Noninvasive Real-Time Imaging of Apoptosis Laxman, Bharathi; Hall, Daniel E.; Bhojani, Mahaveer Swaroop ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
12/2002, Letnik:
99, Številka:
26
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Strict coordination of proliferation and programmed cell death (apoptosis) is essential for normal physiology. An imbalance in these two opposing processes results in various diseases including AIDS, ...neurodegenerative disorders, myelodysplastic syndromes, ischemia/reperfusion injury, cancer, autoimmune disease, among others. Objective and quantitative noninvasive imaging of apoptosis would be a significant advance for rapid and dynamic screening as well as validation of experimental therapeutic agents. Here, we report the development of a recombinant luciferase reporter molecule that when expressed in mammalian cells has attenuated levels of reporter activity. In cells undergoing apoptosis, a caspase-3-specific cleavage of the recombinant product occurs, resulting in the restoration of luciferase activity that can be detected in living animals with bioluminescence imaging. The ability to image apoptosis noninvasively and dynamically over time provides an opportunity for high-throughput screening of proapoptotic and antiapoptotic compounds and for target validation in vivo in both cell lines and transgenic animals.
There is a life-long relationship between rhinovirus (RV) infection and the development and clinical manifestations of asthma. In this study we demonstrate that cultured primary bronchial epithelial ...cells from adults with asthma (n = 9) show different transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV infection compared to those without asthma (n = 9). Both the number and magnitude of transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV were muted in cells from asthma cases compared to controls. Pathway analysis of the transcriptionally responsive genes revealed enrichments of apoptotic pathways in controls but inflammatory pathways in asthma cases. Using promoter capture Hi-C we tethered regions of RV-responsive chromatin to RV-responsive genes and showed enrichment of these regions and genes at asthma GWAS loci. Taken together, our studies indicate a delayed or prolonged inflammatory state in cells from asthma cases and highlight genes that may contribute to genetic risk for asthma.
Prostate cancer is the most common type of tumor found in American men and is the second leading cause of cancer death in males. To identify biomarkers that distinguish prostate cancer from normal, ...we compared multiple gene expression profiling studies. Through meta-analysis of expression array data from multiple prostate cancer studies, we identified GOLM1 (Golgi membrane protein 1, Golm 1) as consistently up-regulated in clinically localized prostate cancer. This observation was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and validated at the protein level by immunoblot assay and immunohistochemistry. Prostate epithelial cells were identified as the cellular source of GOLM1 expression using laser capture microdissection. Immunohistochemical staining localized the GOLM1 signal to the subapical cytoplasmic region, typical of a Golgi distribution. Surprisingly, GOLM1 immunoreactivity was detected in the supernatants of prostate cell lines and in the urine of patients with prostate cancer. The mechanism by which intact GOLM1 might be released from cells has not yet been elucidated. GOLM1 transcript levels were measured in urine sediments using quantitative PCR on a cohort of patients presenting for biopsy or radical prostatectomy. We found that urinary GOLM1 mRNA levels were a significant predictor of prostate cancer. Further, GOLM1 outperformed serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in detecting prostate cancer. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.622 for GOLM1 (P = .0009) versus 0.495 for serum PSA (P = .902). Our data indicating the up-regulation of GOLM1 expression and its appearance in patients' urine suggest GOLM1 as a potential novel biomarker for clinically localized prostate cancer.
p53 is a key mediator of cellular response to stress, and, although its function has been carefully evaluated in vitro, noninvasive evaluation of the transcriptional activity of p53 in live animals ...has not been reported. To this end, we developed a transgenic mouse model wherein the firefly luciferase gene expression was dependent on the p53-responsive P2 promoter from the murine double minute 2 (MDM2) gene. Bioluminescence activity following ionizing radiation was shown to be dose, time, and p53 dependent. In addition, expression of both p53 and its activated form as well as the expression of p53 target genes (MDM2 and p21) correlated with bioluminescence activity. Temporal evaluation of p53 activity following ionizing radiation showed a distinct oscillatory pattern, which confirmed the oscillations observed previously in cultured cells. In addition, the kinetics of oscillations were altered by pretreatment with radiation-modifying agents. These results show the use of this mouse model in enhancing our understanding of the transcriptional role of p53 in vivo.
Recent studies have established that a significant fraction of prostate cancers harbor a signature gene fusion between the 5' region of androgen-regulated TMPRSS2 and an ETS family transcription ...factor, most commonly ERG. Studies on the molecular mechanisms and functional consequences of this important chromosomal rearrangement are currently limited to the VCaP cell line derived from a vertebral bone metastasis of a hormone-refractory prostate tumor. Here we report on the NCI-H660 cell line, derived from a metastasic site of an extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma arising from the prostate. NCI-H660 harbors TMPRSS2-ERG fusion with a homozygous intronic deletion between TMPRSS2 and ERG. We demonstrate this by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, a two-stage dual-color interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay testing for TMPRSS2 and ERG break-aparts, and single-nucleotide polymorphism oligonucleotide arrays. The deletion is consistent with the common intronic deletion found on chromosome 21q22.2-3 in human prostate cancer samples. We demonstrate the physical juxtaposition of TMPRSS2 and ERG on the DNA level by fiber FISH. The androgen receptor-negative NCI-H660 cell line expresses ERG in an androgen-independent fashion. This in vitro model system has the potential to provide important pathobiologic insights into TMPRSS2-ERG fusion prostate cancer.
Progressive, chronic bacterial infection of the airways is a leading cause of death in cystic fibrosis (CF). Culture-independent methods based on sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene describe a ...distinct microbial community that decreases in richness and diversity with disease progression. Understanding the functional characteristics of the microbial community may aid in identifying potential therapies and may assist in management, but current methods are cumbersome. Here, we demonstrate the use of an oxidative metabolic assay as a complement to sequencing methods to describe the microbiome in the airways of patients with CF.
Expectorated sputum was collected from 16 CF subjects and 8 control subjects. The Biolog Gen III Microplate was used in a community-level physiological profiling (CLPP)-based assay to examine oxidative metabolic activity. 16S rRNA V4 amplicon sequencing was used to characterize the taxonomy and diversity of the samples. Correlations were then identified among the oxidative activity and taxonomy data. In an additional paired analysis, sputum from seven CF subjects were collected at two separate clinic visits and compared for oxidative activity, taxonomy, and diversity.
Significant differences in oxidative metabolic activity, microbial taxonomy, and diversity were found between the CF and control sputum samples. Oxidative activity correlated positively with total genera but not with other measures of diversity or taxonomy, demonstrating that the metabolic assay complements the structural aspects of the microbiome. As expected, Pseudomonas was significantly enriched in CF samples, while Streptococcus and Prevotella were similarly abundant in both CF and control samples. Paired analysis of CF samples at separate clinic visits revealed comparable oxidative activity that correlated with similar stability in taxonomy and diversity.
The CLPP assay used in this study complements existing sequencing methods to delineate the oxidative metabolic footprint of the CF airway bacterial community. This method may be useful to study the CF microbial community over time and with changes in disease state.
In an effort to identify a clinical biomarker for lung cancer, was used cDNA microarray and 2D protein analyses to demonstrate that increased Fas-associated death domain (FADD) mRNA and protein were ...significantly associated with poor survival. Analyses of copy number and sequence of the FADD gene in 24 independent tumors ruled out the existence of an amplified and/or mutated FADD gene in aggressive lung cancers. Immunohistochemistry-based tissue microarray analysis showed that nuclear localization of FADD and elevation of the phosphorylated form of FADD (p-FADD) correlated with poor outcome (P = 0.003). Tumors with increased p-FADD expression showed elevated NF-κB (P = 0.004) activation, a frequent molecular alteration associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis in a variety of cancers. To provide a link between p-FADD and NF-κB, cell culture studies demonstrated that overexpression of p-FADD leads to an increase in NF-κB activity and a decrease in the number of cells in the G2 phase of the cell cycle, compared with cells expressing the nonphosphorylatable form of FADD or the vector control. Furthermore, cDNA microarray analyses of lung tumor samples showed that increased levels of FADD transcripts were significantly correlated with overexpression of cyclins D1 (P < 0.01) and B1 (P < 0.01), genes that are involved in the regulation of cell cycle progression and are inducible by NF-κB. These studies demonstrate that induction of NF-κB activity and its effects on cell-cycle progression may represent a molecular basis underlying the aggressive tumor behavior associated with elevated p-FADD expression in lung adenocarcinoma.
There is considerable evidence for an association between prostate cancer development and inflammation, which results in autoantibody generation against tumor proteins. This immune system-driven ...amplification of the autoantibody response to intracellular antigens can serve as a sensitive tool to detect low abundance serum proteomic tumor markers for prostate cancer as well as provide insight into biological processes perturbed during cancer development. Here we examine serum humoral responses in a cohort of 34 patients with either benign prostatic hyperplasia or clinically localized prostate cancer (PCa). The experimental strategy couples multidimensional liquid-phase protein fractionation of localized and metastatic prostate cancer tissue lysates to protein microarrays and subsequent mass spectrometry. A supervised learning analysis of the humoral response arrays generated a parsimonious predictor having 78% sensitivity and 75% specificity in distinguishing PCa from benign prostatic hyperplasia in a cohort of American males with elevated prostate-specific antigen. Enrichment analysis of the PCa-specific humoral signature revealed large scale immune reprogramming mediated by STAT transcription factors and the generation of autoantibodies to enzymes involved in nitrogen metabolism. Meta-analysis of independent prostate cancer gene expression data validated the presence of STAT-induced immunomodulation. Concomitant validation of elevated levels of the nitrogen metabolism pathway was obtained by direct measurement of metabolic levels of glutamate and aspartate in prostate cancer tissues. Thus, in addition to functioning as markers in prostate cancer detection, humoral response profiles can serve as powerful tools revealing pathway dysregulation that might otherwise be suppressed by the complexity of the cancer proteome.
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G is a nonclassical class I antigen with immunomodulatory roles including up-regulation of suppressor T regulatory lymphocytes. HLA-G was recently identified as an ...asthma susceptibility gene, and expression of a soluble isoform, HLA-G5, has been demonstrated in human airway epithelium. Increased presence of HLA-G5 has been demonstrated in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid recovered from patients with mild asthma; this suggests a role for this isoform in modulating airway inflammation though the mechanisms by which this occurs is unclear. Airway inflammation associated with Th2 cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-13 is a principal feature of asthma, but whether these cytokines elicit expression of HLA-G is not known.
We examined gene and protein expression of both soluble (G5) and membrane-bound (G1) HLA-G isoforms in primary differentiated human airway epithelial cells collected from normal lungs and grown in air-liquid interface culture. Cells were treated with up to 10 ng/ml of either IL-4, IL-5, or IL-13, or 100 ng/ml of the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-10, or 10,000 U/ml of the Th1-associated cytokine interferon-beta, for 24 hr, after which RNA was isolated for evaluation by quantitative PCR and protein was collected for Western blot analysis.
HLA-G5 but not G1 was present in dAEC as demonstrated by quantitative PCR, western blot and confocal microscopy. Neither G5 nor G1 expression was increased by the Th2-associated cytokines IL-4, IL-5 or IL-13 over 24 hr, nor after treatment with IL-10, but was increased 4.5 ± 1.4 fold after treatment with 10,000 U/ml interferon-beta.
These data demonstrate the constitutive expression of a T lymphocyte regulatory molecule in differentiated human airway epithelial cells that is not modulated by Th2-associated cytokines.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a critical component of the polycomb-repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is involved in gene silencing and histone H3 lysine 27 methylation. EZH2 has a master ...regulatory function in controlling such processes as stem cell differentiation, cell proliferation, early embryogenesis and X chromosome inactivation. Although benign epithelial cells express very low levels of EZH2, increased levels of EZH2 have been observed in aggressive solid tumors such as those of the prostate, breast and bladder. The mechanism by which EZH2 mediates tumor aggressiveness is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that EZH2 mediates transcriptional silencing of the tumor suppressor gene E-cadherin by trimethylation of H3 lysine 27. Histone deacetylase inhibitors can prevent EZH2-mediated repression of E-cadherin and attenuate cell invasion, suggesting a possible mechanism that may be useful for the development of therapeutic treatments. Taken together, these observations provide a novel mechanism of E-cadherin regulation and establish a functional link between dysregulation of EZH2 and repression of E-cadherin during cancer progression.
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