Biology subjects

van Woudenbergh, E.

Publications and source records attributed to van Woudenbergh, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Protein structure, a genetic encoding for glycosylation

Unlike DNA, RNA, and protein biosynthesis, dogma describes glycosylation as primarily determined by intrinsic cellular limitations, such as glycosyltransferase expression and precursor availability. However, this cannot explain the commonly-observed differences between glycans on the same protein. By examining site-specific glycosylation on diverse human proteins, we detected associations between protein structure and glycan structure, broadly generalizable to human-expressed glycoproteins. Through structural analysis of site-specific glycosylation data, we found protein-sequence and structural features consistently correlated with specific glycan features. To quantify these relationships, we present a new amino acid substitution matrix describing "glycoimpact", i.e., the association of primary protein structure and glycosylation. High-glycoimpact amino acids co-evolve with glycosites, and glycoimpact is high when estimates of amino acid conservation and variant pathogenicity diverge. We report thousands of disease variants near glycosites with high-glycoimpact, including several with known links to aberrant glycosylation (e.g., Oculocutaneous Albinism, Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker, and Gauchers Disease). Finally, glycoimpact quantification is validated by studying oligomannose-complex glycan ratios on HIV ENV, differential sialylation on IgG3 Fc, differential glycosylation on SARS-CoV-2 Spike, and fucose-modulated function of a tuberculosis monoclonal antibody. Finally, to test the causality of protein-glycan associations, we created 5 glycoimpact-designed novel Rituximab variants, 4 of which substantially changed glycoprofiles as predicted. In all, we report that site-specific glycan biosynthesis is influenced by underlying protein structure, enabling glycan structure prediction and genetic sequence-guided glycoengineering.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2022

Fc-engineered antibodies leverage neutrophils to drive control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Novel vaccination and therapeutic strategies are urgently needed to mitigate the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. While extensive efforts have focused on potentiating cell-mediated immunity to control Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, less effort has been invested in exploiting the humoral immune system to combat Mtb. Emerging data point to a role for antibodies in microbial control of Mtb, however the precise mechanism(s) of this control remain incompletely understood. Here we took an antibody Fc-engineering approach to determine whether Fc-modifications could improve the ability of antibodies to restrict Mtb, and to define Fc-mediated mechanism(s) antibodies leverage for this restriction. Using an antibody specific to the capsular polysaccharide -glucan, we engineer a panel of Fc variants to augment or dampen select antibody effector functions, rationally building antibodies with enhanced capacity to promote Mtb restriction in a human whole blood model of infection. Surprisingly, restrictive Fc-engineered antibodies drive Mtb control in a neutrophil, not monocyte, dependent manner. Using single cell RNA sequencing, we show that restrictive antibodies promote neutrophil survival and expression of cell intrinsic antimicrobial programs. These data provide a roadmap for exploiting Fc-engineered antibodies as a novel class of TB therapeutics able to harness the protective functions of neutrophils to achieve disease control.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2020

Berberine and obatoclax inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in primary human nasal epithelial cells in vitro

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged as a new human pathogen in late 2019 and has infected an estimated 10% of the global population in less than a year. There is a clear need for effective antiviral drugs to complement current preventive measures including vaccines. In this study, we demonstrate that berberine and obatoclax, two broad-spectrum antiviral compounds, are effective against multiple isolates of SARS-CoV-2. Berberine, a plant-derived alkaloid, inhibited SARS-CoV-2 at low micromolar concentrations and obatoclax, originally developed as an anti-apoptotic protein antagonist, was effective at sub-micromolar concentrations. Time-of-addition studies indicated that berberine acts on the late stage of the viral life cycle. In agreement, berberine mildly affected viral RNA synthesis, but strongly reduced infectious viral titers, leading to an increase in the particle-to-pfu ratio. In contrast, obatoclax acted at the early stage of the infection, in line with its activity to neutralize the acidic environment in endosomes. We assessed infection of primary human nasal epithelial cells cultured on an air-liquid interface and found that SARS-CoV-2 infection induced and repressed expression of a specific set of cytokines and chemokines. Moreover, both obatoclax and berberine inhibited SARS-CoV-2 replication in these primary target cells. We propose berberine and obatoclax as potential antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 that could be considered for further efficacy testing.

microbiology↗