Transport of Trembler-J mutant peripheral myelin protein 22 is blocked in the intermediate compartment and affects the transport of the wild-type protein by direct interaction.
(1/1164)
Peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) is an integral membrane protein that is essential for the normal formation and maintenance of peripheral myelin. Duplications, deletions, or mutations in the PMP22 gene account for a set of dominantly inherited peripheral neuropathies. The heterozygous Trembler-J (TrJ) genotype in mice is similar genetically to a Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A pedigree in humans, whereas the homozygous TrJ condition leads to the most severe form of PMP22-associated neuropathies. To characterize the consequences of the TrJ mutation, we labeled wild-type (wt-) and TrJ-PMP22 in the third loop of the protein with different epitope tags and expressed them separately or together in COS7 cells and primary Schwann cells. Here we show that the transport of the mutant TrJ-PMP22 is interrupted in the intermediate compartment, preventing its insertion into the plasma membrane and affecting the morphology of the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, TrJ-PMP22 forms a heterodimer with the wt-PMP22. This interaction causes a fraction of the wt-PMP22 to be retained with TrJ-PMP22 in the intermediate compartment of COS7 and Schwann cells. The relative stability of a wt-mutant PMP22 heterodimer as compared with the wt-wt PMP22 homodimer may determine whether a particular mutation is semidominant or dominant. The neuropathy itself appears to result both from decreased trafficking of wt-PMP22 to the plasma membrane and from a toxic gain of function via the accumulation of wt- and TrJ-PMP22 in the intermediate compartment. (+info)
Localization of a candidate surfactant convertase to type II cells, macrophages, and surfactant subfractions.
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Pulmonary surfactant exists in the alveolus in several distinct subtypes that differ in their morphology, composition, and surface activity. Experiments by others have implicated a serine hydrolase in the production of the inactive small vesicular subtype of surfactant (N. J. Gross and R. M. Schultz. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1044: 222-230, 1990). Our laboratory recently identified this enzyme in the rat as the serine carboxylesterase ES-2 [F. Barr, H. Clark, and S. Hawgood. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 18): L404-L410, 1998]. In the present study, we determined the cellular sites of expression of ES-2 in rat lung using a digoxygenin-labeled ES-2 riboprobe. ES-2 mRNA was localized to type II cells and alveolar macrophages but not to Clara cells. Using a specific ES-2 antibody, we determined the protein distribution of ES-2 in the lung by immunohistochemistry, and it was found to be consistent with the sites of mRNA expression. Most of the ES-2 in rat bronchoalveolar lavage is in the surfactant-depleted supernatant, but ES-2 was also consistently localized to the small vesicular surfactant subfraction presumed to form as a consequence of conversion activity. These results are consistent with a role for endogenous lung ES-2 in surfactant metabolism. (+info)
Macrophage electrophoretic mobility (MEM) with myelin basic protein.
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Lymphocytes from a total of 161 subjects, including normal controls and patients with malignant and non-malignant conditions, have been investigated for their response to myelin basic protein, using the macrophage electrophoretic mobility (MEM) test. It has been confirmed that there was a high level of association between clinically evident cancer and a positive response. Lymphocytes from 24/25 patients with non-malignant inflammatory and ischaemic diseases also gave positive responses. In 46 patients with breast lumps studied before mastectomy or biopsy, the test was positive in 15/19 cases which proved to be malignant and in 5/27 which proved benign on histological examination. In its present form the test is not sufficiently reliable for the diagnosis of early cancer. Our results suggest that tissue necrosis in malignant and non-malignant conditions may be one of the factors resulting in sensitization to antigenic determinants present in preparations of myelin basic protein. Despite its technical difficulties, the test may provide a means of examing some aspects of immune recall not readily revealed by other test systems. (+info)
The MAL proteolipid is necessary for normal apical transport and accurate sorting of the influenza virus hemagglutinin in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.
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The MAL (MAL/VIP17) proteolipid is a nonglycosylated integral membrane protein expressed in a restricted pattern of cell types, including T lymphocytes, myelin-forming cells, and polarized epithelial cells. Transport of the influenza virus hemagglutinin (HA) to the apical surface of epithelial Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells appears to be mediated by a pathway involving glycolipid- and cholesterol- enriched membranes (GEMs). In MDCK cells, MAL has been proposed previously as being an element of the protein machinery for the GEM-dependent apical transport pathway. Using an antisense oligonucleotide-based strategy and a newly generated monoclonal antibody to canine MAL, herein we have approached the effect of MAL depletion on HA transport in MDCK cells. We have found that MAL depletion diminishes the presence of HA in GEMs, reduces the rate of HA transport to the cell surface, inhibits the delivery of HA to the apical surface, and produces partial missorting of HA to the basolateral membrane. These effects were corrected by ectopic expression of MAL in MDCK cells whose endogenous MAL protein was depleted. Our results indicate that MAL is necessary for both normal apical transport and accurate sorting of HA. (+info)
Spontaneous regression of primary autoreactivity during chronic progression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis.
(5/1164)
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a widely used animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS). EAE is typically initiated by CD4(+) T helper cell type 1 (Th1) autoreactivity directed against a single priming immunodominant myelin peptide determinant. Recent studies have shown that clinical progression of EAE involves the accumulation of neo-autoreactivity, commonly referred to as epitope spreading, directed against peptide determinants not involved in the priming process. This study directly addresses the relative roles of primary autoreactivity and secondary epitope spreading in the progression of both EAE and MS. To this end we serially evaluated the development of several epitope-spreading cascades in SWXJ mice primed with distinctly different encephalitogenic determinants of myelin proteolipid protein. In a series of analogous experiments, we examined the development of epitope spreading in patients with isolated monosymptomatic demyelinating syndrome as their disease progressed to clinically definite MS. Our results indicate that in both EAE and MS, primary proliferative autoreactivity associated with onset of clinical disease invariably regresses with time and is often undetectable during periods of disease progression. In contrast, the emergence of sustained secondary autoreactivity to spreading determinants is consistently associated with disease progression in both EAE and MS. Our results indicate that chronic progression of EAE and MS involves a shifting of autoreactivity from primary initiating self-determinants to defined cascades of secondary determinants that sustain the self-recognition process during disease progression. (+info)
Differentially expressed genes in C6.9 glioma cells during vitamin D-induced cell death program.
(6/1164)
C6.9 rat glioma cells undergo a cell death program when exposed to 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-D3). As a global analytical approach, we have investigated gene expression in C6.9 engaged in this cell death program using differential screening of a rat brain cDNA library with probes derived from control and 1,25-D3-treated cells. Using this methodology we report the isolation of 61 differentially expressed cDNAs. Forty-seven cDNAs correspond to genes already characterized in rat cells or tissues. Seven cDNAs are homologous to yeast, mouse or human genes and seven are not related to known genes. Some of the characterized genes have been reported to be differentially expressed following induction of programmed cell death. These include PMP22/gas3, MGP and beta-tubulin. For the first time, we also show a cell death program induced up-regulation of the c-myc associated primary response gene CRP, and of the proteasome RN3 subunit and TCTP/mortalin genes. Another interesting feature of this 1,25-D3 induced-cell death program is the down-regulated expression of transcripts for the microtubule motor dynein heavy chain/MAP 1C and of the calcium-binding S100beta protein. Finally 15 upregulated cDNAs encode ribosomal proteins suggesting a possible involvement of the translational apparatus in this cell program. Alternatively, these ribosomal protein genes could be up-regulated in response to altered rates of cellular metabolism, as has been demonstrated for most of the other isolated genes which encode proteins involved in metabolic pathways. Thus, this study presents to our knowledge the first characterization of genes which are differentially expressed during a cell death program induced by 1, 25-D3. Therefore, this data provides new information on the fundamental mechanisms which participate in the antineoplastic effects of 1,25-D3 and on the machinery of a cell death program in a glioma cell line. (+info)
Peripheral myelin protein 22 and protein zero: a novel association in peripheral nervous system myelin.
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Mutations found in the two major glycosylated transmembrane proteins of the PNS myelin, the peripheral myelin protein zero (P0) and peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22), have been independently associated with the most common hereditary demyelinating peripheral neuropathies. Genotype-phenotype correlations in humans and transgenic animals have provided functional evidence that P0 and PMP22 are involved in formation and maintenance of compact myelin. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that P0 and PMP22 proteins form complexes in the myelin membrane, as shown by coimmunoprecipitation experiments, and that glycosylation is not involved in mediating these interactions. Complex formation was also detected when the two proteins were coexpressed in heterologous cells. In transfected cells, P0 and PMP22 are recruited and colocalize at the apposed plasma membranes of expressors as shown by confocal microscopy. These findings provide a new basis for a better understanding of myelin assembly and of the pathomechanisms involved in demyelinating peripheral neuropathies. Furthermore, these results propose a possible explanation why alterations in either of these molecules are sufficient to destabilize the myelin structure and cause a similar disease phenotype. (+info)
Cloning and characterization of a 22 kDa protein from rat adipocytes: a new member of the reticulon family.
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In the course of our examination of proteins associated with the GLUT4-containing vesicles of rat adipocytes we have identified a new 22 kDa member of the family of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) proteins known as reticulons. The protein, which we refer to as vp20, was purified from a preparation of GLUT4-containing vesicles of rat adipocytes, and tryptic peptides were micro-sequenced. From this information a cDNA encoding a single open reading frame for a protein of 22 kDa was cloned. This protein is homologous to known members of the reticulon protein family. vp20 has two hydrophobic stretches of about 35 amino acids that could be membrane spanning domains and an ER retention motif at its carboxy-terminus. vp20 was most abundant in the high density microsome fraction of adipocytes, which is the fraction most enriched in ER. Only a small fraction of vp20 was present in the GLUT4 vesicle population, and that fraction appears to be due to ER vesicles that were non-specifically bound to the adsorbent. Analysis of tissue distribution of vp20 in rats revealed that it is concentrated in muscle, fat and the brain. (+info)