Licentiatavhandling (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2009. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 223-251). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Doctor of Philosophy / Biology / Stefan Rothenburg / Poxviruses are large double-stranded DNA viruses that collectively exhibit a broad host range. Whereas many members of the poxvirus family are capable of infecting various host species, others are restricted to only one or a very limited numbers of species, such as variola virus, which is the causative agent of smallpox and is restricted to humans. Since the entry of poxviruses is not dependent upon any specific receptors, the cell tropism is therefore fully determined by the virus’ ability to manipulate the cellular signaling networks that are responsible for antagonizing viral infections. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase (PKR) is a unique antiviral protein found in most vertebrates, which serves both as a virus sensor by detecting the presence of dsRNA and an antiviral effector by suppressing cap-dependent translation during virus infection. Many viruses, including poxviruses, have therefore evolved genes that encode for PKR inhibitors, such as vaccinia virus K3L, which shows sequence homology to the N-terminal region of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α), the substrate of PKR. K3L is able to inhibit PKR-mediated eIF2α phosphorylation in vitro and in vivo. Because K3L was shown to be indispensable for virus replication in Syrian hamster cells but not in human cells, it was categorized as a host range factor. However, the molecular basis for K3L’s host range function is not fully understood. We examined the interactions of poxvirus K3L orthologs, especially vaccinia virus K3L and M156R, the K3L ortholog in the rabbit-specific myxoma virus, and PKR from a variety of host species in multiple assays, and found that K3L and M156R inhibit PKR in a species-specific manner, which likely contributes to the cell tropism and host range for both viruses. Inactivation of M156R or K3L led to virus attenuation in cells, which could be rescued by ectopic expression of viral PKR inhibitors. We also identified the helix αG region as the main molecular determinant for PKR’s sensitivity to inhibition by K3L orthologs. In conclusion, the research summarized here indicates that the interactions of PKR and poxvirus pseudosubstrate inhibitors play important roles in virus host range and virulence.

Emerging evidence indicates that the dysregulation of protein ubiquitination plays a crucial role in aging-associated diseases. Smad-dependent canonical BMP signaling pathway is indispensable for osteoblastic bone formation, which could be disrupted by the ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation of Smad1/5, the key molecules for BMP signaling transduction. However, whether the dysregulation of Smad1/5 ubiquitination and disrupted BMP signaling pathway are responsible for the age-related bone formation reduction is still underexplored. Casein kinase-2 interacting protein-1 (CKIP-1), also known as Pleckstrin homology domain-containing family O member 1 (PLEKHO1), is a previously identified ubiquitination-related molecule that could specifically target the linker region between the WW domains of Smurf1 to promote the ubiquitination of Smad1/5. Here, we found an age-related increase in the expression of CKIP-1 in bone specimens from either fractured patients or aging rodents, which was associated with the age-related reduction in Smad-dependent BMP signaling and bone formation. By genetic approach, we demonstrated that loss of Ckip-1 in osteoblasts could promote the Smad-dependent BMP signaling and alleviated the age-related bone formation reduction. In addition, osteoblast-specific Smad1 overexpression had beneficial effect on bone formation during aging, which could be counteracted after overexpressing Ckip-1 within osteoblasts. By pharmacological approach, we showed that osteoblast-targeted CKIP-1 siRNA treatment could enhance Smad-dependent BMP signaling and promote bone formation in aging rodents. Taken together, it suggests that the increased CKIP-1 could suppress Smad-dependent BMP signaling to inhibit bone formation during aging, indicating the translational potential of targeting CKIP-1 in osteoblast as a novel bone anabolic strategy for reversing established osteoporosis during aging.

Orientador: Sara Terezinha Olalla Saad / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T12:26:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Borges_Luciene_D.pdf: 3990737 bytes, checksum: 7c865de830ecbe5f830e992e6c69fb2c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Estímulo mecânico é um dos principais eventos envolvidos na hipertrofia cardíaca que afeta vários componentes de vias de sinalização do miocárdio. Recentemente, um novo transcrito altamente expresso em músculo cardíaco, denominado de ARHGAP21, foi descrito como um membro da família de proteínas Rho GAP, que demonstrou atividade catalítica sobre Cdc42 e interação com ARF1, ARF6 e a-catenina, proteínas importantes do remodelamento do citoesqueleto e junções aderentes. No presente estudo, tivemos como objetivo analisar a expressão da ARHGAP21 em resposta ao estresse mecânico agudo em corações de ratos adultos, e sua associação com FAK e PKC?. Utilizando-se fracionamento subcelular, microscopia confocal e eletrônica, demonstramos que ARHGAP21 relocaliza-se das regiões nucleares e miofilamentos para linhas Z, discos intercalares e costâmeros de cardiomiócitos submetidos à sobrecarga de pressão, sugerindo que esta roteína pode desenvolver uma importante função no remodelamento cardíaco. Além do mais, ensaio de imunoprecipitação mostrou que ARHGAP21 interage com PKC? e FAK em ratos controle, submetidos à coarctação da aorta e espontaneamente hipertensos (SHR). Três diferentes regiões de FAK, contendo cauda de GST acoplada, foram utilizadas em ensaio de ligação in vitro, demonstrando que ARHGAP21 se liga à porção carboxi terminal de FAK. Além disso, ARHGAP21 associa-se à PKC? fosforilada em Thr410 em o-imunoprecipitados de extratos protéicos de ratos controle e SHR. Entretanto, ARHGAP21 associa-se apenas à FAK fosforilada em Tyr925 em SHR. Também foi verificado que PKC? é fosforilada por estímulo mecânico. Estes resultados sugerem que ARHGAP21 pode atuar como uma molécula sinalizadora ou proteína adaptadora das vias de sinalização de FAK e PKC? em cardiomiócitos, provavelmente desempenhando importante função durante estresse cardíaco / Abstract: Mechanical stimulus is one of the major events involved in cardiac hypertrophy, and affects components of essential myocardium signaling pathways. Recently, we described a highly expressed mRNA in the cardiac muscle as a member of the RhoGAP family of proteins, ARHGAP21, which demonstrated GAP activity over Cdc42 and interacted with ARF1, ARF6 and a-catenin important proteins of the cytoskeleton assembly and adherent junctions. In the present work, we aimed to analyze the expression of ARHGAP21 in response to acute mechanical stress in the adult rat heart and its association with FAK and PKC? proteins. By subcellular fractionation, confocal and immunoelectron microscopy, we demonstrated that ARHGAP21 is relocated from the nucleus to the plasma membrane, Z-lines and costameres of cardiomyocytes submitted to pressure overload conditions, suggesting that this protein may develop a role in cardiac remodeling. Furthermore, immunoprecipitation assay showed that ARHGAP21 interacted with PKC? and FAK in control rats, rats submitted to aortic clamping and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Using three different GST-tagged regions of FAK, we found that ARHGAP21 binds to the carboxyl terminal portion of FAK. Moreover, ARHGAP21 binds to PKC? phosphorylated on Thr410 in co-immunoprecipitates of protein extracts from sham control rats and SHR. However, ARHGAP21 only binds to FAK phophorylated on Tyr925 of SHR. We have also shown that PKC? is phosphorylated by mechanical stimuli. Altogether, these results suggest that ARHGAP21 may act as a signaling molecule or scaffold protein of FAK and PKC? signaling pathways in cardiomyocytes, probably developing an important function during cardiac stress / Doutorado / Biologia Estrutural, Celular, Molecular e do Desenvolvimento / Doutor em Fisiopatologia Medica

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22118号 / 医博第4531号 / 新制||医||1039(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 松田 道行, 教授 小柳 義夫, 教授 小川 誠司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22150号 / 医博第4541号 / 新制||医||1039(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 竹内 理, 教授 稲垣 暢也, 教授 杉田 昌彦 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Apoptosis is a complex process essential for normal tissue development and cellular homeostasis. While biochemical events that occur late in the apoptotic process are better characterized, early physiological changes that initiate the progression of cell death remain poorly understood. Previously, we observed that lymphocytes, undergoing apoptosis in response to growth factor withdrawal, experienced a rapid and transient rise in cytosolic pH. We found that the protein responsible was the pH-regulating, plasma membrane protein Na +/H+ exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1), and that its activity was impeded by inhibition of the stress-activated kinase, p38 MAP kinase. In the current study, we examined how NHE1 is activated during apoptosis. We identified the phosphorylation sites on NHE1 that regulate its alkalinizing activity in response to a cell death stimulus. Performing targeted mutagenesis, we observed that substitution of Ser726 and Ser729 for alanines produced a mutant form of NHE1 that did not alkalinize in response to an apoptotic stimulus, and expression of which protected cells from serum withdrawal- induced death. In contrast, substitution of Ser726 and Ser729 for glutamic acids raised the basal pH and induced susceptibility to death. Analysis of serine phosphorylation showed that phosphorylation of NHE1 during apoptosis decreased upon mutation of Ser726 and Ser729. Our findings thus confirm a necessary function for NHE1 during apoptosis and reveal the critical regulatory sites that when phosphorylated mediate the alkalinizing activity of NHE1 in the early stages of a cell death response.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a family of extracellular endopeptidases, are implicated in angiogenesis because of their ability to selectively degrade components of the extracellular matrix. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), increased in the heart post-myocardial infarction (post-MI), plays a protective role in the pathophysiology of left ventricular (LV) remodeling following MI. Here we studied expression of various angiogenic genes affected by IL-1β in cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) and investigated the signaling pathways involved in the regulation of MMP-2. cDNA array analysis of 96 angiogenesis-related genes indicated that IL-1β modulates the expression of numerous genes, notably increasing the expression of MMP-2, not MMP-9. RT-PCR and Western blot analyses confirmed increased expression of MMP-2 in response to IL-1β. Gelatin in-gel zymography and Biotrak activity assay demonstrated that IL-1β increases MMP-2 activity in the conditioned media. IL-1β activated ERK1/2, JNKs, and protein kinase C (PKC), specifically PKCα/β1, and inhibition of these cascades partially inhibited IL-1β-stimulated increases in MMP-2. Inhibition of PKCα/β1 failed to inhibit ERK1/2. However, concurrent inhibition of PKCα/β1 and ERK1/2 almost completely inhibited IL-1β-mediated increases in MMP-2 expression. Inhibition of p38 kinase and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) had no effect. Pretreatment with superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimetic, MnTMPyP, increased MMP-2 protein levels, whereas pretreatment with SOD and catalase mimetic, EUK134, partially inhibited IL-1β-stimulated increases in MMP-2 protein levels. Exogenous H2O2 significantly increased MMP-2 protein levels, whereas superoxide generation by xanthine/xanthine oxidase had no effect. This in vitro study suggests that IL-1β modulates expression and activity of MMP-2 in CMECs.

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a chemotherapeutic agent that causes significant cardiotoxicity. We showed previously that Dox activates p53 and induces apoptosis in mouse hearts. This study was designed to elucidate the molecular events that lead to p53 stabilization, to examine the pathways involved in Dox-induced apoptosis, and to evaluate the effectiveness of pifithrin-α (PFT-α), a p53 inhibitor, in blocking apoptosis of rat H9c2 myoblasts. H9c2 cells that were exposed to 5 μM Dox had elevated levels of p53 and phosphorylated p53 at Ser15. Dox also triggered a transient activation of p38, p42/p44ERK, and p46/p54JNK MAP kinases. Caspase activity assays and Western blot analysis showed that H9c2 cells treated with Dox for 16 h had marked increase in the levels of caspases-2, -3, -8, -9, -12, Fas, and cleaved poly(ADP ribose) polymerase (PARP). There was a concomitant increase in p53 binding activity, cytochrome c release, and apoptosis. These results suggest that Dox can trigger intrinsic, extrinsic, and endoplasmic reticulum-associated apoptotic pathways. Pretreatment of cells with PFT-α followed by Dox administration attenuated Dox-induced increases in p53 levels and p53 binding activity and partially blocked the activation of p46/p54JNK and p42/p44ERK. PFT-α also led to decreased levels of caspases-2, -3, -8, -9, -12, Fas, PARP, cytochrome c release, and apoptosis. Our results suggest that p53 stabilization is a focal point of Dox-induced apoptosis and that PFT-α interferes with multiple steps of Dox-induced apoptosis.