Biology subjects

Lucansky, V.

Publications and source records attributed to Lucansky, V..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Monitoring the dynamics of exosomes through the tracking of Rab7 partners

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in cell-cell signaling, and their dysregulation is linked to various pathologies. EVs can originate from the plasma membrane as microvesicles, or form within endosomal compartments that fuse with the plasma membrane, releasing their intraluminal vesicles in the extracellular space as exosomes. However, distinguishing between these two types of EVs is challenging due to their common protein markers, necessitating cumbersome isolation methods. To overcome this limitation, we developed an innovative tool using Rab7-mediated proximity labelling and mass spectrometry. This technological advancement enables the covalent labeling of Rab7 partners allowing the tracking of intracellular and extracellular exosomal cargoes.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Targeting monocytic Occludin impairs monocyte transmigration and HIV neuroinvasion

Transmigration of circulating monocytes from the bloodstream toward the central nervous system (CNS) represents a hallmark of neuroinflammation and plays an important role during viral encephalitis and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). The molecular mechanisms involved in monocyte transmigration through endothelia has been extensively studied, but how monocytes locally unzip tight junction-associated proteins (TJAPs) of the endothelium composing the neurovascular unit (NVU) to reach the CNS remains poorly understood. Here, we show that human circulating monocytes express the TJAP Occludin (OCLN) to promote transmigration through cerebral microvessel endothelial cells. Silencing monocytic OCLN (mOCLN) impairs monocyte transmigration, while mOCLN overexpression increases transmigration. Using high-resolution live cell imaging, we observed that mOCLN clusters at the monocyte-endothelium interface during the transmigration process, forming a transient ring of mOCLN at the site of diapedesis. Furthermore, we designed OCLN-derived peptides targeting its extracellular loop (EL) 1 or 2 to prevent potential trans-homotypic interactions of mOCLN with endothelial OCLN. We found that transmigration of human monocytes was significantly inhibited upon treatment with the EL2 peptide in vitro and in zebrafish embryos, while preserving vascular integrity. Monocyte transmigration toward the brain is an important process for HIV neuroinvasion and here, we showed that the treatment of transmigrating monocytes with the EL2 peptide prevents the dissemination of HIV to cerebral organoids. In conclusion, our study identifies an important role for monocytic OCLN during transmigration and provides a proof-of-concept for the development of mitigation strategies to prevent HIV neuroinvasion.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Pharmacological perturbation of intracellular dynamics as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral strategy

SARS-CoV-2 (CoV2) is the viral agent responsible for the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vaccines are being deployed all over the world with good efficacy, but there is no approved antiviral treatment to date. This is particularly needed since the emergence of variants and the potential immune escape may prolong pandemic spreading of the infection for much longer than anticipated. Here, we developed a series of small molecules and identified RG10 as a potent antiviral compound against SARS-CoV-2 in cell lines and human airway epithelia (HAE). RG10 localizes to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes, perturbing ER morphology and inducing ER stress. Yet, RG10 does not associate with SARS-CoV-2 replication sites although preventing virus replication. To further investigate the antiviral properties of our compound, we developed fluorescent SARS-CoV-2 viral particles allowing us to track virus arrival to ER membranes. Live cell imaging of replication-competent virus infection revealed that RG10 stalls the intracellular virus-ER dynamics. Finally, we synthesized RG10b, a stable version of RG10, that showed increased potency in vitro and in HAE with a pharmacokinetic half-life greater than 2 h. Together, our work reports on a novel fluorescent virus model and innovative antiviral strategy consisting of the perturbation of ER/virus dynamics, highlighting the promising antiviral properties of RG10 and RG10b.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

CRISPR-based bioengineering of the Transferrin Receptor revealed a role for Rab7 in the biosynthetic secretory pathway

The regulated secretory trafficking of neosynthesized transmembrane receptors is particularly challenging to investigate as it is under-represented at steady state compared to the abundance of the other trafficking routes. Here, we combined the retention using selective hook (RUSH) system to a CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approach (eRUSH) to identify molecular players involved in the trafficking of neosynthesized Transferrin Receptor (TfR) en route to the plasma membrane (PM). TfR-eRUSH monoclonal cells expressing endogenous, ER-retainable and fluorescent TfR were engineered and characterized. Spatiotemporal quantitative proteomics of TfR-eRUSH cells allowed the identification of molecular partners associated with TfR-containing membranes and provided a comprehensive list of potential regulators, co-trafficking cargos, and enriched pathways. Furthermore, we chose to focus our attention on the Rab GTPase family members for their function as vesicle trafficking regulators and performed a Rab-targeted siRNA screen that we correlated to our proteomics data. Unexpectedly, we identified Rab7-harboring vesicles as an intermediate compartment of the Golgi-to-PM transport of the neosynthetic TfR. These vesicles did not exhibit degradative properties and were not associated to Rab6A-harboring vesicles, also involved in Golgi-to-PM transport. However, Rab6A-TfR vesicles delivered TfR directly to the PM, while in contrast, Rab7A was transiently associated to neosynthetic TfR-containing post-Golgi vesicles but dissociated before PM vesicle fusion. Together, our study proposes the eRUSH as a powerful tool to further study the secretory pathway and reveals an unforeseen role for Rab7 in the neosynthetic transport of the TfR, highlighting the diversity of the secretory vesicles nature for a given cargo.

cell biology↗