Carboxypeptidase N (CPN) is a plasma carboxypeptidase that was discovered in the 1960s as a regulator of inflammation and vascular tone. Through the removal of carboxy-terminal basic residues, CPN alters the activity or binding specificity of inflammatory mediators and vasoactive peptides. CPN shares significant homology with carboxypeptidases known to mediate antifibrinolysis through the removal of basic residues from fibrin clots, which would otherwise stimulate fibrinolysis. Despite the similarity of these enzymes, CPN is generally regarded as lacking a role in fibrinolysis. This thesis demonstrates that CPN is indeed a capable antifibrinolytic enzyme, and that the antifibrinolytic activity of CPN was previously undisclosed due to the presence of a circulating CPN inhibitor, which is likely the free CPN2 subunit. This inhibitor is described for the first time here. Furthermore, potential mechanisms of inhibition and mechanisms of enhancing activity of CPN are proposed based upon the additional structural characterization of CPN presented here.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic and fatal disease that causes the stiffening of lung tissue and gradual lung function decline. Currently, there are no effectives therapies for this disease. Fibrotic lungs are characterized by accumulation of smooth muscle α actin- (SMA) expressing myofibroblasts and excessive deposition of a collagen rich extracellular matrix. The differentiation of lung fibroblasts into myofibroblasts is stimulated by numerous growth factors, including transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), and potentiated by a stiff mechanical environment. Our laboratory has identified a secreted matrix protein, aortic carboxypeptidase-like protein (ACLP), which is upregulated in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Additionally, ACLP knockout mice are protected from experimentally induced fibrosis. This led to the hypothesis that ACLP promotes the fibroblast to myofibroblast transition, and the goal of this research was to characterize the mechanism of ACLP action. ACLP expression preceded SMA and collagen type I expression in rapidly differentiating primary mouse lung myofibroblasts. In gain of function studies, recombinant ACLP induced SMA and collagen I expression in both primary differentiating myofibroblasts as well as IMR90 human lung fibroblasts. ACLP knockdown by siRNA slowed myofibroblast differentiation and partially reverted fully differentiated myofibroblasts into fibroblasts. Because of the similarities among ACLP targets and TGFβ targets, it was hypothesized that ACLP stimulates TGFβ signaling. In lung fibroblasts, ACLP induced Smad3 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation, a feature of TGFβ signaling. The effects of ACLP on myofibroblast differentiation were dependent on TGFβ receptor (TβR) kinase activity and ACLP interacted directly with T&betaR II to promote myofibroblast differentiation. A recombinant TβR II Fc chimera was used to inhibit ACLP-induced SMA expression, but this reagent had no effect on ACLP-induced collagen type I expression, which suggests a differential regulation of SMA and collagen by ACLP. Additionally, ACLP modulated changes in differentiation between cells grown on softer versus stiffer matrices. Using recombinant fragments of the ACLP protein, the N-terminal thrombospondin repeat domain was found to be necessary and sufficient to promote myofibroblast differentiation. Taken together, these studies identified a novel mechanism of ACLP action in fibroblasts and may lead to new therapeutic strategies to treat fibrotic disease.

Glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) is a zinc-dependent carboxypeptidase with high expression levels in prostate carcinoma. As the enzyme represents a validated target for cancer therapy and imaging, the development of new GCPII-specific ligands is still a focus of an active academic and industrial research. However, existing assays to screen inhibitor libraries and determine inhibitor efficacy are suboptimal at best. This thesis is aimed at the development of small internally quenched probes that could be used for continuous measurement of the GCPII enzymatic activity. These probes are derived from natural GCPII substrates and consist of a fluorophore/quencher pair connected by a GCPII-hydrolysable linker. I first characterized biophysical properties of the probes and then determined kinetic parameters of their hydrolysis by GCPII. The optimized activity assay was then used to determine inhibition constants of several GCPII-specific inhibitors. Finally, complexes between the inactive enzyme and several probes were co-crystallized and one of the complexes refined and analyzed. Our data show that the probes are involved in non-covalent interactions with the same amino acid residues of the enzyme's active site as natural substrates. The developed assay could be optimized for high-throughput...

Final publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2014.07.005. Shimpei Gotoh, Isao Ito, Tadao Nagasaki, Yuki Yamamoto, Satoshi Konishi, Yohei Korogi, Hisako Matsumoto, Shigeo Muro, Toyohiro Hirai, Michinori Funato, Shin-Ichi Mae, Taro Toyoda, Aiko Sato-Otsubo, Seishi Ogawa, Kenji Osafune, Michiaki Mishima, Generation of Alveolar Epithelial Spheroids via Isolated Progenitor Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells, Stem Cell Reports, Volume 3, Issue 3, 9 September 2014, Pages 394-403, ISSN 2213-6711. / 京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18681号 / 医博第3953号 / 新制||医||1007(附属図書館) / 31614 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 妻木 範行, 教授 江藤 浩之, 教授 瀬原 淳子 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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No description available.

No sistema cardiovascular, modificações de pressão e shear stress devido ao fluxo sanguíneo influenciam a morfologia e a patofisiologia dos vasos sanguíneos e do coração. Neste trabalho, estudamos o papel de duas moléculas transmembrânicas do Sistema Renina-Angiotensina: a Enzima Conversora de Angiotensina (ECA) e o Receptor de Angiotensina do tipo I (AT1) como mecanosensoras e mecanotransdutoras dessas forças físicas. A ECA foi por muito tempo conhecida somente por sua ação em converter Angiotensina I em Angiotensina II e por inativar a Bradicinina. Recentemente foi demonstrado que a ECA, além dos efeitos enzimáticos já conhecidos, pode ter sua cauda citoplasmática fosforilada e desencadear vias de sinalização intracelular. Observamos que o shear stress, mas não o estiramento, induziu a diminuição da fosforilação da porção citoplasmática da ECA após 5 minutos de estímulo e se mantém até 18 horas. Demonstramos também que a porção extracelular da ECA tem papel fundamental como mecanosensora e que a via intracelular da JNK participa da mecanotransdução em resposta ao shear stress. Além disto, demonstramos que a diminuição da fosforilação da ECA está associada na diminuição da sua expressão pelo shear stress. O receptor AT1 é a principal molécula efetora das ações da angiotensina II. Recentemente foi demonstrado que esse receptor pode também ser ativado por forças físicas, estiramento celular, independentemente da presença da angiotensina II. No presente estudo, observamos que o receptor AT1 é ativado pelo shear stress e que o Candesartan, mas não o Losartan, é capaz de impedir esta resposta. A via intracelular ativada é dependente de proteína-G e da entrada de cálcio do meio extracelular. Interessantemente, a pré-exposicao dos receptores ao shear stress diminuem a responsividade dos receptores ao peptídeo Angiotensina II porém a Angiotensina II não é capaz de inibir a ativação pelo shear stress.. Em conjunto, demonstramos novos mecanismos de ação da ECA e do AT1 que são duas importantes moléculas do sistema renina angiotensina. A modulação destes componentes por estímulos mecânicos traz novas possibilidades de intervenções farmacologicas sobre esse sistema bem como o melhor entendimento da participação dessas moléculas na fisiopatologia cardiovascular. / Hemodynamic forces such as pressure and shear stress modulate the patophysiolgy of the cardiovascular system. In this study, we investigated two transmembranic key molecules of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) as mechanosensors and mechanotransducers of physical forces: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and Angiotensin II type 1 Receptor (AT1). ACE is an enzyme that converts angiotensin I in angiotensin II. Recently, it was demonstrated that ACE cytoplasmic tail can be phosphorylated by ACE inhibitors and elicited intracellular cell signaling. Here, we observed that shear stress, but not stretch, decreased ACE cytoplasmic phosphorylation after 5 minutes and maintained up to 18 hours. ACE extracellular portion act as mechanosensor and JNK pathway participate in the mechanotransduction activation. In addition, we also demonstrate that decrease in ACE phosphorylation is involved in ACE expression downregulation by shear stress. AT1 receptor is the main effector molecule of angiotensin II cellular responses. It has recently been shown that AT1 receptor can directly be activated by mechanical stretch stress through an angiotensin-II-independent mechanism. In the present study, we observed that shear stress also activates AT1 receptor which is blocked by Candesartan, but not by Losartan. The intracellular pathway activated by shear stress involves both G-protein and extracellular calcium. Interestingly, preconditioning of AT1 receptor by shear stress impairs its responsiveness to angiotensin II while the pretreatment with angiotensin II still allow AT1 responsiveness to shear stress. Altogether, we demonstrated that ACE and AT1 receptor activates intracellular signal in response to mechanical force. This new concept for the RAS, the modulation of these molecules by mechanical forces gives new insigh into the discovery for pharmacological interventions to the RAS

Bacteriophage MooMoo is a temperate phage that was isolated and propagated on Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smeg). It typically produces turbid plaques, however spontaneous clear plaque mutants can be readily isolated. Both turbid (MooMoo-T) and clear plaque (MooMoo-C) formers can establish stable lysogens, but the parental turbid plaque forming phage has a higher lysogenic frequency. The phage repressor protein typically plays the central role in regulating the lysis/lysogeny decision. Therefore, we expected that the mutation responsible for the clear plaque phenotype would be located in the repressor gene. Remarkably, whole genome sequencing detected a single base pair mutation in the minor tail protein gene (gp19). The regulatory role of the repressor protein could not be excluded considering it was unclear how the mutation in gp19 was leading to the altered plaque phenotype. To locate the phage repressor, we used bioinformatics to identify several candidate genes with helix-turn-helix and DNA binding motifs (gp42, gp43 and gp44). We also cloned the parental and mutant gp19 genes. Each candidate gene was cloned into a shuttle vector. The clones of gp43, gp44 and both derivatives of gp19 did not prevent MooMoo growth, whereas the clones of gp42 inhibited phage growth. Based on these results, we concluded that gp42 is the phage repressor for MooMoo. To determine if the presence of gp19 alters lysogenic frequency, lysogeny assays of wild-type (WT) and mutant gp19 clones were evaluated. Compared to the MooMoo-C lysate, the cloned copy of the mutant gp19 showed a slight increase in lysogeny efficiency. The lysogeny frequencies on strains that carry cloned copies of gp19 (WT or mutant) were similar to those obtained on strains that lacked the plasmids. From these results, we concluded, the presence of either parental or mutant gp19 clones does not affect the lysogeny frequency. To determine if host cell physiology was affected by lysogeny, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur utilization resources were screened using high-throughput phenotypic microarrays. From these results, we concluded the presence of the WT or mutant prophage had no significant effect on the utilization of the resources tested.

No sistema cardiovascular, modificações de pressão e shear stress devido ao fluxo sanguíneo influenciam a morfologia e a patofisiologia dos vasos sanguíneos e do coração. Neste trabalho, estudamos o papel de duas moléculas transmembrânicas do Sistema Renina-Angiotensina: a Enzima Conversora de Angiotensina (ECA) e o Receptor de Angiotensina do tipo I (AT1) como mecanosensoras e mecanotransdutoras dessas forças físicas. A ECA foi por muito tempo conhecida somente por sua ação em converter Angiotensina I em Angiotensina II e por inativar a Bradicinina. Recentemente foi demonstrado que a ECA, além dos efeitos enzimáticos já conhecidos, pode ter sua cauda citoplasmática fosforilada e desencadear vias de sinalização intracelular. Observamos que o shear stress, mas não o estiramento, induziu a diminuição da fosforilação da porção citoplasmática da ECA após 5 minutos de estímulo e se mantém até 18 horas. Demonstramos também que a porção extracelular da ECA tem papel fundamental como mecanosensora e que a via intracelular da JNK participa da mecanotransdução em resposta ao shear stress. Além disto, demonstramos que a diminuição da fosforilação da ECA está associada na diminuição da sua expressão pelo shear stress. O receptor AT1 é a principal molécula efetora das ações da angiotensina II. Recentemente foi demonstrado que esse receptor pode também ser ativado por forças físicas, estiramento celular, independentemente da presença da angiotensina II. No presente estudo, observamos que o receptor AT1 é ativado pelo shear stress e que o Candesartan, mas não o Losartan, é capaz de impedir esta resposta. A via intracelular ativada é dependente de proteína-G e da entrada de cálcio do meio extracelular. Interessantemente, a pré-exposicao dos receptores ao shear stress diminuem a responsividade dos receptores ao peptídeo Angiotensina II porém a Angiotensina II não é capaz de inibir a ativação pelo shear stress.. Em conjunto, demonstramos novos mecanismos de ação da ECA e do AT1 que são duas importantes moléculas do sistema renina angiotensina. A modulação destes componentes por estímulos mecânicos traz novas possibilidades de intervenções farmacologicas sobre esse sistema bem como o melhor entendimento da participação dessas moléculas na fisiopatologia cardiovascular. / Hemodynamic forces such as pressure and shear stress modulate the patophysiolgy of the cardiovascular system. In this study, we investigated two transmembranic key molecules of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) as mechanosensors and mechanotransducers of physical forces: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and Angiotensin II type 1 Receptor (AT1). ACE is an enzyme that converts angiotensin I in angiotensin II. Recently, it was demonstrated that ACE cytoplasmic tail can be phosphorylated by ACE inhibitors and elicited intracellular cell signaling. Here, we observed that shear stress, but not stretch, decreased ACE cytoplasmic phosphorylation after 5 minutes and maintained up to 18 hours. ACE extracellular portion act as mechanosensor and JNK pathway participate in the mechanotransduction activation. In addition, we also demonstrate that decrease in ACE phosphorylation is involved in ACE expression downregulation by shear stress. AT1 receptor is the main effector molecule of angiotensin II cellular responses. It has recently been shown that AT1 receptor can directly be activated by mechanical stretch stress through an angiotensin-II-independent mechanism. In the present study, we observed that shear stress also activates AT1 receptor which is blocked by Candesartan, but not by Losartan. The intracellular pathway activated by shear stress involves both G-protein and extracellular calcium. Interestingly, preconditioning of AT1 receptor by shear stress impairs its responsiveness to angiotensin II while the pretreatment with angiotensin II still allow AT1 responsiveness to shear stress. Altogether, we demonstrated that ACE and AT1 receptor activates intracellular signal in response to mechanical force. This new concept for the RAS, the modulation of these molecules by mechanical forces gives new insigh into the discovery for pharmacological interventions to the RAS