prossimo eventuale vaccino anti Covid - siano efficaci e salutari per tutti e in tutti i casi; - in secundis, riteniamo opportuno conoscere le argomentazioni di chi solleva rispetto a determinati vaccini - anche anti Covid - un problema etico (non necessariamente "religioso");- e infine merita una riflessione la questione dell'obbligatorietà vaccinale in tempi in cui non si fa altro che osannare l'autodeterminazione. 1) IL PROBLEMA PER LA SALUTE: IL DNA FETALE NEI VACCINIQuanto al primo punto, dovrebbe essere il medico curante a dire se il tal vaccino è efficace e salutare per il tal paziente, al netto del rischio ineliminabile di effetti collaterali (andrebbe anche approfondita la questione sollevata recentemente da Lyons et al. sull' International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health secondo cui i bambini non vaccinati sono sorprendentemente più sani di quelli vaccinati). C'è poi una importante questione da chiarire. Molti vaccini sono derivati da cellule fetali: quindi, il Dna del feto entra inevitabilmente in circolo nell'organismo del ricevente. Ciò comporta seri rischi per la sua salute, perché potrebbe innescare un processo noto come "ricombinazione omologa" cui consegue la modifica del patrimonio genetico del ricevente il vaccino. Si formano cioè delle mutazioni e delle nuove cellule che il soggetto vaccinato non riconosce come proprie e scatenano una risposta cosiddetta "autoimmune", con le conseguenti malattie e disturbi dello spettro autistico.La Food & Drug Administration statunitense (l'agenzia federale di controllo sui farmaci) e l'Oms, nel 2005, riconoscendo la sussistenza di rischi oncogeni associati alla presenza di DNA umano nei vaccini, avevano stabilito che doveva essercene meno di 10 ng (nanogrammi). Con il tempo vari ricercatori hanno dimostrato che il limite suddetto non viene quasi mai rispettato. Un esempio fra tanti, denunciato dall'associazione Corvelva: nel Priorix Tetra, usato nei bambini dagli 11 mesi fino ai 12 anni di età per morbillo, parotite, rosolia e varicella, sono state state riscontrate inizialmente quantità di DNA da 1 a 2,7 e poi fino a 3,7 microgrammi per fiala (1 microgrammo è uguale a 1000 nanogrammi). Questo viola anche la convenzione di Oviedo e altre norme internazionali che vietano la modificazione del patrimonio genetico degli esseri umani. Quanto ai futuri vaccini anti Covid, quindi, riteniamo che per il rispetto del principio del consenso informato, sia necessario pretendere che ci sia la massima trasparenza sull'entità del Dna umano presente in essi. Ma quale autorità si prenderà davvero a cuore la nostra salute su questo punto? L'Oms e gli altri enti di sorveglianza che finora hanno concesso ai produttori di vaccini di ignorare e di violare i suddetti limiti? Il Charlotte Lozier Institute pubblica e aggiorna costantemente l'elenco dei vaccini etici e non etici che sono in circolazione. Nella tabella aggiornata al 10 novembre 2020 sono elencati i possibili vaccini SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) che utilizzano linee cellulari derivate dall'aborto (per la produzione e/o per il test del siero), e quelli che invece sono ricavati da cellule animali (scimmie, criceti, invertebrati), da vegetali, o che sono sequenze disegnate al computer, oppure che sono ricavati da cellule umane prelevate eticamente (per esempio dal cordone ombelicale). È indicato altresì il Paese di produzione, e a che punto è la ricerca (se è nella fase di sperimentazione o no).Per esempio, si sente molto parlare del vaccino della Johnson & Johnson (coltivato sulla linea cellulare PER.C6, derivata dalla retina di un bambino di 18 settimane abortito nel 1985) o di quelli della Pfizer e di Moderna (testati sulle cellule HEK293, ricavate dai reni di una bambina sana abortita in Olanda nel 1973). Anche l'Istituto Europeo di Bioetica ha confermato l'uso di linee cellulari di feti abortiti in molti dei vaccini elencati dal Lozier Institute, come per esempio Astrazeneca dell'università di Oxford, Medicago (canadese), Altimmune (USA) e CanSino Biologics, Sinovac Biotech Co e Anhui Zhifei Longcom (cinesi). Di contro, sono in preparazione anche tanti vaccini etici, in diverse parti del mondo, come per esempio quello della Sinopharm, in Cina, quello dell'Istituto di ricerca Giovanni Paolo II, in Usa, quello dell'istituto Pasteur e Themis and Merck o quello della Sanofi e GSK (franco-americani), uno sviluppato dall'Università del Queensland, in Australia, il CureVac tedesco, il Genexine coreano. 2) IL PROBLEMA ETICOQuanto al secondo punto, invece, il problema etico relativo ai vaccini che all'origine hanno cellule tratte da bambini abortiti, non è trascurabile. Non si tratta, infatti, solo di feti abortiti nei lontani anni Sessanta, come si dicono alcuni: il Comitato cittadini per l'obiezione etico-religiosa, ha pubblicato diversi documenti che dimostrano il contrario. Per esempio gli autori di una ricerca cinese del 2015, Bo Ma et al., hanno indotto l'aborto in nove donne (e dato che siamo in Cina non è neanche detto che fossero consenzienti...).E non si tratta del semplice uso (o abuso) di piccoli cadaveri, perché ci sono diversi studi e diverse testimonianze concordi nell'asserire che si cerca di far sopravvivere i bambini all'aborto per poter prelevare organi freschi: già nel 1987 ne parlava Peter McCullagh; più recentemente, nel 2016, la cosa è di nuovo emersa negli Usa, quando il Center for Medical Progress ha pubblicato una serie di video in cui David Daleiden, con telecamera nascosta, ha dimostrato i traffici di organi di bambini abortiti intercorsi tra la Planned Parenthood e le industrie farmaceutiche o le università. Anche i ricercatori cinesi, che hanno indotto l'aborto alle nove donne citate poc'anzi, hanno fatto nascere vivi i bambini i cui organi intatti sono stati inviati ai laboratori per preparare le cellule di coltura dei vaccini.In questo contesto non è rilevante l'essere o non essere favorevoli all'aborto. Il dilemma è di livello superiore e consiste nel decidere se sia lecito o no usare un essere umano. Anche per uno scopo in sé buono. Perché un "laico" come Kant diceva che l'uomo non può mai essere un mezzo ma è sempre un fine? Chi ammette la liceità di usare qualcuno per il bene di qualcun altro assume che l'uno sia una persona di rango e dignità inferiore all'altro. A chi vogliamo dare il potere di stabilire quali sono gli individui di serie A e quelli di serie B? Chi ipoteticamente discriminasse gli esseri umani in base alla razza, al sesso, o alle opinioni politiche, sarebbe condannato senza appello dall'universo mondo per la violazione del principio di uguaglianza che è a fondamento delle Carte costituzionali di tutti i Paesi civili. Le discriminazioni in base alla religione e all'età invece, sono tollerate: si vuole abolire l'obiezione di coscienza e i bambini nel grembo materno sono tanto piccoli da poter essere manipolati (e soppressi) senza remore. Fin qui le questioni etiche, che però non importano a molti in una società materialista e utilitarista come la nostra. 3) IL PROBLEMA DELLA LIBERTÀ E DELL'AUTODETERMINAZIONESul terzo punto, invece, tutti dovrebbero essere interessati, in quanto tutti siamo promotori dei diritti umani e in specie del diritto alla libertà. Infatti, se il vaccino anti Covid, quale che sia, dovesse essere obbligatorio - come si sente dire in giro - e addirittura condicio-sine-qua-non per poter esercitare le libertà civili democraticamente garantite dalla Costituzione, saremmo davvero nel pieno di una dittatura, in un incubo distopico da far impallidire Huxley e Orwell.Viceversa, in nome del principio dell'autodeterminazione che tanto è cara di questi tempi, chiediamo a gran voce la massima trasparenza sui vaccini che già sono in circolazione e su quelli anti Covid che saranno messi sul mercato: sia in relazione alla loro origine, sia in relazione agli effetti collaterali. Chiediamo la libertà di scegliere se vaccinarsi o meno. Perciò chiediamo che le autorità preposte alla vigilanza sui farmaci e alla tutela della nostra salute, a cominciare dall'Oms, siano libere da condizionamenti da parte delle industrie farmaceutiche che producono i suddetti vaccini e che perseguono l'ovvio e legittimo scopo di massimizzare il profitto. Sappiamo che i principali finanziatori dell'Oms sono proprio le industrie farmaceutiche e la fondazione Bill e Melinda Gates, che partecipa sostanziosamente alla Gavi ("alleanza globale per i vaccini e l'immunizzazione"): è verosimile dunque che sia compromesso, per questa ragione, il primo dei "diritti umani", cioè il diritto alla verità, senza la quale è impossibile operare scelte davvero libere e responsabili.

LinksYou can find out more about Vaccines and the use of fetal cells here:https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-faqs-fetal-cells-covid-19-vaccines-treatments/Or about my guest Elissa Deenick here: https://www.garvan.org.au/people/elidee https://med.unsw.edu.au/our-people/elissa-deenick Transcript(the following transcript was automatically generated from a transcription service and may contain errors)Karl Deenick (00:00):Living as faithful Christians in the world means not only understanding the Bible, but also understanding the world through the lens of the Bible and thinking wisely about the world that God has made and in which God has put us. And so here on Thinking Theology. We want to think not just about classical theological topics, but also bring theology and biblical wisdom to bear on important topics and issues in the world around us. And one of the most important topics and issues from this year has been COVID-19 and the potentially forthcoming COVID vaccine. Some people have significant reservations about vaccines, and it can be hard to know what's right. And what isn't. So today we're thinking about COVID-19 and vaccines, and we're thinking about those things in the light of the Bible. And to do that, we're speaking with our first ever guest on Thinking Theology. My sister Associate Professor Dr Elissa Deenick, who is a research immunologist with the University of N ew South Wales and the Garvan Institute in Sydney.Karl Deenick (01:11):Hi, my name's Karl Deenick. I'm a pastor theologian writer and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.Karl Deenick (01:32):Elissa, thanks for joining us on Thinking Theology. You're a research immunologist now. I didn't know what that meant until you started doing it. So I'm guessing lots of other people don't know what that means. What is that? What is an immunologist? What's a research immunologist.Elissa Deenick (01:57):Yeah. So an immunologist is someone who studies the immune system and the immune system is the part of your body that fights off infection be that viruses or bacteria or fungus or all those things that can make you sick. So as a research immunologist, I'm interested in finding out new things about how the immune system works. And in particular, for me I study people who have problems with their immune system, which means that they can't fight off infection properly. So they keep getting really severe or constant infections.Karl Deenick (02:37):So there are people whose immune systems do a good job at fighting infection you're saying, and then other people who, for some reason, that doesn't work so well.Elissa Deenick (02:45):Yeah, that's true. So for most of us, we think about, you know, we barely even noticed the constant, bacteria and viruses and fungi that are in the environment around us, but there are people who have almost no immune system or just parts of their immune system that are defective. And that means that they're unable to fight these infections off. And that might mean that they're constantly in hospital or they're constantly on drugs or for some of those people actually they end up dying because they get such severe infections.Karl Deenick (03:24):So is that a, is that a common thing? What, what causes those kinds of immune problems?Elissa Deenick (03:32):There are different levels of severity. So most of the ones that I study, these are people who have a genetic conditions, so problems with their DNA, which then impact the functioning of their immune system. And they're actually kind of over 400 different kind of gene defects that can have that lead to problems with your immune system. But many of them are incredibly rare, like three or four people in the world. Whereas some of them are a much more common. And then of course there are other people who have immune defects because they're on drugs that suppress their immune system. So people who have had organ transplants, so you have to suppress the immune system so your immune system doesn't reject that new organ or people who, for example, have auto immune diseases who are on drugs to kind of suppress their immune system attacking their body. And that means that those people too, can't infect fight infection very well either.Karl Deenick (04:31):Yeah. Right. So, I mean, obviously there's been a lot of talk about vaccines at the moment and that's why we've got you on thinking theology — because of COVID and the vaccine rates that's going on with COVID. I mean, I guess many of us probably have no idea about how vaccines work. We've seen, you know, videos and whatever media clips on the news maybe, but how do vaccines work? And, kind of just at the layman level.Elissa Deenick (05:00):Yeah. So vaccines are really about teaching your immune system to recognize a particular virus or bacteria. So because our immune system has this really tricky job where it has to be able to fight off like hundreds and thousands of different bacteria or viruses that you might come into contact with in your life. So the way it does this is by kind of randomly developing these different immune cells, which all of them kind of fight, are ready, kind of sitting there ready to fight off a particular infection. But that means when any particular infection comes along, you've got to find the cell. That's good for finding that infection. And you've got to grow up enough of those cells so that they can fight off the infection that's there. So basically what a vaccine does is it comes along and it kind of activates and expands those cells which are good for fighting off infection, so that you've got lots of them kind of sitting there already primed and ready to go. So that now when you encounter that infection, you've got way more kind of fighters to fight off that infection. So you can kind of do it much more quickly so that you never have to get sick.Karl Deenick (06:28):So is it kind of like, I don't know, searching, searching your computer for a file. And then once you found that you suddenly print off like a whole lot of copies or something like that, is that sort of what it's like?Elissa Deenick (06:38):Yeah. It's like that. So particularly vaccines, actually work by getting your body to generate something which you may have heard of because people have been talking about them quite a lot called antibodies. And these are these little Y shaped molecules, which kind of are able to grab onto a virus or bacteria, but they're all different. So they all grab onto different bacteria or viruses. So part of what when you get that vaccine and you activate your immune cells is that you pump out a whole lot of these little Y shaped antibodies, which are then floating around your blood. And so as soon as that virus or that bacteria comes into your body, they, they grab onto that and kind of coat the virus or the bacteria and kind of stop it from doing any damage. So yeah, like in the way you print off lots of pages, you print off lots of these antibodies and they're circulating all around your body.Karl Deenick (07:36):So how is it different then to have a vaccine than it is to not have a vaccine? Like, you know, is your body doing anything different in terms of fighting off the infection? Is it just, just that it knows ahead of time, what it's looking for? Is that the difference?Elissa Deenick (07:53):Yeah, the difference is that really you've got, you've got a big headstart. So you can imagine if you have a virus that comes in and you might not get exposed to many, many kind of viruses, you know, virus particles, when someone costs on you, but those will start replicating. And, you know, you can go from having, you know, 10 20 to having hundreds of thousands in a really short time. Now you can imagine that if you have never seen it before, and you've only got a few cells to fight it and it takes a while for them to find it. And then they've got to, it's like a race where one's replicating and the other one's kind of, and you've got to try and make sure that you're making a response faster than the virus is replicating. So actually, if you give your body a head start and you have, you know, way more cells, you have these antibodies already, then the virus doesn't have a chance to kind of build up before you can control it.Elissa Deenick (08:57):And that's particularly important, you know? So if you get just a normal cold it's not such a problem, if the virus kind of starts winning in the race, cause it's not going to do too much damage to your body before your immune system kicks in. But if you have a virus that has the potential to really hurt your body, then you actually want to shut that down and stop it as soon as possible. And actually best case scenario, what you want to actually do is actually completely prevented from actually ever establishing itself in your body. So viruses actually unlike bacteria, which can kind of grow in their own. So, you know, you can have bacteria growing on a surface, a virus actually needs to get inside a cell to actually start. And then it takes over the cell and kind of turns that cell into a factory for producing more copies of the virus. So if you have like a really good vaccine, actually what it does is produces so many of those little Y shaped antibodies that they can coat the virus before the virus can even actually get inside the cell and start producing more copies of it. And that's like the best case scenario for blocking infection that you get it before it even gets into the cells of the body.Karl Deenick (10:14):So, so you're saying that not all vaccines do that then like some, some vaccines are more effective and some vaccines are less effective. Is that right?Elissa Deenick (10:26):Yeah that's kind of true. But it also depends. Immunology is complex. It also depends where the virus came in. So I've talked to before about how those antibodies can travel around the body and the blood, and they are at really high levels in the blood. They're not as at higher levels in your nose and in your lungs. So to get into your nose and your lungs they've kind of got to get from the blood and then get across the skin cells kind of into the, into those things. So if you have high levels in the blood, the levels in your nose and in your lungs are going to be a bit lower. So if you don't get high enough levels getting out until you nose, there may not be high enough levels kind of in your nose when the virus hits there to completely coat the virus and stop it infecting.Elissa Deenick (11:17):So that's why it's sometimes harder to get a good vaccine to respiratory infections because of the way it comes in. So this has come up in terms of when we've been talking about the coronavirus vaccine. So you would have heard the news about the three vaccines that have just come out, which have kind of 70 to 95% effectiveness, but that's effectiveness at stopping the symptoms of the disease. So in these vaccine trials, they haven't actually yet tested and reported whether those people may be were infected with the virus. And, but the antibodies like stopped it from getting so bad that you developed symptoms. So we don't know whether it's completely stopped the virus getting into the body or whether it's just kind of stopped it early enough before you really got sick.Karl Deenick (12:15):And so what's the what's the ramifications of that. If, it, it doesn't stop, you know, the virus completely but only kind of dampens down the symptoms and so on.Elissa Deenick (12:27):Well, the good thing is if it stops the symptoms, then hopefully it's going to stop people getting so sick that they die, which is clearly the problem with any virus. You don't want people to die or to get these kind of long-term effects that you may have heard of where people kind of are sick for a long time after they've had the virus. So it's good in that sense. If you're still getting infected though, but just not getting symptoms, the problem with that is that you could potentially still pass it on to someone else. So if I'm vaccinated, I might get the virus, I don't get any symptoms, but if I then hang out with you and you're not vaccinated, I could still pass the virus on to you and you could get sick because you haven't had the vaccine and you don't have the protection.Elissa Deenick (13:21):So it means you, you would have heard, you know, probably a lot of talk this year about herd immunity. And that's this concept where if you have enough people who have been vaccinated and vaccinated to the point that they can't be infected, then they can no longer pass it on to other people. And so if like you have a really good vaccine where you can't get infected, you can't pass it on. Then actually, even if you're not vaccinated, then you're protected because I'll never get infected and I'll never have the virus to pass it onto you. Whereas if you only have a vaccine that protects from symptoms, then everybody needs to be vaccinated to be protected. And that's a problem because as we talked about earlier, there are some people who have bad immune systems, so will never make a good response to a vaccine. And so those people are still vulnerable in that case.Karl Deenick (14:23):Yeah. Right. Like you said, immunology clearly is complex. So there's a number of different vaccines that are going around at the moment that are sort of, or in contention that people are talking about. Is there much difference between them, like, will some be better than others, do you think in, in some of the ways that you've just sort of highlighted,Elissa Deenick (14:48):It's hard to know at the, it looks like other two RNA [vaccines] that have been reported to have kind of effectiveness in kind of the 90% range are a little bit better than the Oxford vaccine, which is a vaccine that uses a viral vector. But really we probably need to say more of those results to truly know, but there are other things about those vaccines that make them kind of good or bad in terms of, for example, the Oxford vaccine is cheaper to make and it doesn't need to be kept as cold. So that's easier to distribute to lots of people. And in the same way, kind of the, you may have heard of the Queensland university vaccine, which actually isn't as far through trials, but which is kind of a different kind of vaccine again. And which is again, is, is doesn't require the same cold storage is easier to produce. And so it can be distributed more easily, but into, in terms of how effective they are in terms of producing a good antibody response and protecting you from disease, we're still kind of waiting on the results of the trials to really know the answers to that.Karl Deenick (16:12):So, I mean, I guess one of the questions maybe that some people have, I don't know, is do we really need a vaccine? I mean, won't our bodies and many people's bodies in the end, just work out how to defeat it itself and we'll get to that level of herd immunity without vaccination.Elissa Deenick (16:34):Yeah. Well, that's true. If you're willing to let a lot of people die or get really sick in the meantime. You know, we live in a time where actually, we're not very used to people dying from infectious disease because we have vaccines and we have antibiotics, but it wasn't that long ago in developed countries, and even now, still in developing countries where actually a huge number of people would die. So, you know, people would have six, seven children and only one would survive into adulthood because as much as our immune system is pretty good, it can fight off things, it doesn't always win that race between the growth of the virus or the bacteria and our immune response. And sometimes our body is just overwhelmed. So kind of looking at the Corona virus, you know, kind of the estimates are, I think about 1% of people who get it will die.Elissa Deenick (17:43):And that of course depends on how old you are. But that's an awful lot of people to die on the way to getting herd immunity. And the problem is not just the people who die, but viruses are tricky little things, and they have unexpected consequences on the body. So, you know, there's a lot of data coming out that the Corona virus, you know, can cause brain damage, heart damage, clotting problems, you know, it can just have a whole lot of effects that we don't even know about now. So, you really don't want to take the risk of seeing if your immune system wins in the race to fight it off because the consequences of it, if it doesn't, are just not worth it.Karl Deenick (18:36):Yeah. It's interesting what you say too, about how we are just so used to living in a world where people, you know, outlive childhood, if you like. I often think of the quite well-known puritan theologian John Owen, I think every single one of his children died. And I think his first wife as well. So we're talking in the 1700s or something there. And that's just something that we're not familiar with any more. It does show you something about the medical advances that we've clearly experienced over the last century, or so at least. I mean, I guess at a theological level, and this is where we start to get into the thinking theology kind of thing, you know, some people might say, well, but didn't God create us with bodies, you know, to fight off infection.Elissa Deenick (19:26):Yeah. And, and that's true. You know, we do have immune segment fights infection. But we've got to remember the fall. That when, you know, Adam and Eve sinned, death came into the world and with that presumably an ineffective immune system as well. So yeah, I've also heard people say, surely we don't need vaccines because you know, our immune system should be able to fight it off, because God would have created us with a good body. But, you know, we die because sin came into the world. Our immune system has problems because of that as well. But, you know, some people might say, you know, didn't God create us, you know, to live. Surely you shouldn't need to have your appendix taken out because, you know, didn't God create you to survive okay with an appendix. But, you know, I had appendicitis, I had to take it out. This is part of the fall, part of the broken world, part of our broken bodies. But God in his mercy, I think has given us medical advances, scientific advances, which have allowed us to develop therapies that help to overcome some of those things.Karl Deenick (20:52):Yeah. I think you and I have talked about this at other times as well, that it's that idea of having a theology of creation without a theology of the fall, but God might a good world. Absolutely. Yeah. But it's a world which is marred by sin, marred by the consequences of sin and we have to hold those two things together.Karl Deenick (21:11):So, I mean, is there evidence that vaccines really do work? Do you think? From, you know, not just the COVID vaccine, but I guess throughout the history of the world? Is there evidence that vaccines have an efficacy?Elissa Deenick (21:31):Yeah. There's endless, endless evidence. We've eradicated, smallpox due to vaccination. I mean, that's astounding that this disease that used to ravage the world has now been eliminated except for a few small stocks that are found, you know, in, in labs in the world. Because we vaccinated people, people couldn't become infected. And so then it died out. You know, you think about polio and kind of the number of people that kids, several generations ago, who were like, you know, hospitals full of kids, you know, in iron lungs. And yet now almost no one in the world has, you know, there are a few small outbreaks in the world, but generally speaking, we just don't see polio in the world. And that same story is seen over and over again. And I mean, the clinical trials that we've just had for Corona virus clearly show it that, you know, people who didn't have the vaccine, you know, a hundred or something, people got it. People who did have the vaccine only eight or nine, got it. Like this is the power of, you know, kind of teaching your immune system to react to these things so that when the infection comes along, you can fight it off and you just don't have to worry about it in the same way.Karl Deenick (23:04):Yeah. Yeah. So I guess pushing on into maybe some of the criticisms, if you like, that come up around vaccines and vaccination. I mean, some people, one of the, one of the classic kind of concerns, I suppose, that some people expressed is that there have been suggested links between vaccination and autism. Is there any truth to that claim? Where, where has that come from that idea?Elissa Deenick (23:32):Well, really this idea came from a paper that was published by a guy, Andrew Wakefield, many years ago, which where he, you know, did this study and he said that there was, you know, a link between autism and vaccines. But since then, that that study has been discredited. You know, he was shown to have kind of conflicts of interest in what he was doing and they didn't kind of carry out the study properly. And like, beyond that other people since then have like carried out much bigger studies, looking at whether vaccination increase the risk of autism and have shown that there's no evidence at all of an increased risk of autism from vaccination. But sadly one man's flawed study has kind of created this idea, which now continues on, even though that study has now been discredited.Karl Deenick (24:39):Why do you think that is, do you have any sense of, of why that is, why people still hang on to that, that one study when other studies later on have come on, come along and discredited it. I mean,Elissa Deenick (24:53):I think there are multiple things that play into it. I'm not an expert on kind of, you know, the sociology of these things, but I, I think, one, scientific papers are, are difficult to understand and interpret. You know, it, it actually requires a lot of study and expertise to fully understand it. Like I'm an immunologist, but even within the field of immunology, there are papers that I can read and I can kind of critique and really understand deeply. And there are other papers that I kind of understand, but actually I, even as an immunologist, if it's not my area of expertise in immunology, I find difficult to fully understand and critique. So if that's true of me kind of reviewing these papers, it's even more difficult, I think for the general public often to read a scientific paper and to understand what's a good credible paper and, and what's not.Elissa Deenick (25:58):So I think that's part of the problem people's ability to judge what is good evidence and what's not. I think there's also, I mean, having kind of an autistic child can, can be difficult. And I think people then want answers about kind of why this happened. And science doesn't actually have that many good answers yet of why one child is autistic and another isn't. And so then people are looking for answers and maybe they hold onto this as an answer because they don't have other kind of better answers. Yeah. And, you know, we could go into social media and, and kind of those platforms and how they kind of spread disinformation as well. But I think to some extent actually part of it is driven by people looking for answers and kind of hope, but not quite knowing where to look.Karl Deenick (27:00):Yeah. That's interesting looking for hope. That's so true. And I mean, I, I think we are taught to engage in the world, but like you say, a lot of things are just beyond us. You know, like, like you said, even some things in your field are beyond you and, and you see things on the internet and in a media article or on someone's blog post and it just seems so simple and so straightforward, but often it does require some kind of expertise to understand it and to be able to evaluate it. And I think to some degree of trust in people who are, who are able to do it, and to respect their expertise in it. I mean, in our society, I think at the moment we have kind of an erosion of trust, whether that's in governments or science or whatever it is. And so people are just very skeptical all round, I think, and that has implications then for things like this.Elissa Deenick (27:56):Yeah. I think that's true. I think we, we, we don't know anymore kind of who to look for for expertise and we can, you know, kind of convince ourselves that if I just do a bit of reading, like then, you know, I can judge it. But one of the interesting things about about research, and I've spent kind of 20 years in immunology research, is that actually the more you research, the more you realize how, how much we still don't understand actually. And I think that's true that the more, you know, about a subject, the more you kind of actually realize your limitations.Karl Deenick (28:47):Yeah, absolutely. I think people say that about PhDs, don't say that the end result of the PhD is just realizing how much you don't know.Karl Deenick (28:53):I guess another thing that's often mentioned in connection with vaccines which is maybe to some people even more disturbing is just that people often say that there is aborted fetuses are used in the production of vaccines. So is that true? What's the story behind that?Elissa Deenick (29:19):Yeah. This is based on a few cell lines that are routinely used in, in medical research. So, particularly the Oxford vaccine uses in its production, and some of the other vaccines used kind of in their development, a cell line, which is known as HEK293. And this is a cell line...Karl Deenick (29:50):To the cool people, right.Elissa Deenick (29:52):It's called HEK because it's human embryonic kidney cells. So this was a cell line that was actually developed more than 40 years ago before either you or I was born. So normally human cells and most, most cells can only divide a certain number of times before they kind of give up the ghost and they won't divide anymore. So people create what are called cell lines, and these are cells that they've kind of done something to so that they can keep dividing endlessly. So more than 40 years ago this cell line, there was a guy in the Netherlands who got some tissue from an aborted fetus. And actually, we don't know. So often when we hear the word aborted, we think of kind of, someone choose, chose to have an abortion though the term spontaneous abortion is another word for a miscarriage. So kind of in medical science terms, you might use the word aborted for either either a spontaneous abortion, i.e., miscarriage or, you know, an abortion by choice.Elissa Deenick (31:15):So someone got tissue from a fetus that was aborted and then took some of the cells from that. And they've now been, kind of, changed in a way that they've been growing and dividing in culture ever since. So people use this cell line in medical research because it's been around for so long and because we know how it operates. And as I said earlier, viruses can't grow unlike bacteria, which can grow on a surface, viruses can't grow on their own. They've got to be inside a cell and take over that cell and grow. So if you ever want to grow viruses, you need to have cells to grow them in. So this cell line has been used to grow viruses over the last 40 plus years. And, and then it's used in the production of these vaccines.Karl Deenick (32:18):So we don't, we don't know the circumstances in which the fetus was aborted, I take it. Like, we don't know whether it was a spontaneous...Elissa Deenick (32:31):Not as far as, as I'm aware. I think in the original paper that wasn't stated. Maybe if you went back to the guy who did it, he might be able to tell you. But, it's, it's not clear. And even, kind of, beyond that. You know, as Christians that makes us, if it, it was kind of an elective abortion, that makes I think many of us very uncomfortable. But I think the way that I've approached this issue is to think about the fact that this was a cell line that was produced many years ago. We're not entirely sure of the origin, but even if it did come from an, an elective abortion, it's not like the manufacturers of this virus or the, sorry, of these vaccines or the developers of these vaccines played any role in what happened 40 years ago.Elissa Deenick (33:42):And in the same way that you might say, you know, if someone was murdered, that's a terrible days deed, but we'd still want to use that person's organs, you know, for organ donation, if that was possible to save lives, I, I kind of feel, though I guess each Christian has to kind of work through this for themselves, that this cell line was created a long time ago. And it wasn't as if a child was aborted to make the cell line. It was just, you know, a cell line, that was produced as a secondary, you know, using what resulted from that. And so to use that now is not to contribute to any kind of crime or misdeed, but it is only to use what was previously generated and which now is able to do great good. And in some ways, I guess, kind of, kind of change what, you know, was a loss of life into something more positive.Karl Deenick (34:58):Yeah. That's really interesting that that comparison with a murder, I mean, obviously to murder someone in order to take their organs is just, you know, just an awful crime—heinous. But in the case where maybe that has happened and then to be able to take that evil act that somebody else has intended and purposed, and then to bring good out of that can actually be a positive thing. Like you say, good can come from that.Karl Deenick (35:30):There's was a good article recently on The Gospel Coalition by Joe Carter about that actually, about some of the complexities of this year, this issue that goes into a little bit more detail as well.Karl Deenick (35:41):So, I mean, it sounds to me the most important thing that you're saying is it's not as though in the production of vaccines that people are daily, you know, aborting new fetuses in order to create vaccines. You're saying that 40 years ago there was sales taken from a fetus in circumstances that we maybe don't really know about, good or evil, and now those cells are just replicating. And there's no, it's not really any longer the original, it's not the original fetal tissue, is it?Elissa Deenick (36:21):No. And I mean, you would almost certainly find those cells in almost every kind of research institute around the world. I mean, that's how widespread they are. And to some extent actually the cells keep getting used because actually they're already there and it means you don't have to create new cell lines from whatever source. Like you can use this well-defined, kind of well-tested source and, you know, no one, no one needs to think about ever making kind of that kind of thing again.Karl Deenick (37:08):So, the last question then, I guess, Elissa that we, well I have for you is, I mean, how do we as Christians think about this COVID vaccine then? I mean, it sounds like, I mean, I'm guessing that you're going to say we should go out and get it, is that what we should be thinking about it? And doing so as quickly as possible? Or, you know, should we be concerned maybe actually about how quickly governments are kind of speeding these things through regulation? Yeah. How do we think about that as Christians?Elissa Deenick (37:40):Yeah, look, I think, you know, one, we have to be thankful for the people who actually volunteered to be part of the trials that will, you know, allow these hopefully to come into production. You know, we, we often talk about the safety of vaccines and some people are concerned about that and certainly you don't want any vaccine to go into public distribution without being well tested. So in one sense, it's a beautiful sacrifice and service by the people who, you know, volunteered to be part of these trials before we had, you know, large scale evidence that they were safe because they saw that actually this was something that could benefit many people beyond them. Secondly, you know, you know, we want to wait and see the final results of the clinical trials that are coming through and really have the good evidence that they are both effective and safe.Elissa Deenick (38:53):But you know, if we have that kind of evidence, I think I would encourage everyone, unless, you know, you're one of those rare people who has kind of an underlying immune condition, to go and get it. Because, you know, I think there is, there, there is some fear kind of amongst people that, you know, there are potential side effects. But you've got to think about the tens of thousands of people that have already been involved in these trials, and as far as we know from the current results, and this will become more clear lately, later, sorry, there has been very few severe side effects. Like just things like, you know, a bit of fever, a bit of a sore arm, which is entirely what you expect if your immune system is activated. That's, you know, a fever is part of your immune system being activated. You compare that to the actual disease where you're getting 1% of people dying and even at younger ages, you're getting, you know, less people dying, but people with severe things. So I think you've got to, you know, think about actually kind of the numbers in terms of what we know about how bad the disease is and what we know about kind of the vaccine and its safety there.Elissa Deenick (40:24):But I would also encourage people to go and be vaccinated, particularly if we find out that these are, kind of vaccines that protect you from spreading the disease, because actually for this vaccine and kind of for any vaccine that has that effect, this is in a sense a service to those who have defective immune systems and can't make a response. Like if I can be vaccinated and stop myself from being someone who's a spreader then I can actually protect those who themselves can't make a good immune response and be kind of protected from that. So yeah, that would, that would be my advice.Karl Deenick (41:12):Well, there you go. That's all we should do. It's true though, isn't it, because, I mean, I think if some of the people of my church, I think of one particular person whose immune system was compromised because of cancer treatment, for instance, you know, and there are people like that who are terribly at risk, because, from virus because of that. So if we, as a, as a community, you can, can protect them by receiving the vaccine, well that's, that is a great thing, obviously then too. And like you say, the risk one in a hundred, 1% of people that, you know, dying from COVID, as opposed to very few side effects seems quite positive.Elissa Deenick (41:58):And I, I would just say as well that, you know, you talked about the, the short time to kind of development of these vaccines and that has caused people, I think, concerns about, did we have enough time to kind of, you know, work out the safety and that kind of thing. And certainly these current clinical trials are giving us insight into that as well. The other thing to remember is that, of course, as we've developed these vaccines, while the kind of particular vaccine that's developed against Coronavirus is, is new, a lot of the techniques that have been used to do that are themselves; have been around for longer. So, you know, the beauty of kind of vaccines is that you kind of, we have an idea as immunologists of like, these are the things we need to put into a vaccine to get a good immune response and produce those antibodies. And then to some extent we can swap in, okay, let's swap in a bit of the Coronavirus, let's swap in a bit of tetanus, you know, that kind of thing. It's not as if we start from complete scratch and have no idea about kind of the vaccines. There is a wealth of background knowledge that has led us to this point which has allowed us to then kind of produce these now.Karl Deenick (43:34):So it's kind of working off an existing basis of treatments and understanding, I guess. Yeah.Elissa Deenick (43:39):Yeah.Karl Deenick (43:39):Well, thanks, Elissa being part of Thinking Theology being my first ever guest. It's good to always invite family because they're probably less likely to say no. But thank you for sharing your expertise with us and your reflections as well on what is a topic that lots of people are thinking and talking about. Thanks for being with us.Elissa Deenick (44:00):Thanks for having me.  

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.11.18.389106v1?rss=1 Authors: Jetta, D., Bahrani Fard, M. R., Sachs, F., Munechika, K., Hua, S. Z. Abstract: Adherent cells utilize local environmental cues to make decisions on their growth and movement. We have previously shown that HEK293 cells grown on the fibronectin stripe patterns were elongated. Here we show that Piezo1 function is involved in cell spreading. Inhibiting the Rho-ROCK pathway also reversibly inhibited cell extension indicating that myosin contractility is involved. Piezo1 expressing HEK cells plated on fibronectin stripes elongated, while a knockout of Piezo1 eliminated elongation. Inhibiting Piezo1 conductance using GsMTx4 or Gd3+ blocked cell spreading, but the cells grew thin tail-like extensions along the patterns. Images of GFP-tagged Piezo1 showed plaques of Piezo1 moving to the extrusion edges, co-localized with focal adhesions. Surprisingly, in non-spreading cells Piezo1 was located primarily on the nuclear envelope. The growth of thin extrusion tails did not occur in Piezo1 knockout cells suggesting that Piezo1 may have functions besides acting as a cation channel. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.09.29.318931v1?rss=1 Authors: Nadeau, R., Shahryari Fard, S., Scheer, A., Hashimoto-Roth, E., Nygard, D., Abramchuk, I., Chung, Y.-E., Bennett, S. A. L., Lavallee-Adam, M. Abstract: While the COVID-19 pandemic is causing important loss of life, knowledge of the effects of the causative SARS-CoV-2 virus on human cells is currently limited. Investigating protein-protein interactions (PPIs) between viral and host proteins can provide a better understanding of the mechanisms exploited by the virus and enable the identification of potential drug targets. We therefore performed an in-depth computational analysis of the interactome of SARS-CoV-2 and human proteins in infected HEK293 cells published by Gordon et al. to reveal processes that are potentially affected by the virus and putative protein binding sites. Specifically, we performed a set of network-based functional and sequence motif enrichment analyses on SARS-CoV-2-interacting human proteins and on a PPI network generated by supplementing viral-host PPIs with known interactions. Using a novel implementation of our GoNet algorithm, we identified 329 Gene Ontology terms for which the SARS-CoV-2-interacting human proteins are significantly clustered in the network. Furthermore, we present a novel protein sequence motif discovery approach, LESMoN-Pro, that identified 9 amino acid motifs for which the associated proteins are clustered in the network. Together, these results provide insights into the processes and sequence motifs that are putatively implicated in SARS-CoV-2 infection and could lead to potential therapeutic targets. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.09.09.286310v1?rss=1 Authors: Gavins, G., Groeger, K., Bartoscheck, M. D., Wolf, P., Beck-Sickinger, A. G., Bultmann, S., Seitz, O. Abstract: DNA nanotechnology is an emerging field, which promises fascinating opportunities for the manipulation and imaging of proteins on a cell surface. The key to progress in the area is the ability to create the nucleic acid-protein junction in the context of living cells. Here we report a covalent labelling reaction, which installs a biostable peptide nucleic acid (PNA) tag. The reaction proceeds within minutes and is specific for proteins carrying a 2 kDa coiled coil peptide tag. Once installed the PNA label serves as a generic landing platform that enables the recruitment of fluorescent dyes via nucleic acid hybridization. We demonstrate the versatility of this approach by recruiting different fluorophores, assembling multiple fluorophores for increased brightness, and achieving reversible labelling by way of toehold mediated strand displacement. Additionally, we show that labelling can be carried out using two different coiled coil systems, with EGFR and ETBR, on both HEK293 and CHO cells. Finally, we apply the method to monitor internalization of EGFR on CHO cells. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.09.05.284075v1?rss=1 Authors: Goodchild, C. S., Serrao, J. M. Abstract: Abstract Background Alfaxalone is a fast acting intravenous anesthetic with high therapeutic index. It is an analogue of the naturally occurring neurosteroid, allopregnanolone which has been implicated in causing neuroprotection, neurogenesis and preservation of cognition, through activation of pregnane X receptors in the central nervous system. This study investigated whether alfaxalone can activate human pregnane X receptors (hPXR) as effectively as allopregnanolone. Methods Allopregnanolone and alfaxalone were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide to make allopregnanolone and alfaxalone treatment solutions (serial 3 fold dilution concentration range, 50,000 to 206 nM). Activation of hPXR by these ligand solutions compared with vehicle control was measured by an in vitro method using human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) expressing hPXR hybridised and linked to the firefly luciferase gene. Ligand binding with and activation of hPXR in those cells caused downstream changes in luciferase activity and light emission. That activity was measured as relative light units using a plate reading luminometer, thus quantifying the changes in hPXR activity caused by the ligand applied to the HEK293 cells. Ligand log concentration response curves were constructed to compare efficacy and potency of allopregnanolone and alfaxalone. Results Allopregnanolone and alfaxalone both activated the hPXR to cause dose related light emission by the linked firefly luciferase. Control solutions (0.1% dimethyl sulfoxide) produced low level light emissions. Equimolar concentrations of alfaxalone were more efficacious in activation of hPXR: 50,000 nM, p = 0.0019; 16,700 nM, p = 0.0472; 5,600 nM, p = 0.0031 [Brown-Forsythe and Welch ANOVA]. Conclusions Alfaxalone activates human-pregnane X receptors with greater efficacy compared with the endogenous ligand allopregnanolone. These results suggest that alfaxalone sedation and anesthesia may be accompanied by beneficial effects normally caused by the physiological effects of allopregnanolone, namely neuroprotection, neurogenesis, and preservation of cognition. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.07.31.231282v1?rss=1 Authors: Tee, K. L., Jackson, P. J., Scarrott, J. M., Jaffe, S. R., Johnson, A. O., Johari, Y., Pohle, T. H., Mozzanino, T., Price, J., Grinham, J., Brown, A., Nicklin, M. J., James, D. C., Dickman, M. J., Wong, T. S. Abstract: Serology testing for COVID-19 is highly attractive because of the relatively short diagnosis time and the ability to test for an active immune response against the SARS-CoV-2. In many types of serology tests, the sensitivity and the specificity are directly influenced by the quality of the antigens manufactured. Protein purification of these recombinantly expressed viral antigens [e.g., spike and its receptor binding domain (RBD)] is an important step in the manufacturing process. Simple and high-capacity protein purification schemes for spike, RBD, and CR3022 mAb, recombinantly expressed in CHO and HEK293 cells, are reported in this article. The schemes consist of an affinity chromatography step and a desalting step. Purified proteins were validated in ELISA-based serological tests. Interestingly, extracellular matrix proteins [most notably heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG)] were co-purified from spike-expressing CHO culture with a long cultivation time. HSPG-spike interaction could play a functional role in the pathology and the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.05.29.124693v1?rss=1 Authors: Patel, R. R., Ping, X., Patel, S., McDermott, J. S., Krajewski, J. L., Chi, X. X., Nisenbaum, E. S., Jin, X., Cummins, T. R. Abstract: Brain isoforms of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) have distinct cellular and subcellular expression patterns as well as functional roles that are critical for normal physiology as aberrations in their expression or activity lead to pathophysiological conditions. In this study, we asked how inhibition of select isoforms of VGSCs alters epileptiform activity to further parse out the roles of VGSCs in the brain. We first determined the relative selectivity of recently discovered small molecule, aryl sulfonamide, inhibitors (ICA-121431 and Compound 801) against Nav1.1, Nav1.2, and Nav1.6 activity using whole-cell patch clamp recordings obtained from HEK293 cells. To test the effects of these inhibitors on epileptiform activity, we obtained multielectrode array (MEA) recordings from mouse cortical slices in the presence of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) to induce epileptiform activity. We found that the ICA-121431 and Compound 801 compounds are relatively selective for Nav1.1 and Nav1.6, respectively. From the MEA recordings, we found that inhibition of Nav1.6 and Nav1.2 with 500nM of the Compound 801 compound completely abolishes ictal local field potentials induced by 4-AP, whereas inhibition of Nav1.1 with 500nM of the ICA-121431 compound had minimal effect on epileptiform activity induced by 4-AP. Due to the prominent expression of Nav1.1 in inhibitory neurons, we asked whether inhibition of Nav1.1 alone alters activity. We found that, indeed, inhibition of Nav1.1 with the ICA-121431 compound increased basal activity in the absence of 4-AP. These findings expand our current understanding of the roles of VGSC isoforms in the brain and suggest that selective targeting of Nav1.6 may be a more efficacious treatment strategy for epileptic syndromes. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info

"They do for their gods every detestable thing that Jehovah hates, even burning their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods." Deut. 12:31

The tetraspanin peripherin-2 is a glyco-membrane protein exclusively expressed in the outer segments of rod and cone photoreceptors. Mutations in peripherin-2 are associated with retinal disorders characterized by Degeneration of rod or cone cells. Previous unpublished work identified peripherin-2 as a potential novel part of the protein complex comprising the B-subunit of the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNGB1a and the light detector rhodopsin. In the first part of this study, using a combination of protein biochemical and FRET approaches in transfected HEK293 cells and in virally transduced murine rod outer segments, it could be demonstrated that peripherin-2 simultaneously binds to both, CNGB1a and rhodopsin. The interaction between peripherin-2 and rhodopsin was not described in previous studies. The binding domain mediating the peripherin-2/rhodopsin interaction could be narrowed down to the fourth transmembrane domain (TM4) of peripherin-2. Finally, the data revealed that the G266D point mutation in TM4 of peripherin-2 that is linked to a rod degenerative disease selectively disrupts the peripherin-2/rhodopsin interaction. To analyze if peripherin-2 also binds to cone opsins in the second part of this study, a similar experimental approach was conducted as used for the investigation of the peripherin-2/rhodopsin interaction. In this context, it was unveiled that peripherin-2 binds to both, short wavelength-and medium wavelength-sensitive cone opsin (S-opsin and M-opsin, respectively) in transfected HEK293 cells and in outer segments of transduced murine cones. Co-immunoprecipitation and quantitative FRET analysis revealed that binding of peripherin-2 to M-opsin was stronger than the peripherin-2/S-opsin interaction. This result was supported by transmission electron microscopy studies using gold particles coupled to opsin- and peripherin-2-specific antibodies. Finally, quantitative FRET analysis in transfected HEK293 cells and in transduced cone outer segments demonstrated that the V268I Point mutation in TM4 of peripherin-2 associated with a degenerative cone disease significantly attenuates the peripherin-2/M-opsin interaction. Taken together, this study provides a proof-of-principle for FRET-based analysis of protein-protein interactions in the outer segments of rod and cone photoreceptors. This approach led to the identification of hitherto unknown Protein complexes between peripherin-2 and opsins suggesting a novel physiological role of peripherin-2 in rods and cones. Finally, Analysis of disease-linked point mutations unveiled the molecular determinants of the peripherin-2/opsin interaction. These results might contribute to understanding the differential penetrance of certain point mutations in rods and cones.

Intramembrane proteolysis - hydrolysis of membrane proteins within or close to their membrane-spanning regions - is a crucial cellular process that is conserved throughout all kingdoms of life. It is executed by distinct classes of polytopic membrane proteins, the intramembrane-cleaving proteases, that provide a hydrophilic, proteinaceous environment accommodating membrane protein substrates as well as water molecules within the hydrophobic membrane interior and catalyse peptide bond hydrolysis. In particular, intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases have received attention as the presenilins, the catalytic subunits of the γ-secretase complex, were identified as key players in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology. In addition to presenilins, mammalian genomes harbour presenilin homologues which include signal peptide peptidase (SPP) and SPP-like (SPPL) proteases. Among these, the Golgi-resident protease SPPL3 stands out as it is highly conserved among metazoa and SPPL3 orthologues are also found in plants. However, due to the lack of known substrates, SPPL3 has thus far hardly been characterised. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify its substrates and elucidate its physiological function(s). In the first part of this study, the foamy virus envelope glycoprotein (FVenv) was identified as the first substrate of SPPL3. This allowed to study SPPL3's proteolytic activity in detail, with a focus on its substrate selectivity and sensitivity towards previously characterised inhibitors of intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases. Importantly, this study revealed in addition that two other intramembrane-cleaving proteases, SPPL2a and SPPL2b, also endoproteolyse FVenv. SPPL2b in particular had been studied in detail before and therefore SPPL3- and SPPL2b- mediated endoproteolysis of FVenv were examined in parallel to directly compare these phylogenetically related intramembrane-cleaving proteases. This uncovered an unexpected idiosyncrasy of SPPL3 that clearly sets SPPL3 apart from other intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases: SPPL3 endoproteolysed full-length FVenv and did not require the substrate's prior tailoring by another proteolytic activity - an otherwise common phenomenon among intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases. In the second part, the physiological function of SPPL3 was investigated. Alterations in the cellular levels of proteolytically active SPPL3 turned out to impact the composition of N-glycans attached to endogenous cellular glycoproteins. SPPL3 over-expression was accompanied by a decrease in glycoprotein molecular weight, i.e. a hypoglycosylation phenotype, while loss of SPPL3 expression in cell culture models but also in vivo resulted in a hyperglycosylation phenotype. This led to the identification of Golgi glycan-modifying enzymes such as GnT-V and β3GnT1 as novel physiological substrates of SPPL3. Loss or reduction of SPPL3 expression, for instance, led to a marked intracellular accumulation of these enzymes, explaining the more extensive N-glycan elaboration and the hyperglycosylation phenotype observed under these conditions. At the same time secretion of these enzymes was reduced under these conditions. Together with additional observations such as the mapping of the SPPL3 cleavage site to the membrane-spanning region of GnT-V, this study demonstrates that SPPL3-mediated intramembrane proteolysis of such glycan-modifying enzymes liberates their active site-harbouring ectodomains. Acting in this manner, SPPL3 controls the intracellular pool of active glycan-modifying enzymes. Importantly, the finding that SPPL3 proteolytically cleaves full-length glycan-modifying enzymes and sheds their ectodomains is well in line with the observations made for FVenv and suggested that SPPL3 acts functionally equivalent to classical sheddases or rhomboid proteases but much unlike all other characterised mammalian intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases. To examine whether these observations hold also true on a global cellular scale, a proteomic approach was undertaken in the third part of the study to define the SPPL3 degradome of HEK293 cells in conditions of SPPL3 over-expression. On the one hand, this led to the identification of numerous novel, mostly Golgi-resident candidate SPPL3 substrates and, considering the physiological implications, suggests that SPPL3 is very intricately linked to Golgi function. On the other hand, this approach supports the initial hypothesis that SPPL3 acts as a cellular type II membrane protein-selective sheddase. Taken together, this study provides the first in-depth characterisation of the intramembrane protease SPPL3 and reveals the cellular function of SPPL3. SPPL3 displays considerable and marked differences to other intramembrane-cleaving aspartyl proteases and emerges as a fundamental cellular sheddase that exhibits strong selectivity for type II-oriented, Golgi-resident membrane proteins. Products of SPPL3-mediated endoproteolysis of these Golgi factors are secreted and/or may be subject to intracellular degradation which compromises their catalytic activity. Thus, SPPL3 indirectly controls protein glycosylation in the Golgi apparatus.

Perturbed intracellular store calcium homeostasis is suggested to play a major role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease (AD). A number of mechanisms have been suggested to underlie the impairment of endoplasmic reticulum calcium homeostasis associated with familial AD-linked presenilin 1 mutations (FAD-PS1). Without aiming at specifically targeting any of those pathophysiological mechanisms in particular, we rather performed a high-throughput phenotypic screen to identify compounds that can reverse the exaggerated agonist-evoked endoplasmic reticulum calcium release phenotype in HEK293 cells expressing FAD-PS1. For that purpose, we developed a fully automated high-throughput calcium imaging assay using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based calcium indicator at single-cell resolution. This novel robust assay offers a number of advantages compared with the conventional calcium measurement screening technologies. The assay was employed in a large-scale screen with a library of diverse compounds comprising 20,000 low-molecular-weight molecules, which resulted in the identification of 52 primary hits and 4 lead structures. In a secondary assay, several hits were found to alter the amyloid (A) production. In view of the recent failure of AD drug candidates identified by target-based approaches, such a phenotypic drug discovery paradigm may present an attractive alternative for the identification of novel AD therapeutics.

Background: The FHIT tumor suppressor gene is arguably the most commonly altered gene in cancer since it is inactivated in about 60% of human tumors. The Fhit protein is a member of the ubiquitous histidine triad proteins which hydrolyze dinucleoside polyphosphates such as Ap(3)A. Despite the fact that Fhit functions as a tumor suppressor, the pathway through which Fhit inhibits growth of cancer cells remains largely unknown. Phosphorylation by Src tyrosine kinases provides a linkage between Fhit and growth factor signaling. Since many G proteins can regulate cell proliferation through multiple signaling components including Src, we explored the relationship between G alpha subunits and Fhit. Results: Several members of the G alpha(q) subfamily (G alpha(16), G alpha(14), and G alpha(q)) were found to co-immunoprecipitate with Fhit in their GTP-bound active state in HEK293 cells. The binding of activated G alpha(q) members to Fhit appeared to be direct and was detectable in native DLD-1 colon carcinoma cells. The use of G alpha(16/z) chimeras further enabled the mapping of the Fhit-interacting domain to the alpha 2-beta 4 region of G alpha(16). However, G alpha(q)/Fhit did not affect either Ap(3)A binding and hydrolysis by Fhit, or the ability of G alpha(q/16) to regulate downstream effectors including phospholipase C beta, Ras, ERK, STAT3, and IKK. Functional mutants of Fhit including the H96D, Y114F, L25W and L25W/I10W showed comparable abilities to associate with G alpha(q). Despite the lack of functional regulation of G(q) signaling by Fhit, stimulation of G(q)-coupled receptors in HEK293 and H1299 cells stably overexpressing Fhit led to reduced cell proliferation, as opposed to an enhanced cell proliferation typically seen with parental cells. Conclusions: Activated G alpha(q) members interact with Fhit through their alpha 2-beta 4 region which may result in enhancement of the growth inhibitory effect of Fhit, thus providing a possible avenue for G protein-coupled receptors to modulate tumor suppression.

Neurofascin (NF) is a cell-adhesion molecule that is found at the nodes of Ranvier. The 186 kDa isoform of neurofascin (NF186) is expressed on the axon in the exposed node, and the 155 kDa isoform (NF155) is expressed on myelinating glia at the paranode. NF186 is essential for clustering of sodium channels to the nodes while NF155 is needed for close paranodal interactions between myelinating glia and axons. The neurofascins are found in both the peripheral and central nervous system (PNS and CNS). NF-specific autoantibodies were identified in serum of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients using a proteomics approach with two-dimensional Western blotting of human myelin glycoproteins. A monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for NF was shown to induce axonal injury in an animal model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. This indicated that NF is a relevant autoantibody target in patients with inflammatory diseases of the nervous system (central and peripheral), but actual abundance of anti-NF autoantibodies is unknown. The objectives of the thesis were the following: 1) Develop assays to detect autoantibodies against human NF. 2) Determine the prevalence in patients with MS and with inflammatory diseases of the PNS. 3) Characterize the reactivity by immunoglobulin isotyping, serial dilution, epitope mapping, and staining of nodal structures in tissue sections. 4) Affinity purify anti-NF antibodies from plasma exchange material. 5) Determine possible in vivo effects of anti-NF antibodies in the PNS using a neuritis animal model. First, we expressed the complete human NF155 and NF186 on the surface of stable human cell lines, produced the complete extracellular portion of the NFs in HEK293 cells, and expressed truncated variants of the NFs in E. coli. With these reagents, we set up three antibody detection assays: cell-based assay by flow cytometry, ELISA, and Western blot. These assays were validated using NF-specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, and optimized with a test cohort of serum samples. We screened 687 serum and 48 plasma exchange samples from patients with MS (n = 233), inflammatory diseases in the PNS (n = 294), and controls (n = 208). From serum analysis, we observed low prevalence of anti-NF reactivity (3%) by flow cytometry and/or ELISA despite broad reactivity in almost half of the serum samples analyzed by Western blot. Reactivity observed by flow cytometry and by ELISA were congruent only in the patients with the highest reactivities. The anti-NF antibodies were NF-isoform specific, mainly IgG subclasses, and at high titres in some cases. Using truncated variants of NF fused to super green fluorescence protein (sGFP), we showed that reactivity of anti-NF Abs was largely directed towards the membrane proximal extracellular domains that are unique to each isoform, while the membrane distal immunoglobulin-like domains and fibronectin domains were not recognized. A small proportion (3%; 8/254) of patients with GBS and CIDP showed reactivity to human NF by ELISA. A few showed a particularly high reactivity (up to 1:10 000 dilution) to NF. Two CIDP patients showed a particularly high (up to 1:10 000 dilution) anti-NF155 reactivity by FACS and ELISA, recognized paranodes in tissue sections, and exhibited dominant IgG4 subclass usage. Another CIDP patient who benefited from plasma exchange had a persistent anti-NF155 reactivity by ELISA in serum, and after affinity purification, anti-NF186 and -NF155 reactivity by FACS and ELISA were detected in addition. These antibodies were mainly IgG3, with minor contribution of IgM and IgA. To investigate possible functions of anti-NF antibodies in inflammatory PNS diseases, we injected two different monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) into a P2-peptide induced experimental autoimmune neuritis (EAN) animal model at disease onset. We found that while the anti-NF mAbs prolonged and exacerbated clinical disease in these animals, they could not induce disease on their own. We detected NF-reactivity in a small proportion of MS samples (3%; 7/225) by ELISA and flow cytometry. We obtained follow-up material from two NF-reactive patients and saw a persistent NF reactivity in one of them. To increase detection sensitivity, we affinity purified anti-NF antibodies from plasma exchange material of patients with MS (n = 8). IgG, IgM, and IgA were isolated from most of the samples; they were found to recognize NF155 and to a lower extent NF186 by ELISA and in a few also by flow cytometry. This indicates that low levels of anti-NF antibodies exist in a proportion of MS patients. In conclusion, 3% of serum samples from patients with PNS inflammatory neuropathies (GBS and CIDP) showed reactivity by ELISA and none of the controls. In an animal model of autoimmune peripheral nerve inflammation, we showed, using two anti-NF mAbs, that antibody targeting of NF can enhance and prolong disease course. This suggests that antibodies to NF may be relevant for a small group of patients with peripheral inflammatory neuropathies. In MS patients, 3% showed anti-NF reactivity by flow cytometry and ELISA. Furthermore, low levels of anti-NF antibodies that could be detected by ELISA and flow cytometry after affinity purification were additionally found in some MS patient samples that were unreactive by serum screening. This raises the possibility that low levels of antibodies to NF are present in some MS patients and may contribute to the pathogenesis of this chronic disease.

Overexpression or mutation of alpha-Synuclein is associated with protein aggregation and interferes with a number of cellular processes, including mitochondrial integrity and function. We used a whole-genome screen in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to search for novel genetic modifiers of human A53T] alpha-Synuclein-induced neurotoxicity. Decreased expression of the mitochondrial chaperone protein tumor necrosis factor receptor associated protein-1 (TRAP1) was found to enhance age-dependent loss of fly head dopamine (DA) and DA neuron number resulting from A53T] alpha-Synuclein expression. In addition, decreased TRAP1 expression in A53T] alpha-Synuclein-expressing flies resulted in enhanced loss of climbing ability and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Overexpression of human TRAP1 was able to rescue these phenotypes. Similarly, human TRAP1 overexpression in rat primary cortical neurons rescued A53T] alpha-Synuclein-induced sensitivity to rotenone treatment. In human (non) neuronal cell lines, small interfering RNA directed against TRAP1 enhanced A53T] alpha-Synuclein-induced sensitivity to oxidative stress treatment. A53T] alpha-Synuclein directly interfered with mitochondrial function, as its expression reduced Complex I activity in HEK293 cells. These effects were blocked by TRAP1 overexpression. Moreover, TRAP1 was able to prevent alteration in mitochondrial morphology caused by A53T] alpha-Synuclein overexpression in human SH-SY5Y cells. These results indicate that A53T] alpha-Synuclein toxicity is intimately connected to mitochondrial dysfunction and that toxicity reduction in fly and rat primary neurons and human cell lines can be achieved using overexpression of the mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1. Interestingly, TRAP1 has previously been shown to be phosphorylated by the serine/threonine kinase PINK1, thus providing a potential link of PINK1 via TRAP1 to alpha-Synuclein.

Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) encodes a cluster of twelve micro (mi)RNAs, which are abundantly expressed during both latent and lytic infection. Previous studies reported that KSHV is able to inhibit apoptosis during latent infection; we thus tested the involvement of viral miRNAs in this process. We found that both HEK293 epithelial cells and DG75 cells stably expressing KSHV miRNAs were protected from apoptosis. Potential cellular targets that were significantly down-regulated upon KSHV miRNAs expression were identified by microarray profiling. Among them, we validated by luciferase reporter assays, quantitative PCR and western blotting caspase 3 (Casp3), a critical factor for the control of apoptosis. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we found that three KSHV miRNAs, miR-K12-1, 3 and 4-3p, were responsible for the targeting of Casp3. Specific inhibition of these miRNAs in KSHV-infected cells resulted in increased expression levels of endogenous Casp3 and enhanced apoptosis. Altogether, our results suggest that KSHV miRNAs directly participate in the previously reported inhibition of apoptosis by the virus, and are thus likely to play a role in KSHV-induced oncogenesis.

Tonight on The Front:  Weather is being traded as a commodity, I cant make this stuff up! Also, HEK293 (human embryonic kidney cells), is this being used as a flavor enhancer? Plus, Brutal Amerika, who are we? And, Thyriod health issues have exploded, we'll look at some things you can do. And, The rules of gunfighting, let's hope it dos'nt come to this. All callers welcome Warmning: Show content may change without notice!

In the present study, the equine histamine 4 receptor (eH4R) was cloned, sequenced and pharmacologically characterized. The findings were compared to those, obtained with the human H4R (hH4R). Due to its expression in cells of the immune system, the eH4R provides a promising target for the development of novel therapeutic strategies in allergic diseases, such as Recurrent Airway Obstruction (RAO) and allergic dermatitis in the horse. To clone the eH4R, mRNA was isolated from horse white blood cells and cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcription. Specific primers were used to amplify the eH4R sequence, which was then cloned into pJET1.2/blunt vectors. The open reading frame is 1185 bp long and codes for a 394 amino acid protein which shows 72,9 % homology to the human receptor. The cDNA sequence was published in the NCBI GenBank under the accession number HM015200. To pharmacologically and functionally characterize the eH4R and hH4R, their cDNAs were subcloned into the expression vector pcDNA3.1 and either transfected transiently into COS-7 cells or stably into HEK293 cells. Binding-characteristics were examined by homologous und heterologous competition experiments using the antagonist 3H-pyrilamine or the agonist 3H-histamine as radioligand. High affinity binding of histamine could only be detected in hH4R, but not in eH4R transfected COS-7 cells. Nevertheless, histamine was able to inhibit cAMP-production in stably transfected HEK293 cells via the eH4R and the hH4R. The eH4R expressed in HEK293 cells is coupled to the stimulation of ERK1/2, while the hH4R shows already high constitutive activity. The antagonists JNJ7777120, Thioperamide, Pyrilamine and Diphenhydramine display considerable species-specific differences concerning the affinities between eH4R and hH4R and also vary in their intrinsic activities. Thioperamide, known for its inverse agonism at the hH4R showed agonist behaviour in ERK1/2 regulation. In contrast, the non-selective antagonist Diphenhydramin showed inverse agonist behaviour, which was more pronounced at the hH4R than the eH4R. These findings suggest that there are considerable pharmacological and functional differences between the cloned eH4R and hH4R.

Regulated intramembrane proteolysis of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by the protease activities α-, β- and γ-secretase controls the generation of the neurotoxic amyloid β peptide. APLP2, the amyloid precursor-like protein 2, is a homolog of APP, which shows functional overlap with APP, but lacks an amyloid β domain. Compared to APP, less is known about the proteolytic processing of APLP2, in particular in neurons, and the cleavage sites have not yet been determined. APLP2 is cleaved by the β-secretase BACE1 and additionally by an α-secretase activity. The two metalloproteases ADAM10 and ADAM17 have been suggested as candidate APLP2 α-secretases in cell lines. Here, we used RNA interference and found that ADAM10, but not ADAM17, is required for the constitutive α-secretase cleavage of APLP2 in HEK293 and SH-SY5Y cells. Likewise, in primary murine neurons knock-down of ADAM10 suppressed APLP2 α-secretase cleavage. Using mass spectrometry we determined the proteolytic cleavage sites in the APLP2 sequence. ADAM10 was found to cleave APLP2 after arginine 670, whereas BACE1 cleaves after leucine 659. Both cleavage sites are located in close proximity to the membrane. γ-secretase cleavage was found to occur at different peptide bonds between alanine 694 and valine 700, which is close to the N-terminus of the predicted APLP2 transmembrane domain. Determination of the APLP2 cleavage sites enables functional studies of the different APLP2 ectodomain fragments and the production of cleavage-site specific antibodies for APLP2, which may be used for biomarker development.

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by α-secretase prevents the formation of the amyloid β-peptide (Aβ), which is the main constituent of amyloid plaques in brains of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. In AD α-Secretase activity is decreased, and overexpression of the α-secretase ADAM10 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease 10) in an AD animal model prevents amyloid pathology. ADAM10 features a 444-nucleotide-long, very GC-rich 5′-untranslated region (5′UTR) with two upstream open reading frames. Because similar properties of 5′UTRs are found in transcripts of many genes, which are regulated by translational control mechanisms, we asked whether ADAM10 expression is translationally controlled by its 5′UTR. Here we demonstrate that the 5′UTR of ADAM10 represses the rate of ADAM10 translation. In the absence of the 5′UTR, we observed a significant increase of ADAM10 protein levels in HEK293 cells, whereas mRNA levels were unchanged. Moreover, the 5′UTR of ADAM10 inhibits translation of a luciferase reporter in an in vitro-transcription/-translation assay. Successive deletion of the first half of the ADAM10 5′UTR revealed a striking increase in ADAM10 protein expression in HEK293 cells, suggesting that this part of the 5′UTR contains inhibitory elements for translation. In contrast, the deletion of the 3'-part of the 5'UTR led to significantly reduced protein levels. Thus, we provide evidence that the 5′UTR of ADAM10 may have an important role for post-transcriptional regulation of ADAM10 expression. Therefore these findings might be of significant importance for future research in Alzheimer's disease and the development of novel therapeutic strategies of this devastating disorder.

The BCR/ABL1 fusion protein is found in virtually all cases chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and a large proportion of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The fact that the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein is crucial for the development of leukemia makes this fusion protein an attractive target for therapy development. We have developed a strategy for the in vivo detection of the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein, in which the presence of the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein is detected intracellularly and if the fusion protein is present an arbitrary action is initiated in the cell (e.g. mark the cells or selectively kill the cells). Our BCR/ABL1 detection strategy is based on protein-protein interactions. Two detection proteins are expressed in the cells: 1) protein A, a GAL4-DNA binding domain/BCR interacting protein fusion protein (GAL4DBD-BAP-1) and 2) protein B, a GAL4-activation domain/ABL interacting protein fusion protein (GAL4AD-CRKL). Only when BCR/ABL1 is present in the cell, do protein A, protein B, and BCR/ABL1 form a trimeric complex which activates the transcription of reporter genes under the control of GAL4-upstream activating sequence (UAS). A proof of principle for the strategy was implemented in the yeast system. We did not use full length BAP-1 or CRKL but only those portions of the proteins that directly interacted with BCR or ABL, respectively. We showed in the yeast two hybrid system, that the C-terminus of BAP-1(amino acids 617-879) binds to full length BCR. The site of interaction of CRKL and ABL was confirmed to be the N-terminal SH3 domain (SH3n) of CRKL as described in the literature. Yeast cells (strain CG1945) transformed with a protein A expressing plasmid (pGBT9-BAP), a protein B expressing plasmid (pGAD424-CRKLSH3n), and a BCR/ABL expressing plasmid (pES1/BCR-ABL) showed expression of the reporter genes HIS3 and LACZ. The expression of the HIS3 reporter gene was assayed by growth of the yeast cells on medium lacking histidine. The expression of the LACZ gene was verified by a beta-galactosidase filter assay. Yeast cells that were transformed with the pES1 plasmid without the BCR/ABL1 coding region did not show activation of the reporter genes. Several other negative controls demonstrated the specificity of the assay. Thus the method was able to clearly distinguish between BCR/ABL expressing cells and cells did not express BCR/ABL1. We then adapted this system for use in mammalian cells. The open-reading frames encoding the proteins A and B were recloned into mammalian expression vectors. The human embryonal kidney cell line HEK293 and the murine myeloid progenitor cell line 32D which had been stably transfected with a BCR/ABL expressing plasmid were tested. The firefly luciferase gene and the yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) were used to evaluate the whole cell population and single cell, respectively. Unfortunately, the system failed to work in the mammalian cell lines tested. Even though the detection system did not work in mammalian cells, most likely due to the cytoplasmic localization of the BCR/ABL1 fusion protein, it should still be a viable strategy for the detection of leukemia-associated fusion protein, which localize to the nucleus (i.e AML-ETO). This strategy could be adapted for purging the bone marrow of leukemia patients using therapeutically more useful effector genes like suicide genes, which encode pro-drug converting enzymes (e.g. HSV thymidine kinase), or markers that can easily be assayed (e.g. YFP).

The regulation of phosphate metabolism is a complex process that is still only partly understood. At the end of the eighties, studies in a mouse model for hypophosphatemic rickets provided evidence that phosphate wasting could not be explained by a primary defect of the kidney but rather by an unknown circulating factor with phosphaturic properties. X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH), autosomal dominant hypophosphatemic rickets (ADHR), and tumor induced osteomalacia (TIO) are three well defined human disorders of isolated renal phosphate wasting. XLH and ADHR are mendelian diseases while TIO is caused by rare, mostly benign tumors. The opposite phenotype, hyperphosphatemia due to increased renal phosphate reabsorption is associated to the recessive disorder familial tumoral calcinosis (FTC). At the beginning of this work the genes mutated in XLH and ADHR were cloned. One gene codes for the endopeptidase PHEX, the other for the fibroblast growth factor FGF23. Both proteins are probably involved in a novel common pathway of the regulation of phosphate homeostasis. Missense mutations in FGF23 causing phosphate wasting in patients with ADHR, overexpression of FGF23 in tumors from patients with TIO, and the observation that FGF23 plasma levels are elevated in most patients with XLH provided strong evidence that FGF23 is a hormone with phosphaturic activity. However, the function of FGF23 in the regulation of phosphate metabolism is far from understood. The intention of this study was to investigate the molecular properties of native FGF23 and its mutant forms. I conducted protein expression experiments in HEK293 cells which showed that native FGF23 is a secreted protein partially processed into an N-terminal fragment and a C-terminal fragment. I provided evidence that this cleavage occurs during protein secretion and it is performed by subtilisin like-proprotein convertases (SPCs). In addition, I determined that native FGF23 undergoes O-linked glycosylation before secretion by using a deglycosylation assay. Further, RT-PCR analysis of human tissues showed FGF23 expression in whole fetus, heart, liver, thyroid/parathyroid, small intestine, testis, skeletal muscle, differentiated chondrocytes and TIO tumor tissue. In mouse, FGF23 was expressed in day 17 embryo and spleen. The FGF23 ADHR mutations replace arginine residues at the SPC cleavage site (RXXR motif). By expression of the FGF23-R176Q and –R179Q mutant proteins in HEK293 cells I showed that ADHR mutations prevent cleavage at the RXXR site and stabilize FGF23. This alteration in the FGF23 cleavage enhances FGF23 phosphaturic activity in ADHR. Familial tumoral calcinosis (FTC) with hyperphosphatemia is a disease considered the mirror image of the hypophosphatemic condition. It is known that FTC is caused by mutations in the GALNT3 gene. By performing mutation analysis in two families with FTC, I could show that FTC can also be caused by inactivating mutations in the FGF23 gene. To characterize the FGF23-S71G mutant protein I conducted in vitro expression assays, immunocytochemistry and ELISA to measure the FGF23 plasma levels in the patient with FTC. Taken together the results of these experiments showed that intact FGF23-S71G mutant protein remained inside the cells and only the C-terminal FGF23 fragment was secreted. These investigations demonstrate that FGF23 mutations in ADHR and FTC have opposite effects on phosphate homeostasis. There is evidence that the endopeptidase PHEX which is mutated in patients with XLH and FGF23 act in the same pathway. PHEX function resides upstream of FGF23 and may be involved in the degradation of FGF23 thereby regulating its phosphaturic activity. I designed an assay with a recombinant secreted form of PHEX (secPHEX) to prove whether FGF23 is a substrate of PHEX. Although secPHEX activity could be demonstrated by degradation of PTHrP107-139, secPHEX failed to degrade FGF23 in this assay. These results provided evidence against a direct interaction of PHEX and FGF23.

The t(10;11)(p13;q14) is a recurring translocation resulting in the fusion of the CALM and AF10 genes. The leukemogenic CALM/AF10 fusion genes codes for a 1595 amino acids protein. This translocation was first identified in a patient with hystiocytic lymphoma and was subsequently found in patients with AML, T-ALL and malignant lymphoma. This translocation is found in younger patients and is associated with a poor prognosis. The CALM/AF10-associated leukemias can exhibit myeloid, lymphoid or mixed lymphoid-meyloid features, indicating a stem cell or an early commited progenitor as the target cell of leukemic transformation. At the present time the target cells in CALM/AF10-associated leukemogenesis are unknown. It is also not known which target genes are up or downregulated by the presence of the CALM/AF10 fusion protein. To answer these questions, the following experiments were performed: 1) Five transgenic mouse lines, two expressing CALM/AF10 under the control of the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer promoter and three under the control of the murine proximal Lck promoter were generated. Although the CALM/AF10 expression was confirmed to be present and specific to the cells targeted by the promoters used (B- and T-cell progenitors for IgH and Lck promoters, respectively), the transgenic animals did not show a phenotype that could be detected after meticulous clinical, haematological, immunological, flow cytometrical and immunohistopatological analysis . 2) We performed molecular characterization of several CALM/AF10 patient samples: A group of 13 patients with different types of leukemia: case 1 (AML M2), case 2 (Acute Biphetnotypic leukemia), case 3 (Pre T-ALL), case 4 (Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia), case 5 (PreT-ALL), cases 6 and 7 (ProT-ALL), case 8 (T-ALL), case 9 (AML), case 14 (T-ALL), case 15, 16 and 17 (AML) with a t(10;11) translocation detected by cytogenetic analysis suggesting a CALM/AF10-rearrangement. The samples were analyzed for the presence of the CALM/AF10 and AF10/CALM fusion transcripts by RT-PCR and sequence analysis. All these patients were found to be positive for the CALM/AF10 fusion. In addition, we analyzed a series of twenty-nine patients with T-ALL with T-cell receptor ≥¥ rearrangement. Among these patients, four (case 10 to 13) were positive for the CALM/AF10 fusion transcript, indicating a high incidence of CALM/AF10 fusions in this group of leukemia. Three different breakpoints in CALM at nucleotide 1926, 2091 and a new exon, with 106 bases inserted after nt 2064 of CALM in patient 4 were found. In AF10 four breakpoints were identified: at nucleotide position 424, 589, 883 and 979. In patient 16 we found an extra exon before nt 424 of AF10. In seven patients it was also possible to amplify the reciprocal AF10/CALM fusion transcript (case 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 14). There was no correlation between disease phenotype and breakpoint location. Ten CALM/AF10 positive patients were analyzed using oligonucleotide microarrays representing 33,000 different genes (U133 set, Affymetrix). Analysis of microarray gene expression signatures of these patients revealed high expression levels of the polycomb group gene BMI1, the homeobox gene MEIS1 and the HOXA cluster genes HOXA1, HOXA4, HOXA5, HOXA7, HOXA9, and HOXA10. The overexpression of HOX genes seen in these CALM/AF10 positive leukemias is reminiscent to the pattern seen in leukemias with rearrangements of the MLL gene, normal karyotypes and complex aberrant karyotypes suggesting a common effector pathway (i.e. HOX gene deregulation) for these diverse leukemias. In addition, the general pattern of gene expression of CALM/AF10 patients when compared to other leukemia subtypes and to normal bone marrow was dominated by a global downregulation of genes some of them with function identified as related to important molecular mechanisms, such as membrane trafficking, cell growth regulation, proliferation, differentiation and tumor suppression. 3) We cloned CALM/AF10 fusion gene into a vector that allowed us to induce the expression of CALM/AF10 using doxycycline in transiently and stably-transfected NIH3T3 and HEK293 cells. This system will be an important tool to identify direct CALM/AF10 target genes and to answer the question whether continued CALM/AF10 expression is necessary to maintain the CALM/AF10-associated expression pattern.

Genetically encoded calcium probes allow the visualization and quantification of intracellular calcium dynamics with great specificity and sensitivity. Until now, all genetically encoded calcium indicators have shared a common design that consists of mutants of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) as fluorophores and calmodulin as the calcium binding moiety, in several configurations. However, most of these calmodulin-based probe types show deficiencies such as reduced dynamic ranges when expressed within transgenic organisms and a lack of calcium sensitivity in certain subcellular targetings. A likely reason for this reduced sensitivity is that calmodulin is an ubiquitous signal protein in cell metabolism and thus stringently regulated. Thus, we chose to develop novel types of calcium probes based on the muscle calcium sensor troponin C, a protein that is not a constituent of non-muscle cells and therefore less likely to interact with cytosolic activities. By going through a series of cloning optimization steps, a set of new ratiometric calcium indicators was created using domains of skeletal and cardiac muscle troponin C variants as calcium binding moieties. These constructs showed in vitro FRET ratio changes of up to 140 %, had calcium dissociation constants ranging from 470 nM to 29 µM, and were functional in intracellular targetings in which previous indicators had failed. The new indicators expressed homogenously with no signs of aggregation in HEK293 cells as well as in rat hippocampal neurons, and large and dynamic ratio changes could be quantified after drug stimulation in cell culture. Membrane labeling experiments with the indicator construct TN-L15 were successful in HEK293 cells and hippocampal neurons. When targeted to the plasma membrane, the indicator readily responded to agonist-induced increases in cytosolic calcium and kept its full dynamic range. In the last part of this work, transgenic mouse lines were created expressing one of the new calcium indicators in the cytosol of neurons. Imaging experiments in live tissue cultures and brain slices revealed responses to rises in calcium that were superior to previously published indicator performance in mouse lines expressing other calcium probes. The novel troponin C-based probes of intracellular calcium developed in this work have the potential for monitoring calcium dynamics in applications in which previous calmodulin-containing calcium indicators failed, possibly because they interact less with the cellular biochemical machinery and are thus more compatible with transgenic expression in tissue and whole organisms.

Regulation of adenylate cyclases and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases by delta-opioid receptors in HEK293 cells Stimulation of G protein coupled opioid receptors result in both inhibition of adenylate cyclases and stimulation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases ERK1/2. As regulation of cellular effectors may be accomplished by various G proteins as well as by the different G protein subunits (G alpha, G betagamma), delta-opioid receptors were thus examined for activating different G proteins underlying different regulation of these cellular effectors. In transfected HEK293 cells, activation of delta-opioid receptors by peptidergic opioids (DADLE, DPDPE) and alkaloids (etorphine, morphine) brought about concentration-dependent inhibition of adenylate cyclases and stimulation of the ERKs, respectively. Since the high-affinity opioids DADLE, DPDPE and etorphine accomplished regulation of respective effector molecules already at nanomolar ligand concentrations, a 1000-fold higher dose of low-affinity agonist morphine was required for both inhibition of adenylate cyclases and ERK activation. However, for all tested opioids, a higher EC50 could have been determined for inhibition of adenylate cyclases than for stimulation of the ERKs. Thus, adenylate cyclases expressed in HEK cells seems to be more sensitive to delta-opioid receptor activation than the ERKs. As previously shown, exposure of HEK-DOR cells to pertussis toxin (PTX) resulted in incomplete inhibition of adenylate cyclases by DADLE and DPDPE, whereas etorphine and morphine totally lost their ability to inhibit the cyclases under these conditions. In contrast, activation of ERKs by all tested opioids was abolished by PTX treatment. However, PTX also blocked ERK activation by Gq-coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases, both regulating ERKs independent from PTX-sensitive Gi proteins. Thus, PTX is suggested to inhibit ERK activation also independent from affecting G protein activation. Since inhibition of G alpha q subunits by the G alpha q-binding protein EBP50 did not affect effector regulation, inhibition of G alpha q and G alpha 12 mediated signaling by neomycin and 1-butanol brought about partial blockade of ERK activation by all tested opioids. Exposure of HEK-DOR cells with neomycin and 1-butanol together even totally blocked ERK activation by respective opioids. In contrast, inhibition of G alpha 11 signaling partially blocked inhibition of adenylate cyclases by DADLE and DPDPE, whereas regulation of the cyclases by the alkaloids was not affected under this condition. Since inhibition of G betagamma signaling by phosducin did not affect regulation of adenylate cyclases and ERKs by opioids, delta-opoioid receptors are supposed to regulate these cellular effectors by G alpha subunits. Although the tested cellular effectors are regulated differently, inhibition of adenylate cyclases seems to support activation of ERKs, since simultaneous stimulation of the cyclases by forskolin impairs ERK activation by DPDPE and etorphin. In contrast, activation of ERKs did not affect regulation of the cyclases by delta-opioid receptors. Together the findings let suppose that different G alpha subunits might be involved in regulation of adenylate cyclases and ERKs by delta-opioid receptors. Since stimulation of delta-receptors might be supposed to bring about inhibition of adenylate cyclases by G alpha i and G alpha 11 subunits, alkaloids seems to regulate cyclases by G alpha i subunits. In contrast, both peptide and alkaloid opioids seem to stimulate ERKs by G alpha 11- and G alpha 12-mediated signaling.