Fabry disease due to deficiency of α-galactosidase A (α-Gal) causes lysosomal accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in multiple tissues and prominently in the vascular endothelium. Although enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) by injection of recombinant α-Gal improves the disease outcome, effects on the vasculopathy associated to life-threatening cerebrovascular, cardiac and renal complications are still limited. We designed a strategy to enhance delivery of α-Gal to organs and endothelial cells (ECs). We targeted α-Gal to intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), a protein expressed on ECs throughout the vasculature, by loading this enzyme on nanocarriers coated with anti-ICAM (anti-ICAM/α-Gal NCs). In vitro radioisotope tracing showed efficient loading of α-Gal on anti-ICAM NCs, stability of this formulation under storage and in model physiological fluids, and enzyme release in response to lysosome environmental conditions. In mice, delivery of 125 I-α-Gal was markedly enhanced by anti-ICAM/ 125 I-α-Gal NCs in brain, kidney, heart, liver, lung, and spleen, and transmission electron microscopy showed anti-ICAM/α-Gal NCs attached to and internalized into the vascular endothelium. Fluorescence microscopy proved targeting, endocytosis and lysosomal transport of anti-ICAM/α-Gal NCs in macro-and micro-vascular ECs, and a marked enhancement of Gb3 degradation. Therefore, ICAM-1-targeting strategy may help improve the efficacy of therapeutic enzymes for Fabry disease.

oxygen species; TLR, toll-like receptor; TRAF3, tumor necrosis factor receptorassociated factor 3; ULK1, Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1. AbstractDisrupted mitochondrial function and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation cause cellular damage and oxidative stress-induced macrophage inflammatory cell death. It remains unclear how mitochondrial dysfunction relates to inflammasome activation and pyroptotic cell death. In this study, we demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 3 (TRAF3) regulates mitochondrial ROS production and promotes TLR agonist LPS plus nigericin (LPS/Ng)-induced inflammasome and pyroptosis in mouse primary macrophages and human monocyte THP-1 cells. Co-IP assays confirmed that TRAF3 forms a complex with TRAF2 and cIAP1 and mediates ubiquitin and degradation of Unc-51 like autophagy activating kinase 1 (ULK1). Moreover, knockdown of ULK1 in THP-1 cells significantly promoted LPS/Ng-induced inflammasome by activating caspase 1 and mature IL-1β. Apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) translocation from mitochondrial to nuclear was observed in ULK1-deficient THP-1 cells under LPS/Ng stimulation, which mediates LPS/Ng-induced cell death in ULK1 deficient macrophages. In conclusion, this study identified a novel role of TRAF3 in regulation of ULK1 ubiquitination and inflammasome signaling and provided molecular mechanisms by which ubiquitination of ULK1 controls mitochondrial ROS production, inflammasome activity, and AIF-dependent pyroptosis. K E Y W O R D S cell death, inflammasome, macrophages, mitochondrial, reactive oxygen species | 7145 SHEN Et al.

A reversed-phase simultaneous determination method for the enantiomers of carfentrazone-ethyl and its metabolite carfentrazone in agricultural and environmental samples was established using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A complete enantioseparation of carfentrazone-ethyl and its chiral metabolite carfentrazone enantiomers was obtained using a chiral column. The absolute configuration and specific optical rotation of carfentrazone-ethyl and carfentrazone enantiomers were first confirmed as peaks 1, 2, 3, and 4: S-(+)-carfentrazone, R-(-)-carfentrazone, S-(-)-carfentrazone-ethyl, and R-(+)-carfentrazone-ethyl, respectively. The specificity, matrix effect, linearity, precision, accuracy, and stability were surveyed to evaluate the feasibility of the method. The mean recovery was in the range of 77.5-102.8% with relative standard deviations of 0.4-9.8% for the samples. The limits of detection of the enantiomers were evaluated as 0.7 to 6.0 μg/kg, and the limits of quantification were 2.5 to 20 μg/kg. The stereoselective degradation of carfentrazone-ethyl and carfentrazone in rice plant was investigated, and there was no clear enantioselectivity for carfentrazone-ethyl. As for carfentrazone, the enantiomer fractions value reached 0.85 at 7 days after spraying. The developed method was simple and reliable enough for the corresponding risk assessment of carfentrazone-ethyl and its metabolite enantiomers in crop plants, cereal grains, and soil samples.

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